[Nathan Slingerland]

OK - I need some advice.

I finally got a chance to strip the top of the 370 - and the top cleaned up surprisingly well!

Whatever finish was on it was very thick and was very slow to come off with lacquer remover. I switched to Citristrip which takes more time but seems to be more reliable:

[Image: http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w374...oe7lme.jpg]

Option I - Repair

There are a few scratches. But the big concern is obviously matching the missing pieces of veneer. Both in terms of grain pattern - as well as color. I'm a veneering novice - and am not confident that the patches wouldn't be obvious after refinishing.

Option II - Replace

The top looked so bad initially that I ordered replacement veneer from Constantines (note to self: always strip first and order veneer after!). Here's what that looks like:

[Image: http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w374...b4dmbo.jpg]

For the new veneer I'm mostly worried about trimming it precisely and neatly enough (especially the hole for the dial). It will also look slightly different than the original since on the original the four corners are actually made up of separate pieces of veneer (total: 8 pieces) whereas the replacement is made up of four pieces. The effect on the original is pretty subtle so my inclination is that's probably not a big deal.

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Any sage advice / recommendations for the best path to take? Repair or replace?