Neck dings

[Chordite]

I made the mistake of lending a girlfriend my tele copy to learn on. Unfortunately she has put a few small dings in the back of the neck bless her

They are only about 4mm across but I can feel them.

Rather that sand it down and trying to re-lacquer I was contemplating trying to fill them with a few layers of clear nail polish and smoothing it level when it dries.

Has anybody tried this? or got a better method?

[sammyreynolds01]

I take it she played it with rings on? LOL. If it doesn't hinder your playing then I wouldn't worry about it. I have a couple of guitars that have dings on the neck. But to answer your question, nail polish would work and also superglue.

[billybilly]

I made the mistake of lending a girlfriend my tele copy to learn on. Unfortunately she has put a few small dings in the back of the neck bless her

They are only about 4mm across but I can feel them.

Rather that sand it down and trying to re-lacquer I was contemplating trying to fill them with a few layers of clear nail polish and smoothing it level when it dries.

Has anybody tried this? or got a better method?

 

 

That will work. As always, scuff a litttle before applying.

[knotty]

Dings in then neck? She has to do a forfeit of your choosing. Its standard practise.

[jtr654]

It's copy of a Tele???

[Chordite]

@ jtr654

It's a tele copy by Shine, like this one but cream

http://www.saein.co.kr/

@ Knotty

The above mentioned rings complicate the forfeit

[groovezilla]

I heard from a reputable luthier that you can sweat the dings out by putting a wet cloth on it and the putting a soldering iron over the wet cloth. This will steam the water into the wood, expand and then fill in the dings. It might be interesting to see if there is a YouTube video that demos this method.

[jtr654]

Never heard of Shine guitars. Looks like a MIK or MIC guitar?

[Virgman]

Never heard of Shine guitars. Looks like a MIK or MIC guitar?

 

Shine is the in-house brand name of a Korean company that makes lots of guitars in their Korea and China factories.

 

http://saein.co.kr/

 

"Our main business is OEM for famous brand Epiphone."

"We are an OEM vendor for famous brand Ibanez, and Peavey."

[knotty]

I have seen Shine guitars at meadowhall, a massive shopping centre near us. Never tried one, all have dont touch labels.

Always amuses me that in most shops you can just pick up £1000 guitars but the cheaper ones get all anal about Their £150 babies.

They look ok though.

[Freeman Keller]

If they are true dents into the wood you can steam them out by placing a damp rag on them and heating with a small soldering iron. If they are just dings in the finish or after you have steamed them out you can drop fill. Best to use whatever the original finish was - particularly if it was lacquer (nail polish is probably pretty close) but in a pinch you can use medium viscosity CA (super glue). SCRAPE it back level (I like a razor blade or box cutter blade - put cellophane tape on it other than just a small section to use as the scraper). Sand and polish with micro mesh to 2000 or higher grit, then polish with compound.

 

Don't "sand them down and re-lacquer them" - you are opening a huge can of worms if you try that unless you are really set up to do finishing work.

[Chordite]

Hard to photograph but 3 clusters like this

[Jarl Sigurd]

Neck dings suck. I can deal with dings on the body and maybe the headstock, but not the neck.

 

Otherwise, I have heard of success with the steam method (mentioned earlier) of reducing or removing dings on the back of a maple neck. Also, I've heard of chip / divet / small ding filling using superglue and wet sanding with 400 and 800 grit sandpaper. The superglue repair is virtually invisible. There are, or were, several YouTube videos on this type of repair.

[gardo]

Instead of removing them you could give it the Dean Zelinsky treatment

 

[Chordite]

Hey that is cool, something I had missed thanks

 

 

 

Progress report:

The irony of the steam method is that it worked on the big ding because the varnish was broken and the steam could get underneath, but it didn't touch the small ones which will now get the nail polish treatment.

[Phil O'Keefe]

I heard from a reputable luthier that you can sweat the dings out by putting a wet cloth on it and the putting a soldering iron over the wet cloth. This will steam the water into the wood' date=' expand and then fill in the dings. It might be interesting to see if there is a YouTube video that demos this method.[/quote']

 

I think I read an article by Dan Erlewine years ago where he described a ding repair method similar to that... he has also done some how-to articles on using a toothpick and lacquer to build up dinged areas in finishes. Lacquer will "melt" into the existing lacquer, making a fairly seamless repair. I can't imagine the guitar that was pictured by the OP is finished in lacquer though... it's probably polyurethane or polyester. I'd try the clear nail polish trick, but test it first on an inconspicuous area of the finish to make sure it's compatible with the existing finish.

