Dents (dings) in wood

[Kirk P Brosius]

Greetings to all of you fellow Smith players.

I'm new to this forum but not to the very beautiful line of musical instruments we all love.

I am the second owner of a BSR5MW which I purchased from a player in the Chicago area and had it sent to me in Vail, CO. I was a bit concerned about the difference in relative humidity but a quick call to Ken set those concerns to rest. A spin of the trussrod nut and all is well!

Now it appears that I have been a little careless in my bass handling and have put a couple of very small dents in the wood. I'm not really "****" about this as these things will happen but, is there any way to repair these areas?

Also, what does the "W" at the end of the serial number on the neck mean?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Later, Kirk

[Steve_M]

One top tip I've done to my other basses (not my Smiths as they're not too badly dinged even after 5 years of gigging) is to use superglue (crazy glue as you guys in the states call it) on poly finishes instruments.

The glue seeps in under any lifted finish and if you build it up in layers its possible to abrade it back with a nail manicuring/buffing/polishing pad until its flush with the existing finish. Then just use the polishing side to bring the superglued repair up to the same shine as the surrounding finish.

I've done a couple of repairs on chips on poly finished graphite necks and it was virtually impossible to tell where the repair was unless you held the finish to the light and looked at slight distortions in the reflections.

I've tried it on a satin finished Spector 6 that I have and it wasn't quite so successful but it still passed all but the closest of inspections. The trick is to get a nail buffing pad that is as fine an abrasive as you can get without it being polish. The pad should have other surfaces for polishing and such. But having that fine abrasive side is the key.

[Ken Smith]

One top tip I've done to my other basses (not my Smiths as they're not too badly dinged even after 5 years of gigging) is to use superglue (crazy glue as you guys in the states call it) on poly finishes instruments.

The glue seeps in under any lifted finish and if you build it up in layers its possible to abrade it back with a nail manicuring/buffing/polishing pad until its flush with the existing finish. Then just use the polishing side to bring the superglued repair up to the same shine as the surrounding finish.

I've done a couple of repairs on chips on poly finished graphite necks and it was virtually impossible to tell where the repair was unless you held the finish to the light and looked at slight distortions in the reflections.

I've tried it on a satin finished Spector 6 that I have and it wasn't quite so successful but it still passed all but the closest of inspections. The trick is to get a nail buffing pad that is as fine an abrasive as you can get without it being polish. The pad should have other surfaces for polishing and such. But having that fine abrasive side is the key.

Steve, using Super Glue is not recommended for use with Oil/Varnish Finishes. Although it may work in some cases, this is not one of them.

[Ken Smith]

Greetings to all of you fellow Smith players.

I'm new to this forum but not to the very beautiful line of musical instruments we all love.

I am the second owner of a BSR5MW which I purchased from a player in the Chicago area and had it sent to me in Vail, CO. I was a bit concerned about the difference in relative humidity but a quick call to Ken set those concerns to rest. A spin of the trussrod nut and all is well!

Now it appears that I have been a little careless in my bass handling and have put a couple of very small dents in the wood. I'm not really "****" about this as these things will happen but, is there any way to repair these areas?

Also, what does the "W" at the end of the serial number on the neck mean?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Later, Kirk

There is a way to steam out small dents partially or entirely on Oil/Varnish finished Basses. It's a bit difficult to explain but if you call, we can walk you thru the steps. It may also need some finish touch-up as well.

The 'M' at the end is for the Walnut Top on your Bass which has a matching Back as well.