Woolleydick's PRS 1st build

[stan]

you could try steam to get these out. the dents look fairly "sharp" so i dont think you'll fix it completely...
Set steam iron to hot, place a damp rag flat over the area, put on the iron and hit the steam button, give it a short moment then lift off.
You may have to do this more than once, check after each time, all the best.
there are other methods of doing this - check google and youtube as well

[Drummerdude]

Well Wooly that helped a lot I would have bet you by the first pics that it had a grey primer on it. I would try the steam but be very careful not to leave it on for too long as it could loosen the glue on the veneer and then you have a whole new problem. Maybe if you can get them closer to the top you could stain with a black dye mixed with alcohol instead of water. Using alcohol in the dye will not raise the grain as much and will require less sanding back. By doing this you could get some black timbermate or similar grain filler and fill any void not corrected and then sand back carefully with steel wool or high grit paper and then stain whatever color you are using. That will help pop the quilt and possibly make the spots less noticeable like they are part of the figure. Just my 2 cents. You can check out pics on my build and see my tele stained dark and sanded. Ack before applying color and I used Keyda power aniline dyes I got off of amazon for cheap..

Good luck

[woolleydick]

Hi everyone, a week or so has passed and a little bit of progress achieved. The dents are gone!
I was pretty scared of the steam thing so tried just a little of cool dampness to observe what (if anything) might happen. Three days later with a little damp cloth application each evening, and they dents have pretty much disappeared. If you know where to look and get the light in just the right place, you can just make out one last mark. I can live with this.

So moving on and today I finished shaping the headstock. Similar to PRS but as the pre-drilled tuner holes are not in PRS position then it could never be exactly the same, so why pretend eh?

[Drummerdude]

Looking good Wooly... glad to hear about the dents.. this process definitely has moments where you just have to have faith and take a chance and hopefully you don't get surprised too often. Keep up the good work.

[woolleydick]

My next critical task is to drill the holes for the bridge posts. I am using a wraparound bridge so any top tips are appreciated!

[stan]

nice job with the dent repairs
As for the bridge, I'd fit the neck and measure about 600 times. Put some low tack tape on the body to mark out a centre line and bridge position the measure again

[WeirdBits]

Put some low tack tape on the body to mark out a centre line and bridge position the measure again...

... and then post measurements and/or photos here for confirmation. It's always good to get a few other sets of eyes on something critical just to double-check.

[woolleydick]

Post holes drilled with a little damage to the veneer which will disappear under the bridge once assembled.
Moving on to the finish, here it is after the first black stain. Plan to sand this back a bit before further colour stains go on.



as you can see there are some problem spots...





I think I have sanded through the veneer?

Ideas to recover/cover?

[Dedman]

you can try getting an tiny artists brush and several different dilutions of your stain and painting the grain pattern back in. (not easy and very time consuming)

Are you sure they aren't glue spots?

[woolleydick]

you can try getting an tiny artists brush and several different dilutions of your stain and painting the grain pattern back in. (not easy and very time consuming)

Are you sure they aren't glue spots?

How would I tell the difference?