Originally Posted by: lilleyenI recently was given a 1974 ish (I think) Harmony classical guitar.
Getting back into playing after a 25 year hiatus. (Got as far as grade 2 then)

So far I have put new tuners and strings on it.
It has been abused and used but has a nice tone, and I like it. (and the price was right)
The neck is straight and the bridge seems sound.

There are a lot of scratches and marks on the back and one place that looks like it had duct tape on it for a long time.

My main concern though is several areas on the sides and a few on the back where the finish is sort of bubbled. It even seems charred a bit. I scraped a bit of this black stuff off with my pen knife, and below the surface it seems to be a buff or flesh colour softer stuff.
Didn't scrape any more as I don't want to dig any holes.
It had been stored in a dampish basement for several years, if that's a clue.

I'm not after a new showroom finish (some marks add character I hear), but I was wondering if there was some way to spot refinish these specific areas so they don't look quite so bad.
2000 grit paper, and some varnish or shellac maybe?

I've heard/read that the older Harmony guitars were built from aged woods and no laminates used (before guitar woods got so rare and expensive).

Can't tell yet if this is true in my case, but it does sound good, even with a few small cracks in the top. Nice action too, for a classical.
(It would cost me a lot of money today to buy a guitar with no laminated wood in it.) I'm recently retired so I don't have a lot of money to throw around, but I have lots of time and patience.

Would this be a shellac finish or lacquer or varnish?
Does anyone know? Is there a way to test the finish and find out?
Appreciate all/any help I can get here.

I like to use a product called : Old English comes in diff colors for Furnture works awesome on hiding nicks and dings and provides a shine.