So I wanted a Tele, you know, because I needed it to test Function f(x) pedals. Needed it. :mrgreen:
But gear funds are scarce, so I went back to the old Rondo well. Picked up a "Hadean" tele-alike in a sort of burst with body binding. Hard to beat $89 for a complete guitar, even if you know there are probably going to be some really subpar components. Total cost was $103 shipped.
So it arrived yesterday. And I noticed a monster paint/finish chip right on the front. The shipping boxes were not obviously damaged, but clearly this happened in transit as there were pieces of the finish at the bottom of the thin little bag-thing the guitar was covered in.
I emailed Rondo with pics of the damage. I told them that I liked the guitar otherwise and didn't want to return it. So Kurt offered to refund $25. So now my $89 guitar is down to $64. Win! It's also good I didn't want to return because I bought the last one of that particular finish. Rondo pic is below (I'll take a better pic of mine later, but the web site photo is very accurate) as well as a bad phone pic of the chip.
Details: Much to my shock, the setup was pretty good out of the box. I'm going to adjust a few things, but it's quite playable as is. Other than the ding, the finish is pretty decent. The frets do not stick out and seem to be relatively well leveled (although I have not yet broken out a straight edge). The neck is maple (I assume) and the fretboard is a separate piece. The back of the neck has a nice pattern. It's all glossy, which I don't care for, but I can always sand the back smooth. There is no logo or anything on the headstock, which is kinda cool on a cheap guitar, and I actually like the "almost a Strat" shape. I will likely sand the finish down and add a FFX logo or something. The tuners are surprisingly not terrible, with the biggest issue being that the tensioning is all over the place (from tuner to tuner), but they hold tune fine. The nut also seems fine (no pinging or slippage). The pickups are straight-up classic Tele style; I have no immediate plans to swap.
I need your input: So what should I do about that monster finish chip? I see basically two options: 1) try some kind of repair to make it look uniform, or 2) relic it up all around. Option 2 is probably easier, but if anyone has thoughts on how to proceed with Option 1, I'd like to hear it. Since the chip is entirely in the black part of the finish, that *seems* like it would make it easier to fix (visually). So, like a Sharpie and some brush-on clear? :lol:
Stock photo:
(http://www.rondomusic.net/photos/electric/eg491mfbi2ts4.jpg)
Super-ding:
(http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh218/reverse_engineer/Hadean1_zpsc19d2bb4.jpg)
That poly finish is not going to relic nicely IMO.
I'd say best options are
1) Leave it as is or put a F(x) sticker/MBP/whatever sticker over it. It's a $64 guitar. Who are you trying to kid? I had an Xaviere with a similar war wound, left it as is cause I got a similar deal on it.
2) Relic the hell out of it. But like Josh said, you're likely going to spend more in sandpaper and time than it's worth.
3) Is it a 2 3/16" square heel? If so, pickup one of these
http://www.guitarfetish.com/XGP-Professional-Tele-Body-Vintage-Sunburst_p_12628.html
While I don't like the original bodies from GFS, these ones appear to be better quality, and still cheaper than paint + time to fix. You could also stick a Wilkinson compensated bridge on it then, and have a combination of top load and string through body if you wanted to.
4) DIY fix.
Phrase of the week - "tuners are surprisingly not terrible." Had to clean coffee off of the keyboard after that one.
How about filling the hole with black epoxy? You could have the world's first gooped guitar.
Cover it somehow. Relicing is not going to look good on that guitar.
OH NO A CHIP IN THE FINISH OF MY USABLE $64 GUITAR!
Option 3: Just play the damn guitar and don't worry about it.
Quote from: midwayfair on December 23, 2014, 05:06:12 PM
OH NO A CHIP IN THE FINISH OF MY USABLE $64 GUITAR!
Option 3: Just play the damn guitar and don't worry about it.
I can always count on your acerbic wit, Jon. Thanks for the chuckle.
