Hey thanks for posting this. I just acquired a 2002 reissue of a 1972 Natural Strat MIM and have the exact same issue on the lower horn. My piece of Poly is still intact but several cracks and lifting or a fairly large chunk of the finish. I posted the pics and questions on a Facebook guitar repair forum and the consensus seems to be that it is too difficult to repair and to just leave it as it is. Your video shows me that it CAN be repaired or at least prevented from getting worse without ruining the guitar. Thank you!
Very good tutorial. It looks like the clear coat separated across the entire bottom edge of the guitar. As you panned closer to the output jack, the color looks darker like it does in the newly patched area (where the resin makes contact with the wood). That would be a big chunk of finish to cut out and repair.
Excellent vid, thank you. I have a 73-76 fender fretless bass…The maple fingerboard is worn through in 2 places in the 7th position , do you think the gloss resin product you’re using could be used to fill in two shallow “gutters” that have developed?
Hmmm, I don't think so. The finish on a fretboard is not poly, like what is on a guitar body. But I am not an expert at this, you may want to consult Fender Customer Service.
I have a 85 Japanese contemporary squire (ST335) I lent it out for years it was seriously neglected, in the black finish there's spider cracks all over, well I started stripping it and where the finish was cracked there's hair line cracks in the wood, they are litterly a line nothing has opened up but if you run your finger over it you can feel a very slight line in the wood. I have a feeling if I just paint over it it will just crack the finish again. I'm guessing it was from environment changes like cold/warm/humid/dry? Do I need to v out the lines and fill them with a glue or something then resurface?
Aaron Waltz sorry to hear about the neglect on your guitar. It really sounds like a complete refinish is in order. i wouldn’t try to spot-repair the magnitude of damage you are describing.
very good video,,, but what is the reason that made the finish got separated from the wood like this. im going to finish my guitar and didn't decide yet what type of finish i shall use but im considering 2k automotive clears.
the previous owner dropped the guitar on edge. once these types of finishes chips, the damage will grow over time, loosening its grip on the wood body. i am not a big fan of these types of finishes.
Hi ! Thanks for sharing. I have same problem on my Classic Series 70' s strat (ashwood). Fender use some gold like color or yellow tint under finish coat. So paint not touched on your tele body, only finish chip. I'm less fortunate (. On my strat finish came down with paint (stain), so naturally ash is very light color (pale). Can you please advise what stain i must choose ? what i must do first, because this Polyester resin or super glue's was tranparent and the coating will be just transparent. May be minwax stains (golden oak) be good idea Thanks
shame that crack did not absorb the resin An idea for a next repair : a vacuum bag - after application of resin on the cracks. Vacuum bag as in composites fabrication might suck the resin in to the cracks as it pulls the air out of the separated finish.
@@hikefishmakemusic I discovered from another video that loctite makes a black superglue (480) that should do the trick nicely, seems to polish up well for a cyanoacrylate! It’s only a very minor headstock chip I’m dealing with, so the added cost of getting a UV torch and stuff doesn’t seem worth it, that’s good to know if I ever have any major damage though thanks!
I've got a mid-nineties Yamaha APX-6 classical guitar that has quite a bit of clouding in the finish on the back. Yamaha tells me it has a polyurethane finish and they don't know a way of fixing the problem but to maybe ask somebody who might be able to give advice on it. Would appreciate any input. Thanks.
I used to have that same guitar. Clouding is most likely a symptom of moisture affecting the finish. Without seeing the guitar, I recommend taking it to a luthier/restorer for a realtime professional opinion.
Have you tried using heat on it? I have carefully used a heat gun to remove a cloudy finish from a few guitars. Start on a low setting , hovering a a good 10" above the guitar. Keep the heat gun moving, don't stop over the same spot for longer than 1 second. Keep it moving all over the cloudy spots. Shortly you MAY see the cloudy finish start to dissapear right before your eyes. If that is the case, feel free to turn the heat on a high setting, and go at it. Obviously go at it with caution. Don't stay over the same spot for long. Keep it moving. Stay away from anything plastic, like the binding , plastic tuner handles, etc. Do this at your own risk, you may damage your guitar and make it worse! (Or you may fix the cloudy finish) .
@@Jimmy-rd5ig Yep, tried heat with no luck. I solved the problem by giving the guitar to a friend. I wasn't using it anyway, so one less thing to worry about. But thanks for taking the time to try and help.
