Failed? DIY Guitar dent

[Ed Fones]

I am talking about around the edges of the damage. Not 2" or more either side. Perhaps I should have made that clear.

You are not going to hide that anyway unless you did a full job or a certain segment to hide the work like putting a painted stripe on that side of the damage etc.

Let him do what he wants.

 

[CoolCat]

for now Im going to

I just looked at the pics on a phone. How much detail can you see there? But it gives an idea.

If you wanted to start over..... get some acetone and melt out your superglue patch.

Little amount on a q tip. It will melt the patch long before it melts the surrounding finish.

That’s either a catalyzed poly or UV cured urethane. Hard stuff.

Once you get the stuff out of the chip, build it up with some wood dust and CA.

Just sand some wood and put a small amount of the fine dust in the chip. A teeny drop of superglue on the dust will soak in and make your patch hard as a rock.

Then get some black nail polish and fill the rest.

Build it up a bit higher than the damaged area (it shrinks)

When all cured, sand and buff.

Practice on some scrap if you need to, but I think you can do it and achieve a good result.

That sounds like a plan if this next TESTORS enamel doesnt get better.
Testors Enamel paint (wish I had used nail polish to dry faster)....will get some work then maybe..a small coat if its improved.

Part of this was to not spend money by a pro....and the other part is maybe getting it to a 5 , 6,7? ? where it looks "ok" from 6in/15cm...that would be ok.

This isnt for someone without patience for sure. That old guy- Pro..StewMac- Erlewine Videos talks about it, of course it looks like it takes him 10 minutes, but he also says if a persons lazy you get poor results.

This is maybe the simplest of all, plan shiny black! I cant imagine doing a complex quilted repair on the front of a instrument. Its definitely time consuming and for total hobby, not a customer or anything. I thought itd be fun, but its not really fun..lol. learning is ok, fun....but this is work, imo.

 

[spantini]

I'm either Pan full Left or full Right on something like this. If the repair isn't going to be a 100% job, then no matter what you do to it you're going to notice every time you look at it, and it's going to bug you. That's Pan full Left. Unfortunately, a 100% job could entail a whole body refinish IF a small local repair doesn't blend well. That's a Pan full Right. So.. whatever you can live with. I mean, it's not a $2500 Fender after all...

I thought itd be fun, but its not really fun..lol. learning is ok, fun....but this is work, imo.

It's not fun until it's over

 

[TAE]

I just looked at the pics on a phone. How much detail can you see there? But it gives an idea.

If you wanted to start over..... get some acetone and melt out your superglue patch.

Little amount on a q tip. It will melt the patch long before it melts the surrounding finish.

That’s either a catalyzed poly or UV cured urethane. Hard stuff.

Once you get the stuff out of the chip, build it up with some wood dust and CA.

Just sand some wood and put a small amount of the fine dust in the chip. A teeny drop of superglue on the dust will soak in and make your patch hard as a rock.

Then get some black nail polish and fill the rest.

Build it up a bit higher than the damaged area (it shrinks)

When all cured, sand and buff.

Practice on some scrap if you need to, but I think you can do it and achieve a good result.

Listen to RFR here, he is the "expert" on this subject ...He's one of them fancy luthiers cats.

 

[CoolCat]

yeah, great point.
but then it gets insane spending $$$$$ for replacing bodies...lol FULL REPLACEMENT...for a non-collectible normal production piece.
and another ding, dent could happen again and again and again! So for me its a "non-collectible" player guitar so I would probably go Full Pan Right and let it become a "used" player guitar. Im not buying new bodies every ding!

I'll be honest I didnt get any quotes from a Pro so I dont know what options vs cost would be. My buddy painted a guitar and paid over $400 and didnt like the final color , even though he approved it. Hes kind of obsessive in trying to maintain a perfection thing and doesnt play live or anything. He spends more time polishing guitars than playing ...for that showroom look. I would assume a full body paint job would be $400~500.
A blob-repair ,that I could still see up close $250 ish, I guess, and a fast slop touch up that covers it and seals it from continuing to chip $150?

good point, you bring to light the "endgame" of when the project is over and move on. Similar to mixing a song, aka: do you mix for 8 years the same album for perfection seeking or get it done and start Album 2.... or re-do all the tracks and never finish?

