Refinishing Marlen U-12

[Dave Yustin]

Bought a Marlen U-12. It's mechanically sound and plays great. The body looks nothing like it did in the pictures when I bought it. Alot of bar dings and scratches. I'd like it to look as good as it sounds.
Here's my first questions.
What's the best method of removing the old finish? Are there special precautions for the wood inlays to avoid dmaging them?
I'm guessing that the body and inlays are different woods and that they'll attain a contrasting tone when stained?
I'll ask about new finishes later, if I get a handle on the first step.
Thanks
Dave

[Pat Comeau]

Hi Dave, if the finish is not that bad...i mean like if the scratch and dings didn't go through the stain and wood; you could just repair the lacquer and buff it to a shine afterwards , one can still fix the stain and come real close to the original if you'd have to and go that road, the other choice would be to sand the hole thing and replace the inlays cause it'll be almost impossible to remove the lacquer and stain without touching the inlays cause those inlays are usely 1/64" to 1/32" so you don't have much thickness to play with and the stain is sometime deep in the wood, the best thing in my opinion is try to repair it first if possible and if not...than you'll have to refinish it with new inlays ect... .

i haven't seen you guitar close so i'm just speculating with some info i've done and learned that would work for you, to be 100% sure i'd have to examen the guitar, you'd be surprised what you can repair with lacquer ..

Pat C

[Dave Yustin]

Thanks Pat. The bar dings and scratches aren't through to the wood. it appears they're just in the laquer or clear coat. Ypur advice on just repairing the lacquer would be my preference, sounds alot easier. I'm guessing you'd wet sand it down to 1000 grit or more and then re shoot the lacquer? Any books or instruction out there I should get ahold of?
Dave