A good bunch of finishing work mostly done for this 10 years old cedar/braz (2009).
The original finish was french polish for the top and nitro for neck/body.
1) Restoring the top :
The cedar top alone was having over 180 dents and scratches. It was like a chicken having picked his dinner over the top. First, it was a slow process filling as most as possible the dents using shellac. Once the surface having sufficient leveling, some french polishing sessions will bring the finish back in a good condition.
2) Restoring the body (When the cups are not welcome to the party…) :
Since many succion cups and nitro are one of the worst match a guitar can think of, here, three of them left permanent marks on the treble side. Also a large section around the junction of the back and the sides at lower block was also destroyed by heat or some contamination.
Once surfaces cleaned, and usually in such situations, to the bare wood, I first sealed with a light clear coat. then I had to spray and matched the original light translucid (homemade recipe) toner, and followed by a bunch of clear coats. Nothing fancy here, but the triky part is to sand it all perfectly flat to get a nice blend between new and old.
Nitro is nice at this.
Some french polishing over the top :
