[tcsned]

My buddy who's building my guitar has run into a bit of a snag - the back is a kind of a spalted maple and there's some indents along the side - he's tried stick shellac and an epoxy to smooth it out but he's not happy with the result. It's only along the side the face is fine. Any suggestions of something else to try? It's not so bad that I can't live with it but it would be nice to have a good solution.

Here's the worst spot:

[hogan]

It's called "run out". Solution: sand paper/sander and elbow grease.

[JonnyBoy]

Hogan is right that will dissolve the indentation, but it looks almost 1/8" deep, that's a lot of sanding and a little reshaping too. There is no garauntee that it isn't the same after sanding a while more. Maybe you could sand it down thin like a strat, if that is the top of the guitar. If it is the bottom, sometimes stainable wood glue mixed with the sawdust of the same piece of wood makes a pretty good filler, but is will stain out twice as dark. Below is a way we would stain out knots in mahogany smooth:

Basically, There is also a way during the finishing process to tape up the area with a bunch of layers of tape (about 1/8" deep) and make a "flood" of polyurethane (or whatever you are using as a clear coat) in that specific area. Let that small area cure for a few days, because it is thick as hell, and then sand it down smooth. the crack will be visible under the finish but the surface will be smooth, kinda 3 dimentional like heavily cracked spalted maple usually is.

[tcsned]

Thanks! I think more sanding will just find more soft areas and I would wind up with a guitar the size of a toothpick

I'll forward along these ideas to John to see if he's already tried either of these solutions.

He's a lot pickier than I am as the first gig I take it too it is likely to get a worse ding than this problem. If I were paying $5k I would want perfection, for what I'm paying a rustic look is cool w/me.

[williamsaut]

Call Dan Erlewine at Stew Mac. He's really open and good to talk to about those things. ( if he hasn't retired yet ).