Repairing Amber Fireglo

squid · Post by **squid** » Mon May 21, 2007 10:25 am

I took delivery of a 4003 AFG recently, and it's evident to me that it's suffered some shipping damage. A chip of the amber CV has been knocked off the top of the binding on the lower bout, just below the volume controls. At first, I thought that it might be a small (4 millimeter) finish problem caused by an uneven binding application, but there's definitely a small dent in the binding where the CV has come away. There are also some striations on the side of the instrument (again, quite small) that signal some sort of bump that pushed the binding up and then forced the CV off (call it the UPS jack in the box effect). Plus, the case is cracked at its base near one of the feet, and this crack corresponds with the location of the chip. (If you can picture the SKB case, it's right at the point where the padding is at its shallowest.) I'm not precious when it comes to these things, but it's a bit of a nuisance. Now, ordinarily, I could just pop into my local repair shop (12th Fret, Toronto, Ontario) and be assured of an invisible repair. But the ambered CV has me a bit worried. Can a small patch like this be repaired invisibly, or will an additional application of ambered varnish in a small, localized area lead to a darker, ring-like outline? Is it even possible to match the colour of the varnish? I don't want to throw good money after bad here, and the bass sure sounds good ...

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon May 21, 2007 11:30 am

If it's under warranty, I'd say call the factory for a consultation on this.

This can be repaired, and my experience is that, though you'd think there would be a darker ring around it, it is possible to effect a nearly-undetectable repair, by masking this area off carefully and first spraying some tinted nitro over the chipped-out area only, until the color and intensity are matched. This does take some experimentation to get the color right...

Then remove the masking and drip in untinted CV to slightly overfill the chip. Sand flush, buff and it should be OK.

The striations bother me, though. They cannot be removed; only sanded off and re-varnished. This could lead to a possible refinish. Hard to say without having the guitar in hand, as they say...

squid · Post by **squid** » Mon May 21, 2007 2:16 pm

I called Kenny earlier today, but in fairness, I don't see this as a warranty issue, so I wouldn't expect Ric to do the repair. I did ask Kenny how difficult it would be to match the amber CV, but he really couldn't say. I've contacted my dealer, whom I trust and like a lot. We'll see what happens with that. Naturally, Paul, we can discuss details off-list, but if push came to shove, how quickly could you turn this around? It's pretty small, and I don't care about the dent nearly as much as the colouration. Unlike my other project, though, time would be of the essence here.

You know, if this wasn't an amber fireglo, I doubt I would have noticed it. No regrets about the AFG, mind. It's still a super colour. Just lovely.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon May 21, 2007 3:40 pm

Write me off-list.

longboard_ric · Post by **longboard_ric** » Wed May 23, 2007 5:40 pm

Sorry to hear about the damage John, hopefully Paul can perform some magic for you.

I agree with you about AFG, it is a magnificent colour.