Quote from: midwayfair on December 23, 2014, 05:06:12 PM
OH NO A CHIP IN THE FINISH OF MY USABLE $64 GUITAR!
Option 3: Just play the damn guitar and don't worry about it.
Brought some humor to a pretty lame day :)
For a super easy fix, you could just fill it in with a little paint. It'll be obvious close up but you wouldn't have gleaming white wood there.
But yeah, Jon's probably got the right perspective here.
Color the wood as close to a match as you can, it looks black so a sharpie would work great. Take a good brand of super glue and begin layering successive coats, letting each dry in between until you reach an even height. GO SLOW. Once all is well, begin wet sanding with 220 grit to knock down the glue and even it out. Use a block of some sort, a small piece of wood, ETC. Continue with 320, 600, 1000. When you have it nice and blended at 1000 grit, Use automotive scratch hider polish and a clean rag to buff everything out, voila! If you have low spots just fill with more glue and blend in. This is a tedious process, but if you take your time and pay attention to detail, the results are amazing.
(http://i928.photobucket.com/albums/ad124/v4hor/Pedals/11520690_ori_zps48ce31d1.jpg)
I bet you saw this thing in a music store and bought it just because you thought it was beat up!
Good score, man. Plus you got a $25 discount for the added mojo. Doesn't get any better than that.
Superglue the chips back on and fill in the gaps with black sharpie!
Quote from: bela1961 on December 23, 2014, 06:03:03 PM
Color the wood as close to a match as you can, it looks black so a sharpie would work great. Take a good brand of super glue and begin layering successive coats, letting each dry in between until you reach an even height. GO SLOW. Once all is well, begin wet sanding with 220 grit to knock down the glue and even it out. Use a block of some sort, a small piece of wood, ETC. Continue with 320, 600, 1000. When you have it nice and blended at 1000 grit, Use automotive scratch hider polish and a clean rag to buff everything out, voila! If you have low spots just fill with more glue and blend in. This is a tedious process, but if you take your time and pay attention to detail, the results are amazing.
Yeah, that sounds like work. ;D
Quote from: bela1961 on December 23, 2014, 06:03:03 PM
Color the wood as close to a match as you can, it looks black so a sharpie would work great. Take a good brand of super glue and begin layering successive coats, letting each dry in between until you reach an even height. GO SLOW. Once all is well, begin wet sanding with 220 grit to knock down the glue and even it out. Use a block of some sort, a small piece of wood, ETC. Continue with 320, 600, 1000. When you have it nice and blended at 1000 grit, Use automotive scratch hider polish and a clean rag to buff everything out, voila! If you have low spots just fill with more glue and blend in. This is a tedious process, but if you take your time and pay attention to detail, the results are amazing.
Have you successfully done this a few times? Cyanoacrylate can be fantastic stuff, but I'm surprised it would work well to build up a clear finish. It's usually pretty cloudy by nature and isn't designed as a gap filler. It's also susceptible to blooming, although that is less likely to be a problem in the winter when humidity is low.
You're temping fate with that much super glue work. My money is on two layers before you've managed to glue your hand to your forehead.
I might just go with Sharpie and fingernail clear coat. Fuck it.
Quote from: culturejam on December 23, 2014, 08:46:55 PM
I might just go with Sharpie and fingernail clear coat. Fuck it.
That should be good enough to get you going and be done in 5 minutes
I would just leave it and start playing the guitar a lot. You've already got a leg up on that relic look, and it just happens to be in a spot that would typically wear out naturally. Before long you'll have a smooth, pick-worn area that makes your guitar look like you've been playing it for 30 years. If you try to fix it, especially with superglue, the finish might get so tough that you end up with really weird-looking wear marks around the fix.
How brave are you feeling?
Check out my tele finishing tutorial on my site...
If you decide to do it, get the help of a friend and take your time. If the poly is anything like it was on the Baja, it will come over with a good hair dryer and a pancake flipper...
