Rough edges

[MollyKay]

What do you recommend to repair and refininsh the edges on a plywood bass? When I look at pictures of old, old basses (plywood or carved) on luthier's web sites for sale the edges look nice and fresh as if the basses are refinished (Upton Bass does a real nice job with its pictures).

I have two old plywood basses and Epi and a King, both are in decent shape for their ages but I think they could look better if the edges were freshend up. With chipped edges do you fill them in and touch them up to match the finish or just darken the edges (both basses are dark, rich brown). My Epi has some surface ply missing and is just plain old worn around the edges. It seems point less to want to add patches to the edges as it make no difference to the sound or playability. I just want to make it look as good as reasonably possible with out a complete refinish.

What do you experts recommend or better yet what do you do to make these old basses look so good on your web sites?

[Jsn]

Well, I'm reviving this old posting in the hopes that someone--perhaps MollyKay herself by this time--has some insight to add.

Love my '38 Kay, and would like to "heal" the ragged edges if at all possible. The original finish is long gone (it was painted when I bought it), so there's room to redo surfaces if necessary.

Thoughts? Hard-earned experience? Maybe I should just sand 'em down and slather on the wood putty (Kidding! )

Originally Posted by MollyKay

What do you recommend to repair and refininsh the edges on a plywood bass? When I look at pictures of old, old basses (plywood or carved) on luthier's web sites for sale the edges look nice and fresh as if the basses are refinished (Upton Bass does a real nice job with its pictures).

I have two old plywood basses and Epi and a King, both are in decent shape for their ages but I think they could look better if the edges were freshend up. With chipped edges do you fill them in and touch them up to match the finish or just darken the edges (both basses are dark, rich brown). My Epi has some surface ply missing and is just plain old worn around the edges. It seems point less to want to add patches to the edges as it make no difference to the sound or playability. I just want to make it look as good as reasonably possible with out a complete refinish.

What do you experts recommend or better yet what do you do to make these old basses look so good on your web sites?

[Jake deVilliers]

You need to replace the veneer as necessary, then touch up the finish - its the only way to make the bass look really good. Its a bit time-consuming but worth it.

[Jsn]

Originally Posted by Jake deVilliers

You need to replace the veneer as necessary, then touch up the finish - its the only way to make the bass look really good. Its a bit time-consuming but worth it.

What's a good source for such veneers? And Jake: that Kay you're slinging on the homepage of your website--did you re-veneer the whole top?

Pretty dang beautiful.

[Matthew Tucker]

You need to clean the chips out along a grain line and find somewhere to stop. Use a chisel to make a nice flat surface.



you can use any wood that is similar in colour. You're not restoring a Testore.



Line up the grain of the patching piece.



You need to make sure the glue gets into all the delaminating veneers in the neighbourhood.





Then you can stain to match and finish as you like.

[ctregan]

You may have to make your own veneers from old wood. Commercially made veneer will not be the correct thickness nor will it match very well.

Nice tutorial Matthew!

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

You need to clean the chips out along a grain line and find somewhere to stop. Use a chisel to make a nice flat surface.



you can use any wood that is similar in colour. You're not restoring a Testore.



Line up the grain of the patching piece.



You need to make sure the glue gets into all the delaminating veneers in the neighbourhood.





Then you can stain to match and finish as you like.

*Very* cool, Matthew. Nice work!

[Martin Sheridan]

You have to do some searching to find veneers. If you get one too thin then obviously you have to add another piece, if it's too thic you can sand it down to blend in.

Nice job Matthew. Is that an old King or American Standard?

A customer of mine had one, a King if I remember, that was so old the varnish had turned a dull green. Had a great sound though.

[Jake deVilliers]

Originally Posted by Jsn

What's a good source for such veneers? And Jake: that Kay you're slinging on the homepage of your website--did you re-veneer the whole top?

Pretty dang beautiful.

Thanks Jsn, though I don't think there's a photo of the finished front on the site! There's only one small divot repair on the back. You can see the divot in the photo where Maiken's holding her sanded bass.

The purfled Kays are the ones that are prone to flaking off the veneer, the ones with painted lines or nothing at all just have slightly munched edges.

Veneer is pretty easy to make, its just thinly sliced wood, or you should be able to find it at your local old-style lumberyard.

[Matthew Tucker]

Martin, it's a czech ply bass, sixties.

You don't need veneer. You need thin wood, thats all. It's just missing wood, happens to be in thin layers. You can even glue in a 1/8" patch, then cut it down to the right level. it's a bummer if there's no purfling though ...
Repairs to a carved top chipped edge are similar in principle, but you'd spend more time matching the grain, probably.

[Jsn]

Wow, Matthew! Thank you for providing exactly the information I needed. You even went to the trouble of refinishing the bass in Shreck green, just so the work area would stand out more clearly!

Seriously, your advice and example made me realize this is something I could tackle. And since, as you point out, it's a Kay, not a Testore, I probably will. Fortunately it's a Kay with real purfling, not painted on, so the demarcation of the chipping is usually clearcut.

Guess I'll have to post pictures of my progress, eh?

[forester]

Luan?

[Matthew Tucker]

Nope. solid meranti

[forester]

dang.. those Shoreas' get me everytime
Common Names Meranti (Malaysia, Sarawak, Brunei, Indonesia, China), Seraya (Sabah), White Luan (Philippines)

[MollyKay]

Thanks Matthew…it took two years to get my question answered…but I can clearly see the value in completing edge repairs with the method. I have another project to add to the list.

Thanks for the great pictures. ...and thanks to JSN for dig'in this old thread up...I forget what I remembered.