STEAMING OUT DENTS IN A ’ 71 MEDALLION FLYING V BY JOHN BROWN
When it comes to Gibson’s Flying V guitars, most
V fanatics rank the Medallion
model as one of the most desirable. In 1971, Gibson made a
limited edition of 350 of these
guitars, which were intended to
commemorate the then-upcom-ing 1972 Olympic games. The
design was based on Gibson’s
’ 67 Flying V, with its short
headstock and detailing. Added
to this was a gold-colored coin
inscribed with the Gibson logo
and inlaid on the front bass side
of the body. Each Medallion V’s
1 7/16"-diameter coin was also
inscribed with a digit representing its serial and production
number. (Although a few had a
stamped serial number on the
back of the headstock.)
The subject of this month’s
column—#18—was definitely
out of Gibson’s first production
batch. This Medallion Flying
V arrived at our shop in dire
need of a finish restoration.
Most of the original finish had
been stripped away, and the
guitar had then been covered in
a light, handrubbed oil. There
were slight visual signs to confirm that the original finish was
once a Gibson cherry red.
I used acetone and a white
(I’ll explain later why this is
important), lint-free cotton
cloth to remove the oils that
had soaked into the Honduran
mahogany. To avoid any adhesion issues, you must do this
before applying any nitrocellulose
lacquer. To fully clean the wood,
I repeatedly wiped the body
with fresh cloths, and I kept
wiping an area until my cloth
didn’t show any oil discoloration.
When working with acetone,
remember to wear protective
gloves and eyewear, and be sure
to have proper ventilation.
During this process, I also
noticed a couple of small dents
and one large body dent. I
knew I needed to tend to these
The medallion that gives this
limited edition Flying V its name.
The challenge: Can you remove a
large dent from a guitar body before
refinishing it?
Dabbing scalding water to the
dent with a Q-Tip.
If the Q-Tip doesn’t work, it’s time to steam out
the dent with a 900-degree soldering iron.
Voilà! The dent is gone and the body is ready for its
new finish.
before I sprayed transparent
cherry red finish on the guitar
again. If I didn’t remove the
dents, they’d glare through the
finish and be an eyesore.
I knew the largest dent—
which measured 1" long, 1/8"
wide, and 1/16" deep—would
be the biggest challenge to
remove and feather in. For my
first attempt at doctoring this
indentation, I poured a little
water into a coffee cup and
brought it to a boil in a microwave. I then used a Q-Tip to
apply the hot water to the damaged area, hoping to swell the
compressed wood to its original
state. I wanted to try this technique first, because it’s the least-abrasive option.
Before long, I could see that
the wood was not going to move
easily. I only achieved a 15-per-
cent improvement, so I knew I
needed to really increase the heat
and begin steaming from the
depths below. If you ever try this
technique, I’d suggest first work-
ing on a scrap piece of wood
of the same species to get a feel
for the process before doing it
on a guitar. This will help avoid
incurring further damage.
JOHN BROWN is the
inventor of the Fretted/
Less bass. He owns and
operates Brown’s Guitar
Factory, a guitar manufac-
turing, repair, and restoration
facility staffed by a team of
talented luthiers. His guitar-tool and acces-
sory designs are used by builders all over the
world. Visit brownsguitarfactory.com or email
John at info@brownsguitarfactory.com.
