How to finish repair on Taylor 310 CE?

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Mario Kessels
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How to finish repair on Taylor 310 CE?

Post by Mario Kessels »

Hello from a sunny Holland,

I am repairing a damage on a Taylor 310ce. I will need to put some new finish on after the repair. The repair constitutes of taking away little chips of finish and some woodfibre caused by a superficial crack on the outside of the cutaway.
The info i have is that it is a sapele body, and it has this polyester UV cure finish i assume used by Taylor.
So what to apply finish wise? Polyester is the one finish i dont work with with my spraygun. It has a satingloss finish by the way.
What would you guys do? Maybe with NC?

Thanks for the reactions, cheers
Michael Lewis
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Re: How to finish repair on Taylor 310 CE?

Post by Michael Lewis »

The touch up will show if the surface of the wood isn't perfect, and if you use a different finish. I have tried touching up with lacquer, shellac, and CA glue, all of these products do not look like the original finish.

How large an area is effected? The big problem is matching the satin finish. The amount of reducer determines much how the finish flows out and the surface texture as it dries. Also any rubbing or friction against the satin finish tends to make it smoother and shiny, so any 'work' will show in the reflective appearance. The trick to the satin finishes is to have a perfectly smooth surface upon which to spray the final coat, and once it is sprayed don't touch it. It is much easier to get an even surface texture if you coat the entire surface, and very difficult to get an even match on a small area touch up.

I think it is a good idea to contact the Taylor factory for the technical information you need. The rest of us are 'guessing' because we are not working in the factory and are not exposed to their specific processes and steps for their finish.
Todd Stock
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Re: How to finish repair on Taylor 310 CE?

Post by Todd Stock »

CA or Taylors UV cure stuff is the correct touch-up finish - lacquer will only stay on under more poly or CA. Depending on the CA viscosity, you'll get varying penetration on raw wood, and darkening of wood fibers that saturate with low viscosity (thin, super-thin) CA. Actual spot repair using Taylor's UV cure material can be done by a Taylor repair shop that has the training and gear to handle the job...any of the guys I know that were doing factory-auth finish repairs are out of that business. For a low-end guitar like a 310, the best compromise on finish repair will likely be CA done by someone that knows what he or she is doing.

1. Seal any open end grain and any raw wood with shellac...the stuff in the spray can can be used if you don't have a source for dewaxed super blonde shellac. Clean off excess with alcohol...will not hurt the poly finish.

2. For drop-fills, clean the existing area with naphtha or alcohol to remove dirt and oils, allow to dry, then apply glue in multiple, thin coats so the the repaired area is built to slightly above the existing finish surface. ALLOW THE CA TO HARDEN FOR SEVERAL HOURS (new CA will be softer than the poly finish; aged CA is harder...the trick is getting the CA repair to harden to about the hardness of the existing finish before buffing out). Use single edged razor blade scraper to level, then sand and buff.

3. For large areas, such as an area where you've replace top wood, seal the repair with shellac, adjust tint with tinted shellac or lacquer, then overcoat with CA applied with one-time use paper towel applicators (cut towel into 16 pieces by quartering, then quartering again, fold each square into a 1/2" wide, multi-layer applicator, dip folded tip into thin CA, and use single-direction wiping action to apply CA to surface...build to sufficient film thickness to allow leveling WITHOUT CUTTING THRU FILM TO SHELLAC OR LACQUER...usually 12-14 passes with thin or super thin CA)

Gloss adjustment can be done in several ways...sand with wet P-600, then work through finer grit paper to get to same 'dullness, take entire surface to consistent dullness, or overcoat with a satin topcoat (not the way to go unless you can spray cat poly).

I do these repairs on Taylors and other polyurethane or polyester-finish guitars, and done right, there will be little signature of the repair and no witness lines.
Mario Kessels
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Re: How to finish repair on Taylor 310 CE?

Post by Mario Kessels »

Ok a little update. The repair has been finished and the result was 9 out of 10 I would say.
This is the procedure i followed:
1) After the mechanical repair i dropfilled with polyester 2 k
2) i applied 2 k lacquer ( non polyester) satingloss on the repair area. The match was not good. The shine was too deep if you understand what i mean. Not satin enough. Sanding it to try to find the correct match was no good either. Close but no cigar.
Then i sprayed the 2 k lacquer wrong on purpose. It looked like if i sprayed it on too dry, by having just too much distance from the gun, the match was right there.
So this was what worked, i was satisfied and the client was very impressed by the result.
I must say that we are talking about small areas, all applied with airbrush gun with large needle. No clue how it would work on larger surfaces. At least its one method worth trying I guess if you have a similar repair on polyester finish. Of course I checked the products i used with my lacquer supplier to know it would be compliant with the finish on the guitar.
Thanks for the inputs and maybe this is helpful for some of you.
Grz from Holland
David King
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Re: How to finish repair on Taylor 310 CE?

Post by David King »

Mario,
That all makes perfect sense.
I wonder if just adding a flattening agent such as fine silica powder to the 2k lacquer would have also achieved a good result. Your trick of dry spraying would be a good way of fine tuning the process.
Chuck Tweedy
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Re: How to finish repair on Taylor 310 CE?

Post by Chuck Tweedy »

Yes - the trick of dry spraying with a airbrush is brilliant!
Likes to drink Rosewood Juice
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