ES glue line betwen maple veneer..

[Kristian]

Hi
This weekend i managed to stain my ES gt1 guitar. I like the final result but i would like to hear what you think, did i made the wrong decision?

here is the result


The glue line between the two maple veneer on the top are very visible. My thought before i stained the guitar, was that i did not want to use aceton on this specific area(along the whole line on the top between the two veneer sides), wich i thought was very sensitive, because i did not want the glue for the veneer to get lose. so i left this part untouched.

was it a good decision? or should i have used aceton and tried to remove the glue on line? or did i made the right decision?

as of now i have just stained the guitar,(no oil or other finishes), so there is time for some adjustments. but i dont think i will try to remove the glueline and restain or patch up the stain work. high risk that will make it worse than now.

[Richard Arnold]

I wouldn't use acetone, it might even lift the vaneer .
Not an expert but my opinion.
Good luck.

[GregLane]

Hi Kristian
I recently finished an ES-1F in black. It had a white glue line like yours. I saw a black Sharpie ( fine metal nib) on my bench and in frustration ruled it down the glue. Covered the glue line and actually seemed to stick to the glue. Did not move when the TruOil went on.
You may be able to get a colour to at least darken the stripe. Better than white.

You have done a great job on the burst. I love how the flame is coming through the burst and is a beautiful rich colour. I expect that the finish will make it glow.

Watching with interest
Greg

[Simon Barden]

I've used coloured Sharpies to help disguise lines like that. Mask off either side of the line and then apply the Sharpie. or you could try mixing up some artist acrylic paint colours to get a close match and paint that on with a brush

As the glue line is between the two pieces of veneer, I don't think that you could have done much about it. Acetone or Goof Off may have removed the glue, but you'd almost certainly have been left with a hollow where the line had been which would still need dealing with.

If you can get hold of an amber lacquer spray, then I'd use that on the top after the Sharpie/paint as it will help disguise the line even further. I had a slight glue line on the join on my ES-1, so a couple of coats of heritage cherry red lacquer went on to help cover that up over some Sharpie and you wouldn't notice it now unless you looked very hard.

I don't know what finish you were planning to put on. Tru-Oil is slightly amber, and will darken a bit as it ages, but not quite amber enough to have the same level of effect as an amber tint lacquer will.

[Kristian]

Thanks for everyones good advices!

for finnishing i have the following plan.
1-2 coats of this
then alot of coats with this:

the goal is a high gloss finnish.

so before i even get there i have to make some adjustments,

the coloured sharpie is a possible way forward before finnish. but because it is a burst with alot of colours, it will need some planning and creative experimenting, the pen needs to be waterresistance so its stick to glue, so that should probably leed to that it will probably be hard to blend. i just have to find some pen and try.

Simon, question about the amber laquer spray, if i go that way, will it "destroy" overrun the other colours to much?

[Simon Barden]

Amber lacquer will just deepen the existing colours. It won't affect the way the colour bursts or cause runs. I've used it on similar sunbursts. It's a very similar colour to the central yellow area and so will also help to blend in the other small imperfections.

I wouldn't try to match the flame pattern precisely along that central line, just get a colour that's close to what's there along most of it, just darkening it at the ends to match the burst pattern. It's unlikely that you'll hide it completely, but you'll have to get a lot closer to see it.

A Sharpie is certainly water resistant and will go over the glue well. I bought a mixed colour set from Amazon a couple of years ago and I use them all the time to help touch up small marks in the finish. But acrylic paint will also adhere to the glue and is easier to get a closer colour match with.

If you fit a Bigsby style trem, you'll need to fill in the stop-tail post holes, or fit a plastic plate over them like Gibson did.

[McCreed]

Beautiful job on the burst Kristian, and a shame about that glue line.

In hindsight, since folks have been against goof off or acetone there, it's possible that it could have been removed by careful scraping with the edge of a safety razor. Probably too late now.

If you go with some kind of disguise method, it may be worth an email to Crimson and ask if their finishing oils can be tinted. If so, maybe a small amount of tinted oil over the seam, then clear over that and the rest of the body. Just a thought...

Hope you get it sorted as you're off to a great start with that burst.

[Simon Barden]

In hindsight, since folks have been against goof off or acetone there, it's possible that it could have been removed by careful scraping with the edge of a safety razor.

I just feel that there's a big gap between the veneers that has been filled by the glue. I'd probably have tried acetone/Goof Off myself at the very start, but if that had been successful, there would still probably have been a gap between the veneer that needed filling and would still show up as a line. If all the glue at the bottom of the gap had been removed, then you'd probably find the veneer lifting at the edges as well as the glue there would probably have been dissolved.

Not an easy problem to solve after the veneer has been applied at the factory.

[McCreed]

I just feel that there's a big gap between the veneers that has been filled by the glue. I'd probably have tried acetone/Goof Off myself at the very start, but if that had been successful, there would still probably have been a gap between the veneer that needed filling and would still show up as a line. If all the glue at the bottom of the gap had been removed, then you'd probably find the veneer lifting at the edges as well as the glue there would probably have been dissolved.

Not an easy problem to solve after the veneer has been applied at the factory.

Ahhh, yes, I see what you mean now. And yeah, hard one to overcome if that's the case. Masking/disguising definitely the most feasible option.