Keep playing it and put some more chips on there
this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2024
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Put it in the bin, mate. It's cactus.
Put a Paw Patrol sticker overtop of it
The best way forward depends on a lot of unknowns.
- What make and model of guitar?
- What type of finish (poly or lacquer)?
- You mention “blacking it out”, so I’m guessing the color is either black or a burst?
- Where is the chip (front of the body, neck, headstock, neck/body joint, under the pick guard)?
- How big is the chip (size of a pencil eraser, size of a quarter, etc)?
- Is it down to the wood? Or only the clear coat? Is there a clear coat?
Pics would help clarify quite a lot.
My answer to any "maybe glue back together" question is some homemade kintsugi hack. Sand the outer edges of both pieces to widen the "surface groove", mix some gold-ish/silver-ish/copper-ish/etc powder with some resin adhesive, glue.
Long time guitar owner here. You could get some wood glue and use a small amount to affix the chip back to the guitar pretty seamlessly so long as you've got a steady hand. In my experience it's harder than it looks.
My direct advice? Keep the missing chunk in a safe place and live with the guitar as-is for a month. There's no rush and this will give you some time to process.
If the gouge ends up sticking in your mind as something you want gone? Call a local luthier, explain what happened, that you'd like it restored, and ask for an estimate or evaluation if you want to budget for the expense. If you have a preference for a kind of repair you can ask for that too. Mending a wound on an instrument can be an opportunity to add beauty instead of simply removing a blemish. What kind of repair you want is entirely up to you and a temp fix now might make the repair more difficult / expensive.
If none of that sounds appealing and if after a few weeks the idea of a nail polish scar or other punky hack makes you happy then go for it! It's your instrument and best is conditional so go nuts. 🙂
My only concern with leaving the natural wood exposed would be moisture and cracking/paint flaking over time. Even if you think the chip looks bad ass and you end up wanting to keep it: I would ask a luthier to seal it up to preserve the instrument (battle-scar and all).
Only 1k, I see.
As far as guitars are concerned, that is unfortunately not a super high price
cries in drummer
But it’s still a lot of money.
That's still relative. A $1,000 monthly paycheck in the US isn't a lot of money for example. It's all relative.
"When you only make $1000 a month, $1000 is a lot of money"
Yes, I believe that is their perspective about a $1000 guitar being worth a lot of money. Perhaps that is not an expensive guitar in comparison to the upper end of guitars, but it is still expensive in absolute value for most people.
Adds character. Or put a sticker of your band's mascot on it 😆
chips and dings definitely add character, but if you’re sore about it I’m sure a guitar tech can repair it nicely, or at least guide you to someone who can
Its a dark finish, marker would definitely make it pretty much invisible. the wood is white underneath making it very noticeable. Wife has some black nail polish :)
Marker will look good for now, but in a couple of weeks it will probably be fairly noticeable again if you're doing it straight on wood.
If you want it to look good. Sand down the area inside and directly around the chip so that it's smooth. Brush on a layer of white primer, let it dry for a day, then layer on some paint in whatever color and finish of the guitar. Maybe some sealer if you want but if it's just a chip I don't think it's necessary.
It sounds like a lot of work but it's maybe an hour or two of actually doing anything, and for a thousand dollar guitar I'd say it's worth it. I like projects like this, though, maybe you're ok with the slightly faded Sharpie. I would still smooth the area out with some light sanding first, though.
Sounds scary :)
I think you can do it! If you've never done anything similar maybe practice on a piece of scrap wood but it should be easy enough to make it look better than a sharpie would
You might try black epoxy.
My opinion. Nail polish or similar colored paint. Won't look the best, but will hide it enough that most people won't even notice it first glance.
Either that or just let it ride. It's a guitar - meant to be played and not just sit on a shelf to look pretty, right?
Can we get a pic?
FWIW I have never been bothered by a little cosmetic wear.
And people pay extra these days to get a "relic"ed guitar. Make of that what you will.
I lean toward character but I want to see what other people think...
Band aid
Up to you but a £1000 is a lot to me.
If it is brand new I don't think I'm going out on a limb to say you likely purchased it on a credit card.
Many people don't realize that a 'standard' credit card feature is 30-90 day lost/damage/stolen protection. So I would look up your credit card policy and see if it's there and if you could take advantage of that.
edit: oops wrote year not day lol. Also might as well add in that I've used various "cardholder benefits" before. Like the +1 year on warranty, which I used on a Costco laptop once. Costco doubled the 1 year mfg warranty to 2 years, and by buying on my CC I ended up with 3 in total. When the motherboard died 2.5 years in I got a full replacement which obviously ended up being from the newest line and better than what I had!
I'm going out on a limb to say the vast, vast, vast majority of people didn't fall for the credit card scam that Americans fell for.
I'm curious about what you mean by credit card scam, in this context. Care to elaborate?
Troll. That's the explanation.
Not in this context, it's just that it's assuming the OP comes from one single country.
The credit card companies charge retailers a small fortune to use their services, which the retailer adds to their prices for the consumer to pick up.
The credit card company then tells the consumer they'll get cash back on their purchases if they use their credit card, which the consumer has already paid to the retailer to cover the retailer's card charges
For some kind of Stockholm-syndrome-esque reason, Americans love getting absolutely reamed up the arse for their money at every turn
I don't know a single person that has a credit card
Thanks for the response! Definitely fair that the OP had the assumption of America-centric or at least credit card specific.
As to the scam, the unfortunate reality is that the price is already higher to account for fees, and it makes no difference if you pay cash or card. So Americans have the choice to either pay cash or pay card with cash back, even if the price is the same. Also there are better protections in the states for credit card purchases than debit card purchases, so there's an advantage there as well.
People pay so much money for relic'd finishes (scratches, dings, dents, etc). A guitar should look used and played IMHO.
relic'd
I will never not judge.
I've chipped my bass in a couple spots, dropped it once, but never did any cosmetic repairs to it
If you spent that much, but are hesitant about getting work done on it, try watching this guy. Sometimes it helps getting a look at the repair business. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ids3_Kxmi_I (this is just a random video, but he has some with refinishing) Or let it keep the ding, the first one is always the hardest with these things, but you got it to play, not the look nice. Accept life and its imperfections
Seems like a non-issue unless it's a really huge chip.