Polishing out a super glue crack fix on a satin finished guitar

[thefishinmusician]

A crack that was too wide for wood glue, and too thin for a splint...I used super glue to fix and fill the crack, and of course, after leveling and polishing, we have a shiny repair on a flat finish...Tried steel wool to dull it...Of course, no go....Thanks, in advance..

[Greg Mirken]

There's no way I know of to match the sheen of a sprayed satin finish. Frank Ford suggested to me once using a mini sandblast gun; that does look better than steel wool but still not perfect.

[Mike Kolb]

Is the repair in such a location that a small overspray of satin-clear would make it less noticeable?

[thefishinmusician]

Mike...I thought about that...It's on the back rear of the guitar....It is a Larivee, so it's no big vintage thing...Maybe some day when our great great  grandkids are old...And thanks, Greg...I don't know where I left my mini sand blast gun tho'...Frank has all the good toys !

[David Houchens]

I have touched up smooth spots on satin finish using clear lacquer with  flattener mixed in and my airbrush. Practice first on a scrap until you have the right amount of flattener mixed into the finish. If you get the mix just right you can basically make it disappear.

[Ned Knepp]

 I had a friend who started developing a "receding hairline" so he shaved his head.

 

I'm only half serious but you could use superfine steel wool over the whole back and sides to make it all the same.

 

Ned

[William F.Eden]

 I had one of them  Atont... work shop Tiwan guitars come into the shop this winter it had two cracks in the back almost all the way up the back 1/8" wide and I repaired it with super glue . BUT I had to stain and refinish the back and you could not see were the cracks had been then I buffed it up with super fine steel wool Bill.''''''''''''''''''''

[LARRY KLOSE]

Harbor Freight has an "air eraser" in the air tools section, same location as the airbrushes.  It's about $20, IIRC, much cheaper than the usual Paasche or other higher end version.  Cheap enough to experiment with.  Probably not as good as the pricier version  (I have no way to compare), but very adequate.  Also, a trick used by model builders to clean parts for painting they don't want worn away by grit is to use baking soda as a medium--much less abrasive.  YMMV, try on a scrap first, NFI, you're on your own, etc.

Larry

[Gary Fried]

I have run into this problem with guitars before. Especially taylors with ovangkol back and sides. I have in the past over sprayed some satin poly urethane by min wax.  But lately I have been filling the cracks with epoxy and using a squeegee to level it off and some alcohol to clean off the excess(not on nitro though). This way I can eliminate the leveling and not worry about matching the patina.

[Chris Rochow]

I've had good luck with usiing wet sanding of the gloss, use 6000 - 12000, usually 8000 produces a good match. You have to decide which grit makes the best match.

[thefishinmusician]

Chris....I'll give that a shot tonite, and reporrt...Thanks !

[Chad Gerbe]

Any word on how this turned out? I've got the same problem on a Taylor that's on my bench right now, ovangkol back and everything! Looking forward to any responses.

[Howard Klepper]

Don't bother.  You will just have to do it over when that crack opens again.