Super glue drop-fill: quick fix for finish chips

Fix a finish in a jiffy with super glue

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.”

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.

I decided to brush on little ColorTone Red Mahogany Stain to replace the color that went away with the finish chip.

#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.

Let your drop-fill dry completely. Go have lunch! You want this little drop of glue to be hard like crystal before sanding it. Go to a movie and let this sit overnight!

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.

Not too shabby!

After polishing with Micro-Mesh, the repair is smooth and shiny. I'm happy and so was the customer.

Hot Tip for Fingertips!

The late great Stevie Ray Vaughan gave me this tip for players who bend strings a lot: Broken skin or a cut on your fingertip can be fixed with the #20 Superglue. Just a small drop will hold the cut closed, even through a double trouble set!