Refinish of Mid Missouri top

[8ch(pl)]

When I bought my Mid M-4, it had som serious pick damage in the treble area from the point of the tear-drop to about the center of the soundhole. Last year I refinished it, trying to put a minimal thickness of lacquer in place. I used a spray can of Watco clear , semi-gloss , nitrate cellulose lacquer.

I was unhappy with the job that I did last year, it seemed like the damage was still pretty evident and it seemed to gather dirt in the crevises. The damaged area had ridges that reminded me of a plowed field. I am going to put a Weber Cast tailpiece on after Christmas so I decided to try and do the top once more while the nice weather is on. Yesterday was a clear, relatively dry day with temperature about 72 Fahrenheit. I did the work outside, spraying in the shade and letting it dry between coats, in the sun.

I sanded the existing finish pretty well off with 220 grit. I then started laying in finish to the damaged area, putting it on thick until it formed a sag, then laying the instrument level and letting it dry about 1/2 hour between coats. I did this working from a second sandiing with 220 grit, through 280, 320, 360 and a couple of sandings of 400 grit. With each sanding I concentrated on the leveling the new lacquer in the damaged area, then lightly sanding the whole top. My aim was to fill the furrows in the damaged area with finish and sand it level. When I reached this point, I gave the whole top a coat, sanded it with 400, then applied a finish coat.

I have let it dry overnight. The finish now looks really nice. You can still see a bit of the damage, but I have pretty well accomplished what I set out to do. I have a home-made ebony pick guard which will cover the rest up.

The product is made by Tremco in Toronto,it is the same can that I used last year. It is the old fashioned lacquer with the "Bananna" smell. It seems to be pretty hard. I am going to re-string the mandolin later today and will let you know how the sound is. I believe the damaged area, being well forward of the X bracing will not have affect on the sound.

[sunburst]

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but lacquer will continue to shrink for a while. If you are filling damage with the lacquer, you'll need to wait as long as you can before you level sand and buff, or the damage will start to show through the new lacquer as it shrinks into the low places.
Good luck!

[bmac]

Your comments on refinishing the front of a MidMo is of special interest to me. I have owned my MidMo for about 7 months and shortly after buying it I realized that there was a finish problem just where some mandos have pick guards (and about the same size as a pick guard).The finish at that point was thin and normal playing and handling of the mandolin has worn off the very very thin coat in that area.

Yes I should have returned the mando to the seller, but I was too enchanted with it to let it out of my cluches. I have done enough wood working to feel confident I can refinish the front of the mando succesfully. The only problem, if it is a problem, is that the finish on the MidMo is slightly white, as if someone mistakenly dropped a tiny bit of white paint into the clear varnish. I don't want to try to deal with that so I'll more than likely settle for a clear varnish. Anyway it is nice to hear you have done it and it looks good.

[8ch(pl)]

I am putting the ebony pick guard over the area and it should cover most of the damage. I forgot to meantion that I had removed a clear plastic stick-on pickguard. (I did not buy the instrument new).

I was more concerned with the "dirty" look that the mandolin had in the affected area. There are some small dings that I did not try to fill. The instrument is almost 7 years old. The finish which I applied is semi-gloss. The flat original finish is not easy to clean.

I have restrung and the sound is still vibrant like before. I think a pickguard is necessary for these flat tops, a carved top slopes away from the strings and normally has a higher bridge than a flat top.