Lesson learned- Gloss Black Novice Beginner "chip" Touch up....

1) I dont think I would use this Starbond black rubber stuff again for this application.
2) I think, for Black, or white or solid colors... just build up the High Gloss over a week or two and sand down, Probably use Nail Polish quick dry instead of Testors take-forever to dry Enamel. ...
2a) maybe the first layer a clear super glue to stop the chipping, but then Nail Gloss.
3) I learned this aint easy and isnt a 1 day job. Probably wont ever do anything higher level. If a small chip in black, on the back kicks my ass...I dont want to waste time on anything higher level that will in the end still be a blob visually.

However to prevent a crack or peeling chip from getting worse maybe some clear superglue to stop it from spreading seems logical.

or just say f-it and let it roll.... Custom Relic Shop!! like Claptons Blackie!

 

[CoolCat]

I try to avoid the colored superglue. Whatever pigment is mixed in seems to interfere with the curing of the glue.

If I’m using CA glue for filling, I’ll put the color into the raw spot directly and use the CA to build up the chip.,

But for small chips in the paint, nail polish works very well. It comes in so many colors and you can always bring your guitar body in to match up the color.

That has the added benefit of the employees not thinking you’re Emo, Gay, or Trans. They’ll just think you’re nuts.....which is acceptable.

Just build it up slow and let each coat fully harden.

In the old days we’d use lacquer sticks and melt them in, but that stuff is hard to find nowadays and it’s labor intensive and takes practice to get right.

Thanks, TAE said you are one of them cats who've done this work. My hats off to you!
wow...its not as easy as the 10 minute videos show on youtube. Interesting the nail polish works... the rubbery-colored glue Starbond didnt work for me either.

I could see if a person had 4 quitars to fix, the tools would be required, buffers, and faster dry times important....man! its a slow process, imo.

 

[Ed Fones]

I'll be honest I didnt get any quotes from a Pro so I dont know what options vs cost would be. My buddy painted a guitar and paid over $400 and didnt like the final color , even though he approved it. Hes kind of obsessive in trying to maintain a perfection thing and doesnt play live or anything. He spends more time polishing guitars than playing ...for that showroom look. I would assume a full body paint job would be $400~500.
A blob-repair ,that I could still see up close $250 ish, I guess, and a fast slop touch up that covers it and seals it from continuing to chip $150?

Jeez I am gonna start a guitar repair business in America.

 

[CoolCat]

Ed...Im "guessing". But labor hours and skill, no ones going to work on something like this for $35 or $50? right?
I do know when he did the full paint work order, we both toured the shop...it was cool, paint booth and all that.
Labor intensive work. Reminds me of car body repair is so expensive too, labor hours are high.

Probably easier once a persons done a bunch of guitars over years. My friends so particular he would be a tough customer, I think he took it back once for some touch up also included in the $400. He had a stainless steel fret job was $545 I think. Looking at Google thats about right.

 

[Ed Fones]

Hey I'm not micky taking or anything.

 

[spantini]

Hey, just for kicks, check out this video. This guy patches a '53 Tele, then refinishes it like new. Then a cool surprise ending.

 

[RFR]

The irony here is that if it was an expensive guitar it would be easier to repair.

The caveat being knowing what you’re doing and having the proper facilities.

Why I say it would be easier, is the use of nitrocellulose lacquer being used on a lot of high end guitars.

Lacquer ‘melts’ into itself and you can achieve an invisible repair.

With Poly and urethane finishes this is impossible.

Anyway, blah blah blah.

