Refinishing old guitar

I recently was given a 1974 ish (I think) Harmony classical guitar.
Getting back into playing after a 25 year hiatus. (Got as far as grade 2 then)

So far I have put new tuners and strings on it.
It has been abused and used but has a nice tone, and I like it. (and the price was right)
The neck is straight and the bridge seems sound.

There are a lot of scratches and marks on the back and one place that looks like it had duct tape on it for a long time.

My main concern though is several areas on the sides and a few on the back where the finish is sort of bubbled. It even seems charred a bit. I scraped a bit of this black stuff off with my pen knife, and below the surface it seems to be a buff or flesh colour softer stuff.
Didn't scrape any more as I don't want to dig any holes.
It had been stored in a dampish basement for several years, if that's a clue.

I'm not after a new showroom finish (some marks add character I hear), but I was wondering if there was some way to spot refinish these specific areas so they don't look quite so bad.
2000 grit paper, and some varnish or shellac maybe?

I've heard/read that the older Harmony guitars were built from aged woods and no laminates used (before guitar woods got so rare and expensive).

Can't tell yet if this is true in my case, but it does sound good, even with a few small cracks in the top. Nice action too, for a classical.
(It would cost me a lot of money today to buy a guitar with no laminated wood in it.) I'm recently retired so I don't have a lot of money to throw around, but I have lots of time and patience.

Would this be a shellac finish or lacquer or varnish?
Does anyone know? Is there a way to test the finish and find out?
Appreciate all/any help I can get here.

Hi Lilleyen..
You might try one of the Formsbys products..
Here some info on using tung oil..
http://www.formbys.com/products/tung_oil_direct.cfm
Good luck and happy polishing..
Gordon

Originally Posted by: lilleyen
Would this be a shellac finish or lacquer or varnish?
Does anyone know? Is there a way to test the finish and find out?
Appreciate all/any help I can get here.

It's likely to be a shellac finish, but that's just a best guess from a lot of reading.

Stewart Macdonald has supplies for refinishing guitars and some video tutorials.
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supplies.html

It's probably going to be challenging to say the least. I think the guitar will look "spotty" unless you do a total refinish, so maybe some Tung Oil would suffice. Just dab a couple of coats on any bare spots of wood to protect it.

Thanks Razbo and compart1, I did give it a wipe after cleaning with Watkins furniture rejuvenator and it helped a lot, but I still have those bubbled areas and the scratches to deal with.
I'll look into the Tung oil option right away to see what I can do with that.

Should I remove the bubbled/wrinkled finish with progressively finer grits of wet dry sandpaper starting with 200, (I have 500, 1500, and 2000 on hand), or would I be better off using a cabinet scraper?

There is a guitar repair shop here in town. Would it be worth just having him refinish it, or would that be an expensive option?

Could I find out if it's a shellac/french polish finish by applying a little alcohol on a rag somewhere inconspicuous? It would soften/melt the finish would it not?
If it is shellac, maybe that would make the touch-ups a bit easier to blend.
rub it on with a pad (french polish wise), and then do some 2000 grit and rubbing compound stuff to it.

As for the two cracks above the sound hole, I'll keep an eye on them to see they aren't growing, but they are not affecting the sound (I think), and they are not really too visible, so I'll leave them alone for now.

If I do decide they need to fixed, would a judicious application of crazy glue/cyano fix them or is this something best left to a luthier?

Lot of questions...

Thanks again for the help.

The tung oil was just a cheap easy way (to me) to protect any uncovered wood on the guitar. If you have a luthier nearby, maybe he could give you some price options to refinish. At the least, you might be able to get an idea what the problems are and what kind of finish it is. Then you can decide if you want to have a go at it yourself or pay up or maybe decide you like the weathered look :)

Here is a link to Project Guitar forum acoustic section. You can fine out pretty much anything you need to know from some real experts. Be prepared to supply pictures.
http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showforum=14

Originally Posted by: lilleyenI recently was given a 1974 ish (I think) Harmony classical guitar.
Getting back into playing after a 25 year hiatus. (Got as far as grade 2 then)

So far I have put new tuners and strings on it.
It has been abused and used but has a nice tone, and I like it. (and the price was right)
The neck is straight and the bridge seems sound.

There are a lot of scratches and marks on the back and one place that looks like it had duct tape on it for a long time.

My main concern though is several areas on the sides and a few on the back where the finish is sort of bubbled. It even seems charred a bit. I scraped a bit of this black stuff off with my pen knife, and below the surface it seems to be a buff or flesh colour softer stuff.
Didn't scrape any more as I don't want to dig any holes.
It had been stored in a dampish basement for several years, if that's a clue.

I'm not after a new showroom finish (some marks add character I hear), but I was wondering if there was some way to spot refinish these specific areas so they don't look quite so bad.
2000 grit paper, and some varnish or shellac maybe?

I've heard/read that the older Harmony guitars were built from aged woods and no laminates used (before guitar woods got so rare and expensive).

Can't tell yet if this is true in my case, but it does sound good, even with a few small cracks in the top. Nice action too, for a classical.
(It would cost me a lot of money today to buy a guitar with no laminated wood in it.) I'm recently retired so I don't have a lot of money to throw around, but I have lots of time and patience.

Would this be a shellac finish or lacquer or varnish?
Does anyone know? Is there a way to test the finish and find out?
Appreciate all/any help I can get here.

I like to use a product called : Old English comes in diff colors for Furnture works awesome on hiding nicks and dings and provides a shine.