The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Searching through the site, I've read a lot about how you guys repair damaged finishes, but don't always go into the details of how to do it.

The only thing I know how to do in that department is use a good automotive swirl remover to take out shallow swirls in the clear coat & then layer on a few applications of carnauba wax.

I thought it would be a good idea to have a dedicated thread where you guys (& me, if I ever learn any) could share tips, techniques, tricks, & references to books & materials on finish repair.

I have 2 guitars with dings, scratches, chips, & small gouges that I'd like to pretty up as much as I can--& I'm wondering if there's a way to repair 2 long lacquer cracks on the top of my PE 180.

If you think this is a good idea, fire away--& THANK YOU in advance.

You're right slo-hand, there is ton of valuable information in these forums, contributed by a lot of Knowledgeable and generous folks. It would be great to have it consolidated in one place, not just for refinishing but for other common procedures too, like re-fretting re-wiring, etc.

The trouble is, the nature of the bulletin board type forum means that it isn't easy to do that without taxing the time of the moderators to seek out and move it all to one place. Even then the posts can be redundant, or contradictory and it still isn't easy to read and find the specifics you may be after. Very time consuming.

I'm just wondering if it might be time for a companion Guitar Gallery Restoration Blog in which we can more easily categorize and centralize topics of interest and maintain the content? Regular contributors like Racing, Frenchy and many others, can maintain an ongoing dialogue more easily with interested members. And I think it would be a terrific outlet too for our Pollyanna's considerable experience!

The focus I think would be on a "How To" approach in the practical categories, with links back here to these forums to examine specific model problem resolutions. There could also be sections devoted to historical content and anecdotal stories. The intent would not be to replace these forums but to enhance the subject interest generated here by allowing a more focused single point informational area.

The initial content could be gleaned from the currently available member posts. This would take some time to assemble and edit and, since I have time on my hands plus IT and writing experience, I would be happy to help out in any way I can.

Whatcherthink

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Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
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Wholeheartedly agree.

-Sly

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Still closer to "not enough guitars" than "too many guitars".

I like the idea of a companion blog on refinishing. I would also point people to this site http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?act=idx

It also has a turorial section.

Yeah, thanks guys. I think the key thing to keep in mind is not that we have a lack of information, but rather it's just difficult to find it when you need it.

Even with a search facility you end up having to scan through an awful lot of extraneous information and general banter (however entertaining at times!). The bulletin board format is great as a show-and-tell and general chit-chat medium but it makes it difficult to present something like a tutorial for example.

A Blog would make it easier to organize and recover information but still may not be the best vehicle. Perhaps a Wiki instead? It really depends on how many cooks we want in the kitchen. A Blog allows for comments following the presentation but not direct access to the article itself; only the author and admins can edit the original article. A Wiki, however, normally allows registered members to directly edit the original article and make corrections & additions. It's up to the membership here to decide.

The software is freely available so no cost there. But it's up to the admin to decide if there are sufficient technical resources available on the server to maintain the additional functionality.

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Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com

You´ve certainly got a point slo-hand.

Everything said n done the favoured guitars of ours are turning of age,and seing their rather minimal value for now that brings that most work will be performed by ourselves more often then not.

Like Barry brings up stuff like replenishing surface finishes,refrets,fret leveling asf could certainly be put into some sort of Wiki for reference use,and i for one would be ever happy to contribute at least.

In fact,like i wrote over at the Westone forum i´ve had it up to here with all this mumbo jumbo "it´s to advanced and black magic for your sorry arse to grasp-so leave it to a luthier" kind of gobbling.
A basic FACT is that there is no magic,and as most of us onboard here are diehard enthusiast of the Uncle Mat products it only stands to reason that we should rally around an idea like this to make it into a practical reality.
Being one of those that perform most of the work on my guitars myself-correction...all of it-i am here to attest that it can ALL be done if you´re just patient and ain´t all thumbs.

Normaly when i recomend outsourcing various jobs it´s not cause you CAN NOT do it yourself,but more so that it in comparsion simply ain´t cost effective.
That aside...with a guitar...we´re not really talking NASA stuff here are we,but none the less all of us need to learn to crawl before we can walk and placing that in situ...it can become a really rewarding hobby in itself.

Out of some reason jap guitars are measured much more by condition that their vintage US counterparts...so it´s all good i guess.

OH MAN...

The thing I DIDN'T have in mind was making a lot of work for people. I was thinking more along the lines of maybe a new "Restoration & Repair" topic with specific sub-categories we could post to as we got the time (with MAYBE the possibility of a moderator having to do no more than prioritizing new posts with existing posts).

BUT...I think you guys are correct in noting that a blog [highly] probably isn't the way to do it. This is the WRONG forum for that ambitious a project.

A "Wiki" is a heck of an idea, but I'm a good 8 to 10 years behind the times in terms of coding web pages. I do a little amateurish graphic design & art work, but WYSIWYG apps got to be so good (& have improved so much since I started using them) that the last web-related thing I did (& it's been a couple of years) was type, insert, & play around with the aspects of pre-written code for things like toolbars, tables, frames, & data entry fields.

If I could help out, I'd say, "HECK YEAH...DO IT!!!" But that's too easy to do when you're not competent enough to do it yourself & want something beyond your ability & your means... sounds like the way my country is doing things now.

For this forum, I think it would be best to punt the idea. If somebody else (or some of you) pick(s) up the idea, great--but I'm thinking the idea isn't MATSUMOKU specific enough--& all but one or two of the topics that can't be found here that I am personally interested in can be found via crafty use of a search engine (except for fusing lacquer cracks--I haven't found that one anywhere, & luthiers seem to have given up the craft of hand-spraying lacquer for health reasons).

Yeah, there may be a wee bit more work setting it up, technically speaking, and then some time seed the application with current information, but from then on, content contribution time/work would be the same as posting here, but more flexible.

Not to worry. When set up properly, most leading Wiki applications use a WYSIWYG editor, so again, no real difference from what you see in this forum. If necessary a more knowledgeable mod or admin can always edit afterwards if need be.

Therein lies the nut of the matter, eh? It's a shame not to be able to quickly access the available information here but maybe we're back to a "sticky" containing internal links and external resource links?

It's a good idea, but it's your project slo-hand. Whatever you decide, if I can help, shout.

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Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
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RSBBass:

I could kick myself that I never came across the PROJECT GUITAR web site. Thanks for the link.

BARRY:

Unfortunately, the economic situation here (& mine more specifically) dictates that I double down on basic survival & revenue generation projects for the foreseeable future. Two or three more months like the past two or three, & I'll most likely be forced to liquidate AT LEAST half my gear (most of which I've had for more than 15 years).

I'm also thinking that it would be easier to present the idea to PROJECT GUITAR & let them run with it. They could sort their info through a database program & have a WIKI up in no time.

Sorry to hear that. Lots of us are hurting in this damned depression, including yours truly. Hope things turn around for you soon.

Yeah, a useful site to be sure.

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Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com