Used that product in bulk making surfboards- it's original use. Direct sunlight is fine to make it "kick"/get hard- free UV light from mother nature. Two coats or even just one would of had the same result or better. The layers can delaminate from each other if previous layer was cured beyond tacky. Could Dremel down the crack line with a steady hand and fill it proper. You didn't mention the fumes, they fill the house.
yeah, good point on the fumes... I work with air-brushing and all sorts of adhesives frequently, so I have a well-ventilated negative-air-pressure ventilation system near my workbench area, so the fumes weren't an issue for me. Still, I failed to mention the potential fumes in a small, enclosed area. Duly noted. Regarding delamination of 3 layers of Solarex, you may experience that with large surfaces on surfboards, but I highly doubt delamination will be experienced on a 1" x 1" repair area on the butt of a guitar. Especially since the butt of the guitar is never/rarely exposed consistently to sunlight and saltwater, like a surfboard is. I wrote extensively about the uses of various UV-cure resins and the effect of varying UV cure light wavelengths in one of my books (Designing Poppers, Sliders and Divers), where I use multiple layers of UV-cure resins in lure making...never had a delamination problem to date. knock on wood.
And the first thing you done was not plug the screw hole, which undoubtedly got the wood wet inside and probably will cause the wood to swell and contact again. lol Sorry, I couldn't help but notice that. Great video though! Very nice outcome!
good observation, but i didn’t add water directly, i added the moisture as a polishing paste, so i really didn’t worry about it. Plus, i live in colorado where it is so dry that water comes out of the faucet as powder. things dry warp-speed fast here.
Call me a fool, but I would be the one who would strip everything off the wood and start from the beginning. I also the one whose mother said I always loved taking the long road. I am a trendsetter who walks the path less traveled but very inspiring!
Might be adequate repair on a cheap electric guitar but clients with expensive instruments would not accept that kind of result as I can see all the repair areas after completion
@@hikefishmakemusic Taylor acoustic guitars have poly finishes. The one I'm working on now retails for about $2600 new. This is NOT a disrespect. I appreciate this video very much. When I had a shop and built acoustic guitars, I used nitrocellulose lacquer. I was not at all familiar with the polyester finish and THIS guitar is a nightmare having been left out in the elements, heat, humidity and even rain on occasion. Why anyone would treat a guitar that way, I just don't know!
@@billjaynes9234 I am talking about electric guitar finished, not acoustic guitar finishes in this video. I have a Taylor 914CE - hard to tell it is poly. Taylor most assuredly is using a very different formulation of poly that what is used on a Fender thinline - they are no where close to being equal. Taylor's finish is far, far superior. It better be for the $4k price tag on my 914CE.
Expensive Fenders use poly. Any guitar with a finish built to last uses poly. If it was to look flawless you'd want to sand the whole butt down to wood and re clear that whole bottom surface, and maybe blend it in at the jack. A straight line blend is a lot harder to see than a blob like area. That would take a lot longer of course. I would do it in this case just to get the long crack out.
@@hikefishmakemusic obviously the witness lines on the finish here are evidence that this was a subpar repair. Visually you can see the boundary or the area you worked on. It's not a bad repair perse, but it's not the best approach.
@@southboundlive6328 can't wait to see a repair with CA glue for the size of a half dollar and 1/16" deep. Be sure to let me know so I can see the video!
Great vid, thanks. Considering how many guitars have this polyester finish, I can’t believe there aren’t more videos like this.
Hey thanks for posting this. I just acquired a 2002 reissue of a 1972 Natural Strat MIM and have the exact same issue on the lower horn. My piece of Poly is still intact but several cracks and lifting or a fairly large chunk of the finish. I posted the pics and questions on a Facebook guitar repair forum and the consensus seems to be that it is too difficult to repair and to just leave it as it is. Your video shows me that it CAN be repaired or at least prevented from getting worse without ruining the guitar. Thank you!
Give the repair a go at it...at least it will prevent further cracking and chipping off. Heck people pay big dollars for "distressed" guitars!
You are amazing, this gave me hope my friend 👍
Exactly what I needed! I have the same issue on the same guitar. Thanks for this video
Must be a quirk of this specific model. Mine has the same chipping, but on the front of the body.
Same here. Mexican made same model. Same issue on front
Very good tutorial. It looks like the clear coat separated across the entire bottom edge of the guitar. As you panned closer to the output jack, the color looks darker like it does in the newly patched area (where the resin makes contact with the wood). That would be a big chunk of finish to cut out and repair.
