Repairing A Chip

[jingle_jangle]

Joey, make sure it is GOOD and HARD.

When you wet-sand to flatten it, use the hardest small sanding block you can find, and proceed gingerly. I have a set of small blocks that I made out of 1/8" plexi, and another set that are made from 1/2" plexi scraps. For a chip this small, I would use a 1/8" block I have that is 1/2" wide by an inch long.

I'd cut a small piece of 1000 grit, wrap it around the block's bottom, and hold the ends of the sandpaper between my thumb and middle finger while applying pressure with my forefinger.

Keep the paper wetted with Windex and it'll flatten in a minute without cutting into the finish around it, or leaving a bump like a softer block would. Sanding with one's fingers, without a block, does not work in most cases, and definitely is out of the question here.

[jps]

What's for dinner? .

Pasta of course.........what else is there?

Sushi, of course!

[cjj]

What's for dinner? .

Pasta of course.........what else is there?

Sushi, of course!

Like this?

[rickenbrother]

I'll probably wait until Friday or Saturday for the polish to set up good and hard before sanding it. Besides, I think the block of plexiglass is a good idea. I'll have to find a piece somewhere...

In the mean time, maybe I can get started on one of the other basses.

What's for dinner? .

Pasta of course.........what else is there?

Eh, you got that right!

[ajish4]

What's for dinner? .

Pasta of course.........what else is there?

[rickenbrother]

When I bought my Jetglo 4004Cii used, it was in mint condition except for this damage of the edge of the body.


This was so much easier to match!

[cjj]

Great looking repair! This is an interesting thread, good info on repairing chips and all.

Now, if only I could have such luck repairing the chips on my 4001:


I think I might have a tougher time finding nail polish to match. Then again, that's only one of about 20 fairly big chips.

Someone tried to "fix" them before I got it with something entirely the wrong shade:

[jingle_jangle]

You can carefully wet-sand most of that dark junk off with #1500 paper and a small block.

The best match for AZ that's commonly available can be gotten by intermixing Testor's gloss hobby paints, available at Rite-Aid and other drug stores, K-Mart, Wal-Mart, and also hobby stores. Blue, white, a touch of black and a tiny bit of yellow will get you close...fine tune it from there. Dab in and wait. When hard, do the sanding and polishing thing.

[cjj]

Cool! Thanks Paul! I'll have to give it a try. There's enough damage that I'm not really too afraid to mess it up in any case. Short of a full refin (which may get done someday), if it ends up looking better, I'll be happy!

One question. On the color mixing, do those colors stay the same as they dry, in other words, if it's a match when I put it on, will it be that way when dry? I hope so, otherwise it'll be a lot of trying, drying, and doing it over.

Edit: Another Q, when you say, "Blue, white, a touch of black..." are you meaning roughly equal parts blue & white?

[rickenbrother]

Go for it CJ! I think you will be able to get a very close match, mixing those paints together. It takes a bit of trial and error when mixing the colors. That's why I had plenty of wooden coffee stirrers around to test colors on.

[jingle_jangle]

Cool! Thanks Paul! I'll have to give it a try. There's enough damage that I'm not really too afraid to mess it up in any case. Short of a full refin (which may get done someday), if it ends up looking better, I'll be happy!

One question. On the color mixing, do those colors stay the same as they dry, in other words, if it's a match when I put it on, will it be that way when dry? I hope so, otherwise it'll be a lot of trying, drying, and doing it over.

Edit: Another Q, when you say, "Blue, white, a touch of black..." are you meaning roughly equal parts blue & white?

There are no hard and fast formulas. You have to use your eyes. It probably won't turn out equal parts of anything. Their blue is pretty close to start out; the white may be necessary, then the black to gray it out a bit, and the yellow to add a touch of green tone.

Enamels like the Testors usually dry a shade to two darker...use the coffee stirrers like Joey sez.

[rickenbrother]

I'm done...I think. I'd like to sand it down a tiny bit more to make it perfectly flat with the rest of the body, but I'm starting to see the outline of where the chip was. The nice thing though, is if you aren't at least this close to it, you wouldn't notice that there was ever any damage at all.

[Ric O'Sound]

Excellent job, Joey. That turned out great. You did a nice job of color matching. And I think you're right...unless you're less than two feet away from the bass, you'd never know there was a nick in the finish. Congrats.

[rikk]

Joey, pretty nice repair. Even though it is visible, it does not draw your eye any longer.

[cjj]

Good job! Mostly, it looks like a little spot of dirt or something, definitely better than before!

I haven't gotten out to anyplace to buy some paints for my project yet (100 mile drive to the nearest likely place). I'm heading to Missoula (400 miles) in a week or so, I'm sure some place there will have 'em, so I'll see what I can do after that.