How to repair the top of this Les Paul Standard?

[Gio Maletti]

Hey y'alls! It's been a while. I recently picked up a 2008 Les Paul Standard, and it looks like the previous owner tried to simulate Pete Townsendian pick wear on it at some stage. Bad idea, executed badly. Why? Why?!

The question is, what would you do? I don’t want it to be invisible, just less obvious. I could try to steam it out, but I wonder if that might damage the nitro. Drop fill? It’s a schlep, and there’s the distinct possibility I’ll get impatient and mess it up even more. Or just leave it alone? What do you guys think?

[Peter Wilcox]

I can't tell from the pics what is above or below the level of the finish. A lot of it looks like some liquid dropped on it and ran down. I guess the first thing I would do is scrape it down to the finish level, assuming a some of it is above.

[Gio Maletti]

Hi Peter, thanks for the reply. It’s all below the surface, “scratched” in without actually scratching the lacquer. It’s like he did it with a burnishing tool or something.

[Barry Daniels]

That is really strange. No pick could create damage like that in maple. Steam might work. I would definitely be worth trying and it should not hurt the lacquer if you are careful. Just place a wet rag on top of the area and touch a hot soldering iron on the rag to release some steam. Be sure to not allow the iron to contact with the finish.

[Gio Maletti]

Right? It makes no sense. I'll try steaming it and report back.

[JC Whitney]

Perhaps one of these was the culprit

… although it seems it would have scratched up the finish. Maybe drop filled at s some point?

[Jim McConkey]

When I looked at the closeups it almost looks to me like someone took a ballpoint pen and drew loops, maybe like they were scratching something out on a paper they had laid on the surface. The grooves seem uniformly round and loop at the ends. But other than steaming, I can't help much with fixing it.

[Gio Maletti]

Yeah, that's exactly what it looks like to me too. It belonged to this young guy from Connecticut, it was his first guitar (nice to be rich). He probably got stoned as a kid and tried to replicate pick wear. Funny, I traded a case queen Traditional (barely a scratch on the thing and it had a much flamier top) for this because as soon as I pulled it out of the case it felt intrinsically like a much better guitar. It didn't even have strings on it, I still haven't played a note on it yet. So it's a leap of faith for sure. Hopefully I can get these repairs done soon and then we'll see if my gut was right. I'm thinking that even if steaming works a drop fill may be necessary. How would you guys go about leveling the fill on the complex curves of a carved top?