Yes, exactly
Great video! What product would you use for the same technique on a polyurethane finish?
looks much better after repair! just taught me never drop guitar :(
How'd you manage to restore the hardware to shiny and new?
Excellent vid, thank you.
I have a 73-76 fender fretless bass…The maple fingerboard is worn through in 2 places in the 7th position , do you think the gloss resin product you’re using could be used to fill in two shallow “gutters” that have developed?
Hmmm, I don't think so. The finish on a fretboard is not poly, like what is on a guitar body. But I am not an expert at this, you may want to consult Fender Customer Service.
YEP. Its a good'n. Thanks.
what about a Parker Fly?
I have a 85 Japanese contemporary squire (ST335) I lent it out for years it was seriously neglected, in the black finish there's spider cracks all over, well I started stripping it and where the finish was cracked there's hair line cracks in the wood, they are litterly a line nothing has opened up but if you run your finger over it you can feel a very slight line in the wood. I have a feeling if I just paint over it it will just crack the finish again. I'm guessing it was from environment changes like cold/warm/humid/dry? Do I need to v out the lines and fill them with a glue or something then resurface?
Aaron Waltz sorry to hear about the neglect on your guitar. It really sounds like a complete refinish is in order. i wouldn’t try to spot-repair the magnitude of damage you are describing.
very good video,,, but what is the reason that made the finish got separated from the wood like this.
im going to finish my guitar and didn't decide yet what type of finish i shall use but im considering 2k automotive clears.
the previous owner dropped the guitar on edge. once these types of finishes chips, the damage will grow over time, loosening its grip on the wood body. i am not a big fan of these types of finishes.
Hi !
Thanks for sharing. I have same problem on my Classic Series 70' s strat (ashwood). Fender use some gold like color or yellow tint under finish coat. So paint not touched on your tele body, only finish chip. I'm less fortunate (. On my strat finish came down with paint (stain), so naturally ash is very light color (pale). Can you please advise what stain i must choose ? what i must do first, because this Polyester resin or super glue's was tranparent and the coating will be just transparent. May be minwax stains (golden oak) be good idea
Thanks
shame that crack did not absorb the resin An idea for a next repair : a vacuum bag - after application of resin on the cracks. Vacuum bag as in composites fabrication might suck the resin in to the cracks as it pulls the air out of the separated finish.
Do you think Solar Res is appropriate to repair a poly chip on a maple neck?
if the chip is small, I would not hesitate to use Solares. Where is the chip and how big is it?
Do you think you could colour this stuff to fill in chips on a black guitar?
yes, it can be colored. search for epoxy powders on the net.
@@hikefishmakemusic I discovered from another video that loctite makes a black superglue (480) that should do the trick nicely, seems to polish up well for a cyanoacrylate!
It’s only a very minor headstock chip I’m dealing with, so the added cost of getting a UV torch and stuff doesn’t seem worth it, that’s good to know if I ever have any major damage though thanks!
I've got a mid-nineties Yamaha APX-6 classical guitar that has quite a bit of clouding in the finish on the back. Yamaha tells me it has a polyurethane finish and they don't know a way of fixing the problem but to maybe ask somebody who might be able to give advice on it. Would appreciate any input. Thanks.
I used to have that same guitar. Clouding is most likely a symptom of moisture affecting the finish. Without seeing the guitar, I recommend taking it to a luthier/restorer for a realtime professional opinion.
@@hikefishmakemusic Thanks for the info.
Have you tried using heat on it? I have carefully used a heat gun to remove a cloudy finish from a few guitars. Start on a low setting , hovering a a good 10" above the guitar. Keep the heat gun moving, don't stop over the same spot for longer than 1 second. Keep it moving all over the cloudy spots. Shortly you MAY see the cloudy finish start to dissapear right before your eyes. If that is the case, feel free to turn the heat on a high setting, and go at it. Obviously go at it with caution. Don't stay over the same spot for long. Keep it moving. Stay away from anything plastic, like the binding , plastic tuner handles, etc. Do this at your own risk, you may damage your guitar and make it worse! (Or you may fix the cloudy finish) .
@@Jimmy-rd5ig Yep, tried heat with no luck. I solved the problem by giving the guitar to a friend. I wasn't using it anyway, so one less thing to worry about. But thanks for taking the time to try and help.