Shame you're not here, as it was a hugely satisfying thing to do (well apart from the many hours of sanding) and I quite fancy doing another. You could strip it and send it over if you liked. Just would have customs to think about due to our stupid import duties. Could mark it damaged for repair value $22 (inc postage) I suppose... With a big chunk out of it, you might get away with that. Would just need to cover materials (about £30) and return postage.
Quote from: spin on December 23, 2014, 08:30:40 PM
You're temping fate with that much super glue work. My money is on two layers before you've managed to glue your hand to your forehead.
Sounds like exactly what I'd do Spin. Probably wouldn't get to the second layer!
Quote from: culturejam on December 23, 2014, 08:46:55 PM
I might just go with Sharpie and fingernail clear coat. Fuck it.
Gets my vote! I knocked a chip in a "Midnight Wine" Strat and unbelievably my wife had some nail polish in exactly the same colour! I didn't try to level it up but covering the bare wood makes it a lot less obvious. You could save time and use black nail polish, cutting out the laborious Sharpie stage. Not that I'm lazy or anything... ;D
I've done this Many times. It works very well and it really is not a lot of work. The biggest time factor is waiting for the glue to dry hard. This is the key to a good result. I'm working on a guitar I built right now I'm doing a large chunk of the lower front face as well as chips on the side and rear. This job has taken a long while only because of the many fills. The guitar was dropped from about waist height to a hard floor( Don't let Moron's mess with your guitars). Should be complete in a few days if desired I will post some pic's.
Would a poly finish checker?
Sharpie'd.
Here's a "before" pic:
(http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh218/reverse_engineer/Hadean-02_zpsb26a958c.jpg)
After:
(http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh218/reverse_engineer/Hadean-04_zpsdb55b7b1.jpg)
Here are a couple pics of the neck. I just noticed that the fret ends appear and feel to be covered by something. Almost like Gibson "nibs", but it's wood (I assume). Or the heavy gloss maybe?
Anyway, I love the striping in the grain.
(http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh218/reverse_engineer/Hadean-03_zps50e0ec8b.jpg)
(http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh218/reverse_engineer/Hadean-05_zps058c9113.jpg)
I think it looks much better now. Nice flamed neck, too
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Those lines 90 degrees from the fret plane are the fret tangs, which hold the frets in the wood. They are normally cut at a 45 degree angle on the ends so you don't see what you have.
That touch up job looks really good from the pics!
I've just worked out that the price of that guitar works out about £38 over here, that is an absolutely fantastic steal! :)
Nice save CJ, and beauty flamed neck.
Do you know what would work really well on top of your sharpie... A really thin layer of envirotex.
Quote from: GermanCdn on December 24, 2014, 03:55:10 PM
Nice save CJ, and beauty flamed neck.
Thanks!
Quote from: juansolo on December 24, 2014, 04:05:28 PM
Do you know what would work really well on top of your sharpie... A really thin layer of envirotex.
I'm sure you're right. I've never used it, though. I'll probably just leave it as is for a while and then do some kind of protective clear.
I just finished setting it up good and proper. Relief was already in the acceptable tolerance, so I left it alone. The action was a touch high. Only one string (A) was more than slightly off in intonation. Overall the factory setup was pretty impressive. I imagine Rondo must be tuning these up before shipping them out.
That's a really nice score! So, how much did the vivid marker pen and nail polish add to the cost? :P Telecasters really are a very versatile design.
The relic'ing on my Vintage brand LP (seriously, that's the brand name, "Vintage", it's a UK company, I think) has grown on me over time. I heard the NZ Rockshop only bought relic'ed ones because the good 'uns would mean their Epi's would stop selling!
Quote from: juansolo on December 24, 2014, 04:05:28 PM
Do you know what would work really well on top of your sharpie... A really thin layer of envirotex.
That's a really interesting idea, it probably wouldn't look much different to thick poly.
I think Juan's idea of filling it with some envirotex is good. Otherwise, I would have suggested doing a steampunk project or maybe covering the whole thing with little tiny mirrors like a 6-string disco ball.