Super glue drop-fill: quick fix for finish chips
Issue 0 October 12, 2006
Fix a finish in a jiffy with super glue
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Here's the chip.
Modern poly-based guitar finishes are hard plastic, and when they're damaged, pieces fall off. The simple repair we're about to do is called a “drop-fill.”
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I dabbed some Behkol solvent on it with a Q-tip. This shows how the chip will look with clear finish on it. The Behkol dries in a few seconds — enough time to show that the look is just a little too light.
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I decided to brush on little ColorTone Red Mahogany Stain to replace the color that went away with the finish chip.
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#20 Super Glue (medium viscosity) is my choice of finish. I squeezed some out onto the lid of a cottage cheese carton, and used the bent tip of a Drop-fill Toothpick for my brush. Be patient! Let the glue cure for at least several hours — the longer the better.
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Sand the drop-fill by pulling narrow strips of Fre-cut Gold Sandpaper across it under gentle pressure applied by your fingertip. "Run the grits" starting with 320-grit and working to 800-grit. This entire sanding operation takes less than 5 minutes; each grit gets no more than 30 seconds.
When I reach 800-grit, I switch to Micro-Mesh abrasives, using them wet. Micro-Mesh does the buffing. I keep strips of Micro-Mesh sandpaper in water at all times, hanging them on the rim of my cottage cheese carton of water.
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Not too shabby!
After polishing with Micro-Mesh, the repair is smooth and shiny. I'm happy and so was the customer.