I have a 50s WMP Gretsch snare and the wrap was peeling. Someone, it would appear, re-glued the wrap and sanded around the seem, probably to clean excess glue. The sanded area is dull and scratchy from sandpaper (probably).
So here are my questions; Is there any way to polish up the wrap so it doesn't look dull and scratchy?
Also, what is the best adhesive to re-glue the seam?
Could I use super-glue?
Do I need to heat it up to keep it from curling back up?
if it's a small repair, good ole PVA (weldbond, titebond) should work.
As for polishing, I've used Turtle liquid wax may times to bring back the shine of old wrap. Just keep it off the wood.
Takes 10 or a dozen coats but it really makes a difference.
The very fine abrasive plastic headlight lens cleaners/polishers available at auto supply stores work very well. I've used one recently called plastX on my tired old lenses as well as on a fair amount of old nitro-cellulose wrap. It worked very well on both. I even had a kit with wrap that was heavily inundated with lots of micro cracks and had lots of oxidation surrounding those cracks. It improved even that wrap to a point that I could sell the kit.
Scratch marks from sanding are unfortunate and a 100% no-no. They needn't happen but some of that damage can be taken away with PlastX( or equivalent). The deep scratches are almost impossible to remove but you can get a shine on the material surrounding those scores and they might not be so noticeable.
Wraps are very sensitive to solvents that dissolve them. A glue bond might look and feel great , as soon as done but 6 months later, the wrap could be discoloured or worse. Stick with water soluble contact cement for repairs of lifted wrap. That's what is used as an O.E.M. product , so follow suit and you won't be disappointed in the future.
The Novus system should work for the scratching...Start with #2 and then polish with #1...Follow the directions for best results and have lots of clean lint free towels on hand...
I haven`t had to use #3 yet and by the sounds of it, I don`t want to either!!
The headlight lens cleaner that calfskin talks of should work as well...
Cheers
The PlastX is probably a good idea. As to Novus, I have used #3 on wraps that had light scratches and it has done a fine job with some elbow grease. Follow with #2 and polish with #1 and you are good to go. I have not tried actually waxing a wrapped finish and wonder how different that would be from the Novus polish. I would think that actual wax would add a layer of "shine" that the polish doesn't but would love to hear some opinions.