Used that product in bulk making surfboards- it's original use. Direct sunlight is fine to make it "kick"/get hard- free UV light from mother nature. Two coats or even just one would of had the same result or better. The layers can delaminate from each other if previous layer was cured beyond tacky. Could Dremel down the crack line with a steady hand and fill it proper. You didn't mention the fumes, they fill the house.
yeah, good point on the fumes... I work with air-brushing and all sorts of adhesives frequently, so I have a well-ventilated negative-air-pressure ventilation system near my workbench area, so the fumes weren't an issue for me. Still, I failed to mention the potential fumes in a small, enclosed area. Duly noted. Regarding delamination of 3 layers of Solarex, you may experience that with large surfaces on surfboards, but I highly doubt delamination will be experienced on a 1" x 1" repair area on the butt of a guitar. Especially since the butt of the guitar is never/rarely exposed consistently to sunlight and saltwater, like a surfboard is. I wrote extensively about the uses of various UV-cure resins and the effect of varying UV cure light wavelengths in one of my books (Designing Poppers, Sliders and Divers), where I use multiple layers of UV-cure resins in lure making...never had a delamination problem to date. knock on wood.
*would have or would've. There is no such thing as "would of."
I think use of a sealer before applying the UV gel would have resulted in uniformity of color.. Still, I think you did a nice job.
And the first thing you done was not plug the screw hole, which undoubtedly got the wood wet inside and probably will cause the wood to swell and contact again. lol Sorry, I couldn't
help but notice that. Great video though! Very nice outcome!
good observation, but i didn’t add water directly, i added the moisture as a polishing paste, so i really didn’t worry about it. Plus, i live in colorado where it is so dry that water comes out of the faucet as powder. things dry warp-speed fast here.
@@hikefishmakemusic LOL Very nice job! I have to say, I was very impressed.
Call me a fool, but I would be the one who would strip everything off the wood and start from the beginning. I also the one whose mother said I always loved taking the long road. I am a trendsetter who walks the path less traveled but very inspiring!
I just removed all of that finish off of my telecaster, and im in the process of staining and using polyurathane finish on it
I'm sure that will look beautiful when it's completed.
Looking for help to repair two cracks in the face of an Fhole Gibson
cracks are a whole different animal...hope you find some local help from a luthier.
does the cracks affects the wood?
Nope
The neck is worth $150 alone ... great deal
Might be adequate repair on a cheap electric guitar but clients with expensive instruments would not accept that kind of result as I can see all the repair areas after completion
yeah, if you have an expensive guitar, it probably wouldn’t have a poly finish anyhews.
@@hikefishmakemusic Taylor acoustic guitars have poly finishes. The one I'm working on now retails for about $2600 new. This is NOT a disrespect. I appreciate this video very much. When I had a shop and built acoustic guitars, I used nitrocellulose lacquer. I was not at all familiar with the polyester finish and THIS guitar is a nightmare having been left out in the elements, heat, humidity and even rain on occasion. Why anyone would treat a guitar that way, I just don't know!
@@billjaynes9234 I am talking about electric guitar finished, not acoustic guitar finishes in this video. I have a Taylor 914CE - hard to tell it is poly. Taylor most assuredly is using a very different formulation of poly that what is used on a Fender thinline - they are no where close to being equal. Taylor's finish is far, far superior. It better be for the $4k price tag on my 914CE.
Expensive Fenders use poly. Any guitar with a finish built to last uses poly. If it was to look flawless you'd want to sand the whole butt down to wood and re clear that whole bottom surface, and maybe blend it in at the jack. A straight line blend is a lot harder to see than a blob like area. That would take a lot longer of course. I would do it in this case just to get the long crack out.
That crack could be easily filled with GluBoost!
CA thin Glue would've fixed that in half the time and you would've never seen the repair.
I don't think you've tried CA thin glue on wood and polymer. The wood will turn darkened and accentuate the yellowed original polymer finish.
@@hikefishmakemusic obviously the witness lines on the finish here are evidence that this was a subpar repair. Visually you can see the boundary or the area you worked on. It's not a bad repair perse, but it's not the best approach.
@@southboundlive6328 can't wait to see a repair with CA glue for the size of a half dollar and 1/16" deep. Be sure to let me know so I can see the video!
Could of got the same result with superglue maybe better!
Do you have experience working with superglue in an area 1/16" thick and the size of a half-dollar?
@@hikefishmakemusic doesn’t matter on the size just built it up
@@savedaz ok, go ahead and see what happens ;^)