A Little Lyrachord Damage?

[sdgrfan]

Hi all. I just found a pretty nice Ovation acoustic bass (which I've been wanting for quite a while). Interesting, at least to me, is that the bowl is not black, but a dark brown. Anyway, it has a small spot in the lower bout where the previous owner said that it got dropped on a screw head and it has pushed or cratered a small area in the Lyrachord body. I can see, from the inside of the bass, that this area has been pushed in, but I can see no light through it. It doesn't appear to be a true puncture.

Is there a reasonable way to repair this, maybe fill it with epoxy and then sand it down?

Or should I leave it as is and chalk it up to mojo?

My main concern is that the crater doesn't further deteriorate and break apart, leaving a hold in the Lyrachord body.

Any advice as to what to do with this?

 

[MPU]

I would do just as you said, fill with epoxy on both sides. Clean with degreaser, scrape or sand the area to be filled a bit rough, fill with tinted epoxy (forget the tube epoxies, use some higher quality epoxy resin) and sand if needed. You can even try to mimic the surface of the bowl with second coat, use toothpick and put small drops of epoxy on the filled area.

 

[Beej]

This thread has some interesting information: Invalid Link Removed

 

[sdgrfan]

That sounds like a pretty good plan, MPU. I think I'll try something along those lines. That's a great link, Beej, for doing a top-notch professional job of restoration. For me, though, I just want to keep it from getting any worse.

 

[Hopkins]

I would leave it alone. At most, wick a few drops of thin CA into the cracked area to stabilize it. A matching aesthetic repair would be quite difficult to say the least.

 

[sdgrfan]

Well, here is my semi-finished patch job on the crater in my Ovation bass. I sealed it on the inside and used epoxy on the outside, sanding it to the contour of the body. I need to do a bit better color match (this dark brown is a pain) and maybe texture it a bit, but, overall, I'm happy with the results. It is air-tight and I don't think the damage will go any further. How anyone could damage one of these Lyrachord bodies is beyond me. The top (spruce) is flawless.