Guitar Care Question.

[thornygravy]

Hey guys don't know where else to ask this because I'm not part of any guitar communities or anything but,

I've had Gibson SG for about 4 years now, and I always kept it in superb condition. One day my buddy guitar gets stolen out of his friends car and has a few gigs within the next few. He asks me if he can borrow mine for the time being. I said sure as long as you pay for any damage that may be caused to it. He said sure np.

Long story short, I got it back and now theres a bunch of little surface scratches where his belt buckle repeatedly hit the body of it. He showed me them and said he'd pay for any materials/services I need to buy to get them buffed out.

So does anyone know what I can use to get these out? I was thinking something like Silvo or Brasso. Thankfully their not super deep and it doesn't look like the scratches cut into the wood but just on the outer clear coat.

Thanks for any help/direction, cheers.

[mrdeadfolx]

For the love of god, DON'T use brasso or silvo! The clearcoat finish on your guitar would likely suffer from it. Meguiar has a scratch remover that is best used for fine scratches, and I know from experience it works quite well. Also, if you have a high-gloss finish on your SG (some do and some dont), guitarscratchremover.com offers a REALLY high-gloss polish and scratch remover you might want to try. Hope this helps, good luck to you.

[thornygravy]

yea, mines high gloss. Thanks! I only said silvo because people use it on like psps, ipods, case windows, etc. I'll go with the stuff from guitarscratchremover.com either way, thanks again!

[mrarroyo]

Although there are quite a few products available I would suggest you take it to a professional to have the back buffed out. You will get a better job and avoid any additional damage to your guitar.

Although it would be more expensive for your friend IMO it is the best way to go about it. Good luck.

[bigshot]

Personally, I wouldn't touch it. Anything you do to try to polish it out is going to screw up the finish in the long term. If polish gets inside the cracks of the finish and soaks into the bare wood, you can be sure that is going to turn to black spiderwebs eventually. You can get the whole guitar refinished, but that is going to affect the sound of it if it's an acoustic.

The lesson to learn is... only lend beater guitars. (I learned this lesson the hard way myself.)

See ya
Steve

[no1likesme]

I would also leave it. A little buckle rash is good for a guitar, gives it character.

[tjkurita]

Another vote to leave it alone. It really is best to leave it.

[nor_spoon]

I think marks and signs of use give guitars personality. Looks good too.
Of course, I prefer to be the one that makes them on my own guitars...