Scratches on my Masterbilt

[Huckfinn]

Hi forum!
So, I managed to pick up a beautiful dr-500mce in natural finish for a good price.
It's actually new.

What happened (I discovered after opening the box) is that the desiccant bag broke and the salts went all over the place, resulting in very fine scratches in a couple of spots.
Very light and visible mostly only under spotlight (in the attached photo they appear much deeper than in reality).
It would be great if I could get rid of them completely......!
Does anybody have suggestions on a simple way to do that?

Many thanks for any advice!!!
H.

 

[Shadow Explorer]

All I can say is that I completely feel you...

I have searched about this, but not in depth yet, as I do not have a guitar, I would dare to try those solutions on.

Those are the most common things I've come across

For minor scratches:
*Using scratch removing solutions for cars. Meguiar's swirl remover, scratch X2.0
They also make a guitar fender kit

* guitarscratchremover, some videos in youtube try this method with moderate success.


For deeper scratches:
light sanding& wet sanding, then buffing.

For deeper-bigger stuff, superglue.
or nail varnish (in case of colored finish)

 

[Scootermuppet]

Solid solutions ^^^

Nail varnish is the same stuff as the finish on poly coated guitars, just don't shake it too hard or you'll get air Bubbles!

Dobyou know what the finish is on your guitar?

They don't look like they've gone down to the wood, so should be a simple fix, take your time and you'll be fine.

Very satisfying making a guitar look good again

 

[Huckfinn]

Thanks for your answers!
Shadow explorer: I'm having a look at your links tonight. Seems promising!!
Scootermuppet:.....what do you mean by Solid solutions?

 

[Davis Sharp]

Scootermuppet:.....what do you mean by Solid solutions?

You must be a chemist or physicist.
He means reliable procedures.

Welcome to Epi-Talk.

 

[Huckfinn]

Thanks for welcoming me!
Alas...fat chance!
Tried with scratch removing solution and, although the scratches are superficial they're not coming off!!

 

[Scootermuppet]

Thanks Davis.

Sounds like it's 'wet and dry' paper time then, the StewMac video is very helpful for that procedure, some great tips to stop you getting it wrong

And at the risk of stating the obvious, used wet, the abrasive is more gentle than when dry

 

[Shadow Explorer]

Have you tried buffing?, I believe in your case,wet sanding with very small grit, then buffing will do it.
They seem to be more like something was rubbed and dulled these areas than real scratces.

With that kind of sanding do not apply any force to the sanding paper, just move it along
the surface.

Hell, I cannot imagine me doing that to a good guitar of mine. maybe I have to gather some junkers for testing things out.

 

[Scootermuppet]

The higher the cost of the guitar = the more careful you are

Any abrasive leaves scratches, even Polish! It's just that the scratches are so fine, that it appears as a shine to us, under a microscope it would look like a ploughed field

As shadow says, finer and finer grit (you can get some really fine ones, 12000 grit anyone?) and then several goes with Polish, should give a mirror finish.

I had considered claying a guitar body when stripped down - seems to work wonders for cars!

 

[Huckfinn]

OK
Cool
I have the kind of sanding paper you mention
Which polish should I use?

 

[Scootermuppet]

Maguiers seems popular, but it's not cheap, any car Polish would work, but if it were me, I'd spend a little extra - my guitars are worth it! You could always Polish your car as well?

 

[Huckfinn]

What do you guys think of this?
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PS: how do I add a photo to my Profile Page?
PPS: would this headphone amp work with my Masterbilt if I just want to listen through headphones?

 

[Cozmik Cowboy]

It's an acoustic guitar; you don't need to amplify to listen to yourself! (And it'll sound better without the amp/cans, too)

 

[Huckfinn]

It's electric acoustic.
I'd like to listen at decent levels while using a soundhole cover not to bother the rest of the family...............

 

[Huckfinn]

Ok,
So I went over some of the scratches with a fine grit sanding paper, wet, and the scratches came off (as you suggested)!
Now for the polish: which one?
Car polish or the actual Gibson guitar one?:

Thanks!

 

[Shadow Explorer]

Then you have to buff by hand or with a pad.
Using polishing wax.

Most of the videos I've seen use this Green wax,

 

[Huckfinn]

Excellent video Shadow Explorer.
Thanks for that!!
I was wondering: do I have to sand the totality of the sides, or only the couple of spots with scratches?

 

[Shadow Explorer]

You want it to reflect smoothly, so you gradually have to work it out for an even reflection.
If the scratch is very light, usually there won't be a noticeable difference.

What I haven't found yet is the opposite, how to fill a certain spot with clear coat to fix reflections of slight surface bulges.

 

[Huckfinn]

Ok,
So everything was cool.
Got rid of majority of scratches with car polish and finished it off with the Gibson polish mentioned above.
Perfect!
Many thanks to all for your help!!

 

[Scootermuppet]

Good to hear! Now...

What's gonna be your next guitar?