Bumpy Texture to Quilted Maple Top

[NedRyerson]

I bought a junky body off of Reverb (again, dangerous place) with a quilted maple top. Seller was up front and honest, saying the thing needed a TON of work to get it remotely decent. I went in with no illusions as to its condition.

The lam top has a noticeable texture. It's not the illusion of texture, as I understood quilted maple to have, but actual texture. Is that normal for QM or could that be the result of environment, manufacture, none of the above, all of the above?

I'm fairly confident that if I put in the elbow grease over a long period of time, I could rehab it into something lovely.  I was just curious about the characteristics and behavior of woods (still learning over here) to set my expectations to a reasonable level.

 

[bagman67]

Could it be that the grain was raised by using a water-based stain or something, and then finished without knocking it down?  That's what comes immediately to mind for me.  If that's the case, I'd strip the body and then sand it level with a block before refinishing.  And sand with a block for the rest of the project, too, to avoid unevenness.

 

[PhilHill]

Couple of questions, what type of body as in flat top or carved? how thick is the laminate? if it's thin, there's the possibility of bubbles or uneven adhesion under the lam. Or, it could be as Bagman says and the grain got raised and wasn't taken care of properly. If it's flat perhaps it wasn't planed or sanded properly and is wavy. You'll get some texture to figured maple, but it shouldn't be as deep as ash or oak..... :headbang:

 

[NedRyerson]

Flat top, and I'm not positive how thick the lam is -- maybe 0.7mm if I measured and interpreted my caliper correctly. I can feel the "waves" so to speak and there are visible valleys in the figure. The valleys are shiny from a top-coat or sealant of some kind that was applied, and the peaks were sanded a bit before it got to me.  I sanded some more by hand (hesitant to apply too much pressure lest I sand through the lam) to see what I could do.

The attachment shows where I'd applied some yellow dye as an experiment, then saw it pooling up which told me there was still that sealant or coating on it, so I ended up wiping it off. That left some of the color in the valleys (as well as in some of the patched screw holes).

 

[mayfly]

wow - it's like it's scalloped or something!

 

[Rick]

Stay in the hills avoid the valleys

 

[PhilHill]

If it's actually like a wavy surface, I'm betting the laminate has wrinkles. It either wasn't glued down right or has since suffered some trauma involving heat or moisture and separated in spots. Depends on what they glued it down with. 

 

[mayfly]

Hey - when you tap on it, does the sound change on the high bits as opposed to the low bits?  That would indicate hollow in the high bits...

 

[NedRyerson]

Hey - when you tap on it, does the sound change on the high bits as opposed to the low bits?  That would indicate hollow in the high bits...

Not that I could tell, but that doesn't mean it's not true.

Probably was just a confluence of unfavorable events when this was built and attempts made to rehab it (hence the $35 price tag).

 

[Rick]

At 35 bucks ... sand away!

 

[wildbill]

Ash does that if you aren't careful sanding, the difference in soft wood and hard grain creates scallops. There are a zillion kinds of maple, soft, hard, but none of them should be soft enough to do that trick. I am wondering if some gad-awful finish chemistry caused the softer part of the wood to deteriorate or it was improperly stored for a few decades before it became a top. I agree with throwing the 60 grit to it and see if you can get below that mess before you run out of cap. Since you don't have a lot invested. Will be following, this is interesting.

 

[jay4321]

$35 is probably the right price assuming the rest of the body is to spec (neck pocket, etc). You’re probably looking at sanding off 1mm+ worth of lam and glue. If it were mine I think I’d try my luck with a heat gun and scraper.

 

[PhilHill]

What you've gotten here for your 35 bucks is an educational experience in dealing with lam tops. I agree that your best bet is to go ahead and try sanding it out. If it ends up blowing through the laminate, then just take it all off and apply new laminate. As your sanding take a straight edge and lay it across the body and measure between the the bottom of the straight edge and the bench in several places both side to side and length wise. If your measurements are similar that tells you your staying flat across the top. Use 60 or 80 grit to cut thru the finish then move to 120 to smooth it out. If you stay on the lower grits too long it might cut too far before you realize. Good luck on it..... :headbang:

 

[NedRyerson]

Thanks for all the helpful tips, everyone. Got a couple of other projects ahead of this one in the hopper, but since they're all on hold for various reasons, I figured I'd take a look at this one again while waiting.

But you've all given me some great direction and things to try.