What finish on Peerless archtop?

[Kevin Stephen]

I have a Guitar Research/Peerless Eddie Durham archtop guitar that I am doing some mods on. Specifically, I have cut a different design for the sound holes. Previously f holes & am planning to bind the inside edges. Doing the binding because I want to practice doing it & because it's a laminate top. Anyway, I haven't exactly determined how to make the top edge flush, unless I sand the finish off around the edges & then do the binding or just sand it flush with the finish & seal it. In either case I will have to try to blend with the existing finish. I understand that Nitrocellulose lacquer will dissolve the existing finish & can be blended with the new finish. Anyone know what this guitar likely has on it? Any other insight into this project is appreciated.

Thanks,
kev

[Michael Lewis]

You are going to have your hands full, binding is usually installed before any finish is applied. If you are careful you can get it in without too much disfiguring of the finish, but it will be rather painstaking job to do it cleanly. Binding is usually scraped to final size, and final sanded just before applying finish.

Test the finish with lacquer thinner in an unobtrusive place, like under one of the tuning machines. If the finish gets soft and leaves a mark from the thinner it is nitrocellulose lacquer (probably), but if it doesn't show any trace or mark from the thinner it will be some sort of catalyzed poly finish.

[Kevin Stephen]

Thanks Mark,
I realize this will be an unconventional mod, but I have anticipated a few difficult areas. One is to keep the finish, which is pretty thin BTW, from chipping at the edge. I hope to use fine sandpaper to level the wood binding, so the finish is not chipped. I will taper the binding away from the top & then seal the binding with a thin water based finish. Was going to use some 1/16" mahogany that I have on hand, but think I will look for something that will be easier to bend & has tighter grain.

Thanks,
kev