The Electra Forums

Picked this guitar up the other day, I plan on using the guitar as a home player - it has a gouge on the face through the veneer.

I was wondering:

1) Is it worth repairing?

2) Can it be repaired (should it be)? And if yes, what would be the best method?

Thanks for looking

/r
Parsox

I can't really say without knowing more. One method is to raise the gouge's grain back up with a wet rag and an iron/soldering iron. I believe I saw something years ago from Dan Erlewine at Stewmac on that (maybe you can search www.stewmac.com?). If a chunk of material is removed, can't do this.

Another idea is to veneer the top. That would be a big job, probably not worth it unless you are great at woodworking, finishing, and have a lot of skills.

Redneck Guitar Repair 101
One thing some of us do is to try to hide the gouge with finish markers so that it can match the surrounding finish. Actually a red or black sharpie can work in areas of similar color. Craft stores can have a lot of colors. You can get finish markers in mahogany and brown and maybe some golden oak/amber color stains that work on those colors, and you probably can get some nearly exact colors through stewmac (expensive, but they have what you need and are good service). Sometimes it just looks a whole lot better not having a bare wood spot peeking out surrounded by a contrasting finish such as the red or yellow of the X330. It does not make it go away, it just does not contrast so much. Like people wearing makeup. Sometimes you can clear over it to make is smooth for a better finish. You can do something very quickly or you can do a lot of work on this. The idea is to not to ever trick anyone, it just makes the guitar look a whole lot better. I don't advise doing this to your 1959 Les Paul. But to a $300-500 Electra MPC I suppose the guitar gods may forgive you.

Finally, if it isn't bad, consider it a player and just enjoy it the way it is. Think of all the guitar players that really know how to play and don't worry about what their guitars look like. If you get good enough, people will start buying up all the X330s they can and put gouges on theirs just to look like yours (I wish I was kidding but you know I am not). Many of us have battle scars on our guitars.

I have pieced together one that was either ran over or otherwise crushed, likely in shipping. It would be a perfect example of a guitar to veneer, but I didn't go to that much trouble. I know a pro that could have done this so well you'd never know it was worked on, but it is a lot of work and he has to get paid. But this one now is all glued together and from a few feet away you'd never know. Playing it you'd not know. And, oddly, it happens to be one of the BEST SOUNDING guitars I have! The neck broke part off the body where it was set and attached. The MPC switches were flattened and the pots and switches there pushed into the body cavity. It was ROUGH. Most of the parts were stripped off and it was sold on ebay that way as a carcass. I got parts i had laying around and fixed it.
I am amazed it turned out so nicely. It REALLY sounds and plays great. Sometimes you get really get lucky. On yours, it does not sound like anything like that serious. I'd touch it up to hide it's boo boo a bit, and don't look back.

Some people (including a lot of pros in the past) would get out a spray can! I don't recommend this unless your guitar is just toast. But I have seen good results on some (but mostly REALLY terrible).

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Thorny

Veneering isn't too hard but you do have to take your time and be very sure of what you're doing as good veneer is not cheap!!

I had an Aria Pro U-60T that had been snapped in half across the length of the body which I successfully rejoined and then veneered. Mind you, the Urchin - while a wild shape and just tricky enough to veneer - has no chamfers, belly cuts or elbow reliefs so it was pretty straight forward. Once the chamfer angle becomes too great to easily bend the veneer around, you risk cracking or breaking it.

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"... and on the eighth day, God created New Zealanders.

Because even the Australians need heroes."

Thank you both for the response. I realized I forgot to add the photos.






Its more of a gouge - I am wondering if I can color the exposed wood and then fill in with a clear lacquer, else fill in with wood putty, sand, color and then cover with a clear coat.....any suggestions?

Else I may go as suggested and leave as is.

Appreciate your time!