[Freeman Keller]

 

I think I read an article by Dan Erlewine years ago where he described a ding repair method similar to that... he has also done some how-to articles on using a toothpick and lacquer to build up dinged areas in finishes. Lacquer will "melt" into the existing lacquer, making a fairly seamless repair. I can't imagine the guitar that was pictured by the OP is finished in lacquer though... it's probably polyurethane or polyester. I'd try the clear nail polish trick, but test it first on an inconspicuous area of the finish to make sure it's compatible with the existing finish.

 

Phil, I've done a lot of drop fills on poly finished guitars using CA - it doesn't melt in like nitrocellulose lacquer will but it fills the dings pretty well. If I know the finish is lacquer I'll use some thickened lacquer, but its CA for everything else.

 

btw - quick and dirty test for what the finish is - take off a tuner so you can work in a spot that will be hidden. Put a drop of denatured alcohol on it - if the finish softens it is French Polish (shellac in alcohol, which you will not find on electrics but might on acoustics and classical guitars). Then put a drop of lacquer thinner (nail polish remover will work) - if that softens the finish it is nitrocellulose lacquer. If it doesn't soften I assume its catalyzed poly and I know that I'm not set up to do refinishing or touch up, but the CA will work for drop filling.

 

 

[Virgman]

I used the nail polish treatment of a neck ding and it worked ok.

 

I really hate neck dings.

[Chordite]

Removed (copyright issue)

[knotty]

Or maybe glue on a strip of Chordite patent Necksaver

 

 

(also available in pink if you have bad taste in guitars)

 

Around here we call it guttering.

[wankdeplank]

 

Phil, I've done a lot of drop fills on poly finished guitars using CA - it doesn't melt in like nitrocellulose lacquer will but it fills the dings pretty well. If I know the finish is lacquer I'll use some thickened lacquer, but its CA for everything else.

 

btw - quick and dirty test for what the finish is - take off a tuner so you can work in a spot that will be hidden. Put a drop of denatured alcohol on it - if the finish softens it is French Polish (shellac in alcohol, which you will not find on electrics but might on acoustics and classical guitars). Then put a drop of lacquer thinner (nail polish remover will work) - if that softens the finish it is nitrocellulose lacquer. If it doesn't soften I assume its catalyzed poly and I know that I'm not set up to do refinishing or touch up, but the CA will work for drop filling.

 

 

Not trying to hijack but I have a really nice Hamer Mirage II that plays like butter and sounds amazing but I think I may subconsciously avoid it due to a high neck ding near the 5th fret that I notice around the thumb pad. I plan on doing the wet cloth and solder trick (thx to you and groovy) but just wondering what lacquer to use for then touching up on a nitro finish. (Not that familiar with lacquers on the market). thx

[Freeman Keller]

 

Not trying to hijack but I have a really nice Hamer Mirage II that plays like butter and sounds amazing but I think I may subconsciously avoid it due to a high neck ding near the 5th fret that I notice around the thumb pad. I plan on doing the wet cloth and solder trick (thx to you and groovy) but just wondering what lacquer to use for then touching up on a nitro finish. (Not that familiar with lacquers on the market). thx

 

Basically all the nitrocellulose lacquers are the same. They are very different from automobile lacquers and very different from water born lacquers. Nitro is solvent based which allows it to melt into old lacquer and form one homogeneous layer. The problem for you will be where to buy a small quantity. Most of the lutherie supply houses (like LMI and StewMac) sell nitro, but what you need is just a small bottle that you can let thicken. If you can find a builder who shoots nitro take a baby food jar and fill it about half full.

 

Nitrocellulose is a common finish on acoustic guitars but not electrics (maybe older ones). Most now use high tech catalyzed poly finishes - either UV cured or chemically catalyzed. Most of us amatures are not set up to shoot or repair poly finishes - I've had OK results with the CA trick on small repairs but I refuse any larger repairs.

 

Be very sure that your finish is nitro before you start - you can buy lacquer thinner at a hardware store (or use nail polish remover) - if it doesn't soften the finish it ain't lacquer.

 

Here is one of Erlewine's videos on the subject, there are some others at StewMac.com and Frets.com

 

http://www.stewmac.com/How-To/Online_Resources/Finishing/Fixing_a_small_chip_in_your_guitars_finish.html

[wankdeplank]

Wow Freeman, thank you so much. You're always so generous with your guitar wisdom, really nice to have you around. I've used a local builder a few times to do a few repairs, perhaps he can help with the nitro lacquer. Chicago made Hamer so I'm pretty sure it's nitro.