Try to have some fun with it, do the best you can..... and quit smashing your guitars

 

[CoolCat]

the video is of a pro and obviously, he makes something very intricate and difficult look easy. the old "build a house in 30minutes!"
its amazing but a lot of work, little things like his specialty tools , the glue types, wow....it would take me $5000 to gather all the stuff and
40 trips to stores etc..

even the hand painting he says in 20 seconds, 3 coats of this and 8 coats!!! of that.....its a truck load of work.

thats the dude who says in one video "this isnt for the lazy"

the Relic part was even kind of interesting, of course he makes it seem like a 130 second task when it might have been 3 days or more, many many hours
beautiful job in the end, the wood piece is probably as perfect as a person can get , even he liked the outcome.

so how much would it cost to set up his shop, including tools and fans in the wall and lights and buffers and drills...$100k?

 

[CoolCat]

The irony here is that if it was an expensive guitar it would be easier to repair.

The caveat being knowing what you’re doing and having the proper facilities.

Why I say it would be easier, is the use of nitrocellulose lacquer being used on a lot of high end guitars.

Lacquer ‘melts’ into itself and you can achieve an invisible repair.

With Poly and urethane finishes this is impossible.

Anyway, blah blah blah.

Try to have some fun with it, do the best you can..... and quit smashing your guitars

Interesting, "with poly and urethane finishes this is impossible"......omg
Ive got a modern coat not Nitro too here. so I might have to be happy with a 4 of 10 job. It wont be visible from a meter away! just no close ups!
maybe just go Relic next time? nah....
this one is near mint, full case candy, low low hours.

my next black paint chip only has a blob of the black crap super glue...maybe I can take that off and do the FingerNail polish....its a Japan Fender and for the life of me I dont know how the huge chip was made on the back, all the way to the wood!?? It was mint condition Fender Pawn Shop 51 MIJ, gorgeous thing.... but it probably has urethane too.

 

[spantini]

the video is of a pro and obviously, he makes something very intricate and difficult look easy. the old "build a house in 30minutes!"
its amazing but a lot of work, little things like his specialty tools , the glue types, wow....it would take me $5000 to gather all the stuff and
40 trips to stores etc..

even the hand painting he says in 20 seconds, 3 coats of this and 8 coats!!! of that.....its a truck load of work.

thats the dude who says in one video "this isnt for the lazy"

the Relic part was even kind of interesting, of course he makes it seem like a 130 second task when it might have been 3 days or more, many many hours
beautiful job in the end, the wood piece is probably as perfect as a person can get , even he liked the outcome.

so how much would it cost to set up his shop, including tools and fans in the wall and lights and buffers and drills...$100k?

OK. I'ma do you a bigga favor. You give me the guitar and $50K and I'll send it back in factory new condition. There. I justa sava you $50K !!!

 

[TheSynthDev]

It sounds like you may have not had as much success as you had hoped. It's always a good idea to practice on a scrap piece of wood before trying to fix something on your actual guitar.

--
Jason Hook. I enjoy remixing old songs using Audacity together with UnMixIt for vocal removal or isolation

 

[Ed Fones]

I told him but????

 

[CoolCat]

well after enamel Testors paint and sand and polish, 2nd attempt its about a 2 or 3 result....the chip is filled in, it wont get worse so thats worth something.

cosmetically..lol...well...it looks real good from far away!

so if 10 is factory new...this is about a 2 or 3, imo.

 

[TalismanRich]

CC, how many people see the back of your guitar anyway?

I think I would have just used some Plastic Wood filler, let that get good and dry, do some sanding and give it a quick spray and buff job. I just had to do this on a door that had some of the veneer broken. About an hour dry time, some sanding and it's ready to paint.

Or, just get a big metal belt buckle and beat the crap out of the guitar's back. Nobody will even notice that little chip after seeing the gouged out back side.

 

[CoolCat]

lol...belt buckle mod

the whole idea was from watching the youtubes and it looked easy.
its not easy.

but when a guitar is mint its nice to keep it that way imo, if it was a live -tour guitar or loaner then let it go. no problem.
I might get some high gloss black finger nail polish and drop a little on it....Its heading to $40.

looked at it you cant see it, but in the sunlight or flash light its not good..lol not a life threatening deal, but wow, its harder than I thought.

 

[spantini]

It's not too terrible, but those large cutouts on either side of the neck... whew!