any repair for a pinky wear spot.

[Kevin Stueve]

Occasionally I see a mando in the classifieds that I would otherwise be interested in, but it has worn finish from the pinky of the previous owner and I can't get past that. So
is there a way to refinish that area

[marbelizer]

This thread might get more response in the Builders and Repair forum.

[Loubrava]

I posted up a similar thread about trying to touch up a pinky wear spot on my Weber and was told to leave it alone as I would do more harm than good. I took that advice and now I can really care less about the wear spot.

[Ron McMillan]

I can't offer any repair advice, but I do agree: pinky damage immediately makes me look elsewhere.

[Bill McCall]

Cover it with a small fingerrest if the sound is what you want. Out of sight, out of mind.

[Mark Gunter]

There are ways to do something about it but I don't think I could explain them well enough on the internet for anyone to be able to get the professional results they'd want. Variations of this would probably be my "go to" approach, but you're also asking about a case-by-case type of thing. A good finisher/refinisher/repairman has more than one trick up his sleeve and plenty of experience to guide him/her as to what steps to take in a given situation. So my answer to "is there a way to refinish that area?" would be, "Yes." But the "How?" - I wouldn't attempt to advise you on that.

[Ivan Kelsall]

If it's down to the bare wood & the wood itself is abraded,then it's tricky. To simply colour the wood to make it look less obtrusive,you could stain it using simple water colour paint = children's paint box stuff. Mix some & try it on a piece of bare wood until the colour matches,then VERY sparingly dab the paint onto the area of bare wood. After it's dried,all you're left with is micrograms of coloured pigment. Maybe a tiny application of Tru-oil could seal the wood - i've never used it,but others could advise.

I've used water colour paint to apply a bit of colour to 'worn' wood in the past, & usually applied a tiny drop of Teak oil to seal the wood afterwards. Water colour also works fine under French polish,
Ivan

[HoGo]

If it's down to the bare wood & the wood itself is abraded,then it's tricky. To simply colour the wood to make it look less obtrusive,you could stain it using simple water colour paint = children's paint box stuff. Mix some & try it on a piece of bare wood until the colour matches,then VERY sparingly dab the paint onto the area of bare wood. After it's dried,all you're left with is micrograms of coloured pigment. Maybe a tiny application of Tru-oil could seal the wood - i've never used it,but others could advise.

I've used water colour paint to apply a bit of colour to 'worn' wood in the past, & usually applied a tiny drop of Teak oil to seal the wood afterwards. Water colour also works fine under French polish,
Ivan

MY advice would be get it done by real pro. Even I (20 years in luthiery) would probably send it to original maker if possible as there are so many types of finishes and finishing techniques and very few are good at all of them and it is extremely easy to make a mess out of it.
If the wood is worn, then the only good cosmetic repair would be refinish of whole top counting with some loss of wood in the are to smooth out. There still may be noticeable stain in the wood from dirty/sweaty fingers.

[G7MOF]

Just put it down to patina!

[Mandoplumb]

I have a friend that is a good mandolin player and is blind. Once when talking of a "hand built" mandolin I commented that it sounded good but fit and finish was very rough. My friend said he didn't care how they looked it was how they sounded that mattered. More and more I'm learning to agree with him.

[multidon]

If it's a satin, matte, or whatever you call a dull finish, and it shows pinkie shine, you can hand buff the rest of the top to match the shine using a very fine cut polishing compound like Meguires or something like it. It takes a long time, and is tedious, but can be done. Others have reported satisfactory results. YMMV.

[DavidKOS]

There's another good reason for NOT planting your pinkie when picking.

It only works on banjo and lute.

[Mark Gunter]

Bottom line here is there is no correct answer, because Kevin's question is too broad - he's not asking about a particular mandolin, he's seeing mandolins in the classified with pinkie wear. Different levels of pinkie wear, different colors, different finish resins, different sheens, different price ranges perhaps . . .

Show us some pics of a specific mandolin and you might get worthy suggestions; show it to a good finisher or two in person and you'll get the best answers, but the way you've asked the question, my answer is "Yes." There is a way to refinish that area, and usually it does not involve finishing the entire top. Can't tell you how.

[fatt-dad]

some folks have done wonderful work with rhinestones.

Buy new if you don't like the former wear of others.

Learn to love the pickguard.

I don't really like the cover it with stain approach. Dude did that on my Flatiron 1N and it looked horrible. Love the mandolin though and a bit of alcohol removed the blotched effort. I'm thankful I got it back to bear wood. Now I'll put a bit of boiled linseed oil on it and it'll be just fine!

f-d

[Willie Poole]

One of my mandolin made in 1981 showed a bit of finger wear, I could see two layers of the finish so I used some light steel wool and distressed it, I didn`t take all that much of the finish off but that is one way to get rid of :finger wear"...

[mandroid]

Occasionally I see a mando in the classifieds that I would otherwise be interested in, but it has worn finish from the pinky of the previous owner and I can't get past that. So
is there a way to refinish that area

Assume this is rhetorical, theoretical, inquiry, and not a mandolin you own, that you are asking about..

Repair? Yes, Might find someone to refinish that portion, and/or
Putting a finger rest-pickguard on when it was removed,
allowing for that pinky touch wear. is of course an option.


.

