Martin D25-K finish question

[Ron Sommers]

I have a Martin D25K (Koa) guitar that I recently acquired. The previous owner carved his SSN in the end of the mahogany headstock. I'd like to fix it and was wondering what paint/stain would do the job?

I asked Stewmac and they said: "Red Mahogany aerosol would be the closest to the color of a Martin neck although a little darker."

They also suggested "pore filler" for filling in the carved areas.

I don't know how deep the numbers are, but I can see wood. I'm thinking of sanding down the end of the headstock.
I'd like to finish it as close as possible to the Martin color.

Any suggestions as to what color Martin uses? Where to get it?

What do you think of my 'fix'? Seems the simplest to me.

[Chuck Tweedy]

Ron, is the offending SSN in the end-grain if the headstock??
Also, do you have any experience with guitar repair? Guitar finishes??
What is the existing finish on the guitar?? UV-cure Polyester or Nitro??

Your general method of sanding out the numbers and repairing the finish is the right idea - in the overall sense. However, there are a LOT of details, and some finish repair techniques that you will need to employ to achieve a good looking result.
So, just because you have the right general idea, does not mean that you will end up with a good looking result.
Maybe you could give us a bit more background on just exactly what you intend to do.

[David King]

I'd be awfully tempted to drop fill what was there and not try to remove anymore finish lest future folks wonder what I was trying to accomplish.

[Michael Lewis]

The finish should be nitro lacquer, Martin necks are generally 'satin', but if the headstock is shiny then use gloss lacquer. "Generally" all Martin mahogany gets stained with red mahogany stain, but if your neck isn't the typical reddish brown Martin look then you get to choose something else.

One thing to keep in mind is end grain will always look darker than side grain, it also takes up stain and finish more than side grain. In short, end grain at the top of your headstock will look different from the face, back, and sides of the headstock UNLESS you finish the whole thing at one time and spray the stain evenly over a seal coat, then apply the clear coats over that. Oil stain needs a couple days of good drying before you can put lacquer over it and have a hope it will stick.

It is real easy to make things look worse than they are right now. You could live with it for a while and you always have the opportunity to do it later. The longer you put it off the less it will bother you, and some day someone may be very glad it hasn't been "fixed". Poor quality finish repair (not professional quality) is a drag on market price of a guitar.

[Ron Sommers]

Thanks for the quick replies.

circa 1979

It's a mahogany neck and yes it's nitrocellulose.
Sanding the end, or scraping it crossed my mind.
I would think the color matching wouldn't be as noticeable as it's the end, as long as I got it close.
Red Mahogany colored stain from Stewmac, or is there a source of Martin-ready stain?

Not a lot of finish repair experience. Mainly I build violins and an archtop (posted here) #2 on the bench.

I'm wondering if I could touch up with some lacquer to see if it wouldn't hide it?

I put some gold plated grovers in place of the originals which were locking up.
Tried cleaning and lubing them, but I've never seen such crappy tuners before.

I'd like to sell it as I have a D18, a 00018 and several other guitars already.

[Joshua Levin-Epstein]

Let's be mercenary. If you're going to sell the guitar, don't do anything to it and have the price reflect the guitar's condition. Say you put 5 hours into fixing this. What is your time worth? Will you get that much more for the instrument?

One of the challenges here is to make the repair blend into the "experienced" look of the peg head. A technically perfect repair will call attention to itself. You might try some steam (washcloth and iron) to try to raise some of the damaged area. Also, you will need to simulate end grain (little dots) after the repair is done.

I sold quite a few of these guitars when they first came out. I liked them very much, as well as the koa topped model. You might want to hold onto it. Then you'll have plenty of time to consider this endeavor.

[Barry Daniels]

Too me, the numbers don't look like they go into the wood but are mostly just finish issues.

Since you don't have a lot of finish repair experience, you will likely make the problem worse is you try to sand the end of the headstock and refinish it. I recommend drop filling the numbers and then leveling and polishing the area. It won't be an invisible repair but will look better than the original plan.

Using a slightly amber tinted lacquer for the drop fill may be best.

[Ron Sommers]

Good ideas. I have some flake shellac (dark and amber) I was thinking of filling the gap with, like a furniture repair?

I've used shellac to great effect on my D18 where a small dent appeared on the side.

If it fills it and hides it that would be perfect. I don't want to leave the number visible for obvious reasons.

I'll post pictures as I progress.

[David King]

You can always add color to the scratches with a wood colored sharpie (Mohawk has them) as necessary once you begin the drop fill process. Make sure your shellac is fresh and don't let it get on other parts of the guitar as it may cut into the lacquer. CA glue would be much faster but also slightly riskier.

[Michael Lewis]

You are dealing with nitro lacquer. Take a small brush and apply lacquer thinner to the "numbers" before doing anything else. this will let you know how much of the disturbance is in the finish and how much is in the wood. This will probably darken the numbers temporarily as the thinner penetrates the fractured finish and into any open wood. Let it dry for at least a few hours and inspect it. What you find then may determine the next step to take.

Wet lacquer will darken wood as it 'wets' the porous surface, and for this reason I often use thickened lacquer to drop fill as it doesn't tend to wet the wood so much and leaves a lighter appearance in the wood.

That headstock has a LOT of lacquer on it. Notice the finish checking.