Repairing a tobacco burst on a 25/50. Moved coil tap

[Derek Lenard]

I have a 1979 25/50 Les Paul custom that I am doing a repair on. It had a bigsby on it and the coil tap was moved. I found some similar grained maple and used it to plug the hole.

My question is repairing the tobacco burst where the hole was. I tried the stew Mac pens but the feathering is very prominent right where the hole was.

My thought was to air brush and add another layer of lacquer to seal it. Just get the air brush dialed in and hit that one spot.

Any other thoughts or tips on this one?
Here is a pic
https://imgur.com/gallery/0wJdvZ8

[Peter Wilcox]

This is off the wall, but I've used colored pencils to blend in feathered defects. I've got several sets of watercolor pencils (about 100) and I can usually find a close match, or by overlaying two. But nothing is perfect. If I wet them for use, I seal the wood with shellac first so the color can be removed if necessary.

[Barry Daniels]

The problem with an air brush is that the stain will also get on the wood adjacent to the repair so you will end up with a darker ring around the repair. I find that using small artists brushes with the proper colored finish allows better control. You can mimic the wood grain to blend with the existing finish. Sometimes it works well but other repairs may just be difficult to pull off. An artist pallet with some different colors helps to find the right blend.

[Derek Lenard]

Thanks for the reply. I ended up with the darker circle which I knew was going to happen but I added another layer of lacquer then one more coat of brown and I got it to fade a little better. I wasn't looking for perfect just wanted to hide it a tad better.