Repairing small round dings on a LM-600 mandolin

**NG53** · Jun-10-2012, 4:48pm

I have two small dings on the mandolin top. Is there any way to fill the dings with lacquer from a small eye dropper or equivalent, and if so what lacquer should I use?

**Paul Busman** · Jun-10-2012, 4:54pm

Unless you're really good at this, I'm thinking that the repairs might be more obtrusive than the dings.

**Pribar** · Jun-10-2012, 4:59pm

Depends on how deep the dings are and what finish you have on the mandolin, and as Paul said, this is the type of repair that can go from almost invisible annoyance to "oh my God what did I do" in a hurry unless you are real careful.

**NG53** · Jun-10-2012, 5:16pm

Yes, I agree. I am weighing up the pros and cons of leaving them or doing something unobtrusive.

**Paul Busman** · Jun-10-2012, 7:21pm

Got any pictures?

**mtucker** · Jun-10-2012, 8:01pm

what pribar said but with a small artist's brush you can fill but you'll need to allow ample cure time between fills ... can be done though ...lightly sand smooth then polish .. you may still have a small ring around the fill once buffed but if you're real careful you can almost make it go away.

**NG53** · Jun-11-2012, 12:32am

I would like to use the Colortone touch-up pens if I can get them sent out to Australia by sea mail - cannot be sent via air mail. THese are available from Stewmac.

Here is a photo. They are small dots down on the bottom RHS of the photo below the tailpiece. It is pretty hard to see the marks in the photo.

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Let me know what you think.

**Ivan Kelsall** · Jun-11-2012, 2:12am

Those marks are so small that i'd use a tiny drop of water based paint mixed to the right colour just to put the colour back. Let it dry for a day or so & then bees-wax the area over to seal it.I've done a great many 'mini touch-ups' like that years back when i used to refurbish old banjos.Unless you really know what you're doing,as the folks above have said,you could do more harm than good,
Ivan

**NG53** · Jun-11-2012, 2:37am

Thanks Ivan, that's a great idea and I will follow it up once I find some suitable water-based paint. We have bees wax at home so I once it has dried I will buff it up as you suggested.

Cheers

Nic

**houseworker** · Jun-11-2012, 2:52am

I'd let them be. They add character.

**billkilpatrick** · Jun-11-2012, 3:57am

precisely - what you have there are character marks ... charisma - when your grandchildren ask about them you can tell them the nashville story ... again.

**Paul Busman** · Jun-11-2012, 6:59am

Originally Posted by billkilpatrick

precisely - what you have there are character marks ... charisma - when your grandchildren ask about them you can tell them the nashville story ... again.

You mean about the guy you shot, just to watch him die, and how he knocked the mandolin off the table as he fell, causing the dings? Works for me.

Seriously, any well played instrument is gonna accumulate some character marks, so you might as well embrace these. Heck, people spend beaucoups extra bucks to buy a new instrument already made to look old and crappy. Oh, I meant to say distressed or road worn... Anyway, you've started to distress your mandolin the right way- by playing it!

**Ben Milne** · Jun-11-2012, 9:28am

An armrest would do the trick.

Personally, I wouldn't bother with the touchup. The finish on these things is very brittle and will chip easily, so as long as you use this instrument for its intended purpose, it's going o get a few battle scars.

Within a week or two of getting my LM-700 I had it on the couch next to me and dinged it a little on the lower bout, with the headstock of another mandolin. Briefly disappointed, I put it down to a lesson, which in turn led me to create a one mandolin the couch at a time policy. I don't treat it roughly, but I do have the attitude that it's a musical tool and will be played accordingly. It's not a collectors instrument, and it's not irreplaceable. If I decide one day to sell it, I may or may not take a depreciation hit. Considering the price I paid wasn't a great amount I won't be devestated if I take a hit, it will depend on whether any alterations I do to it are seen as desirable or disappointing to the buyer. In the mean time I will have had my sweet time with it.

**billkilpatrick** · Jun-11-2012, 9:33am

Originally Posted by Paul Busman

You mean about the guy you shot, just to watch him die, and how he knocked the mandolin off the table as he fell, causing the dings? Works for me.

yep' - but we wuz' younger then.

show us them scars ...