[colorado_al]

Occasionally I see a mando in the classifieds that I would otherwise be interested in, but it has worn finish from the pinky of the previous owner and I can't get past that. So
is there a way to refinish that area

Is it the Weber Gallatin from Morgan Music you are talking about?

Distress it!

Just kidding. I personally wouldn't let something like that dissuade me from a purchase, but some folks like things as new.

[Mark Gunter]

Is it the Weber Gallatin from Morgan Music you are talking about?

Distress it!

Man, if that's the one, it looks really sweet. The scratch and finger wear wouldn't bother me for the right price, "it ain't hurt none at all." Offer $1,500 on it

It looks like someone may have brushed a little lacquer or something over that scratch. Could something be done? You betcha. Would I worry about it? Don't think so.

I recently bought an MT for a similar deal. Used by a gigging musician, it has its bruises, and I'll probably leave them.

He was a pinky planter.
Attachment 156566

It has a couple scratches.
Attachment 156567

And belt buckle rash on the back.
Attachment 156568

But it ain't hurt none.

[Chris Daniels]

Is it the Weber Gallatin from Morgan Music you are talking about?

That one may or may not have been the catalyst for OPs post, but there are a couple other mandolins in the classifieds with noticeable pinky wear plus two more that list it in the description.

In the three months late last year I spent perusing the classifieds trying to decide on what I was going to upgrade to, there were at least six that had the same issue and for those that piqued my interest it did keep me from making an offer at least once (an otherwise flawless Janish). For a once-in-a-life time must-have I probably would have overlooked it, perhaps going the cover it with a finger rest/pick guard route (though I'm not a big fan of them). I'm OK with general wear on a used player but I'd rather put any distinguishing marks on the instrument myself, and I don't plant so I couldn't even have faked it.

C.

[Mark Wilson]

My tag on question re pinky wear penetrating the finish: What % discount is reasonable to expect on a modern era mandolin?

Ex: VGC used mandolin that typically goes for say $2000 vs same VGC mandolin but with small amount of pinky wear spot to bare wood?

[Austin Bob]

I don't have any experience trying to repair worn finish on mandolins, but I know enough to understand there are multiple types of finishes out there, what might work for one would be completely wrong for the next. So the best anyone can do here is to offer general advice.

Think of a car with a primer coat, base coats and clear top coat. If it gets scratched, you can apply touch up paint, but there's no way to match the factory finish from a tube of paint. To make it even more complex, many mandolins have some sort of sunburst color pattern, so there's no single hue that matches the entire mandolin.

I would never attempt such a repair. I'd either cover it with a pickguard, leave it as is, or not buy it if I couldn't get past it.

[MikeZito]

Personally, I love the look of a much-played, road-worn, chipped, faded, scratched and scarred F-style mandolin; (think Bill Monroe's Loar) . . . which is very strange since I hate that look on most other instruments. I guess it's the whole 'Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder' thing . . . .

Anyhow, that Gallatin at Morgan Music looks almost like somebody tried to cover over one of the scratches with fingernail polish, or something like that. Eeech!

[pheffernan]

My tag on question re pinky wear penetrating the finish: What % discount is reasonable to expect on a modern era mandolin? Ex: VGC used mandolin that typically goes for say $2000 vs same VGC mandolin but with small amount of pinky wear spot to bare awood?

I would think another 10% or so. It seems like the base Collings MT runs $2349 new and is often available used for around $1600 in excellent condition, with significant player wear such as that described driving the price down into the $1400-1500 range.

I would never attempt such a repair. I'd either cover it with a pickguard, leave it as is, or not buy it if I couldn't get past it.

I agree with this advice. If the wear happened to a mandolin that you own, then I'd suggest sealing the wood so as to protect the instrument and install a fingerrest to hide it from sight. But if the wear is an issue for you, I wouldn't recommend buying an instrument with the pre-existing condition. There are plenty of other mandolins to choose.

[Mark Wilson]

Personally, I love the look of a much-played, road-worn, chipped, faded, scratched and scarred F-style mandolin; (think Bill Monroe's Loar) . . . which is very strange since I hate that look on most other instruments. I guess it's the whole 'Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder' thing . . . .

Yeah I like the distressed look when it's honest or skillfully done. me too. But when the blemish is on an otherwise pristine instrument it's not distressed - it's blemished

I would still consider buying it it I really liked it and got a proper discount.

[allenhopkins]

There's a bit of a disconnect when someone wants to buy a used instrument, but balks at wear caused by usage -- not structural damage (unless you mean Willie Nelson's "Trigger"), but finish wear.

Earlier Eastman instruments were often described as having "soft" finishes. I took my brand-new MDA-615 mandola to a friend's 70th birthday picnic, and played it outdoors in direct hot sunlight for a couple hours. Where my little finger contacted the top finish, it wore right through to the wood.

I had the the spot touched up by a repair tech, so that it was still discernible but not obvious, and had a clear plastic "pickguard" glued over the spot -- much smaller and less obtrusive than a "regular" pickguard. Not a perfect repair, but acceptable, IMHO -- and not particularly expensive.

Individual preferences are just that -- but "pinky wear" can be reduced in its visibility without drastic and expensive surgery. Were I a buyer now, I'd want to find the instrument that played and sounded the way I like it, and then investigate having the finish wear repaired by a good repair shop.