**multidon** · Jun-11-2012, 10:12am

If you would like a cautionary tail against doing lacquer repairs when you don't know what you're doing, just read my thread titled "lacquer repair update and questions. I had a chip and a crack in a mandolin finished with lacquer. As this was not an expensive mandolin I thought I would use it as my first attempt at lacquer repair. Tried to do a drop-fill with a toothpick. When sanding it level I accidently sanded through. Bigger repair to attempt. Wasn't satisfied with the results so I re-did it and the area expanded. Looked worse and lacquer dripped down the sides so now they were involved (didn't bother masking). Now I am faced with, at the least, completely refinishing the back and sides. All this from trying to repair a relatively insignificant chip and crack. I am firmly resolved to make it right and I will keep trying until it is right but this is a worst case scenario of how things can get out of hand with finish repairs. If I had it to do over I would have just let it be.

**NG53** · Jun-11-2012, 2:14pm

Originally Posted by multidon

If you would like a cautionary tail against doing lacquer repairs when you don't know what you're doing, just read my thread titled "lacquer repair update and questions. I had a chip and a crack in a mandolin finished with lacquer. As this was not an expensive mandolin I thought I would use it as my first attempt at lacquer repair. Tried to do a drop-fill with a toothpick. When sanding it level I accidently sanded through. Bigger repair to attempt. Wasn't satisfied with the results so I re-did it and the area expanded. Looked worse and lacquer dripped down the sides so now they were involved (didn't bother masking). Now I am faced with, at the least, completely refinishing the back and sides. All this from trying to repair a relatively insignificant chip and crack. I am firmly resolved to make it right and I will keep trying until it is right but this is a worst case scenario of how things can get out of hand with finish repairs. If I had it to do over I would have just let it be.

Don, I am firmly with you on what you learned trying to fix a minor chip and a crack. The aim of my thread was to to evaluate whether to leave it or not. Having had some really good replies, I probably going to leave it. Thanks to and others for your advice and help.

**Pipeous** · Jun-12-2012, 3:02pm

I like the chips and dings, it means it's getting played

**Bill Stokes** · Jun-12-2012, 3:35pm

I like the chips and dings, it means it's getting played

Then you'd like my violin.

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I tried to show up the top, which is pretty "played in." It's a Hornsteiner, from Mittenwald, circa 1890.
I should look so good at 120 years old.

**NG53** · Jun-13-2012, 5:27am

I ended up dotting the dings with a fine Pentel pen marker. They are now indistinguishable from the rest of the black area. If I polish it, I will add more marker to the white areas.

**Bill Stokes** · Jun-13-2012, 7:41am

Way to go!
I know it's gut-wrenching when your perfect, unblemished instrument takes a hit. I have cursed a blue streak when my guitar got dinged.
It's amazing what buffing will do for a nitro finish, though. My guitar had an ugly smudge from contact with a neoprene strap. Guitar polish wouldn't do a thing, but a luthier buffed it up and made it look like brand new.

**EdHanrahan** · Jun-13-2012, 9:11am

Originally Posted by Bil

... It's amazing what buffing will do for a nitro finish ...

YES! When I bought my well-used D-35 in '90 or so, it had lots of blunt dings in the top along the edge of the lower bout, as if it had been leaning against a bandstand and been kicked a dozen times too often.

Since it needed a minor repair anyway (yes, the price was really right!), it spent a month or so at Mandolin Brothers. When it came back, the dings were 80% or 90% gone! Not disappeared, but raised, flattened, and smoothed out; hardly noticeable to a casual look. The repair tech (now their head guy), Leroy Aiello, explained that the buffing process tends to warm & soften the surface, encouraging the wood to expand back to its original shape. Buffing wasn't part of the required repair but the result, and his extra effort, thrilled the heck outta me!

Lots of folks have played it since, w/ feedback on how good it sounds & even offers to buy. Not a single comment about the dings that are still there, but only obvious if you go looking looking for 'em.