Luthier friends need your advice

[Narsh]

How difficult/costly would it be to repair this?

[golem]

Is this the new guitar?

[tonebender]

I guesstimate $100. Fill the chip, sand it smooth. paint, clear coat and buff. Not a lot of time involved for each step but there is cure period for each so it will take several days. I have done many build including the finishes, setups, repairs, etc., but I am not by any stretch a luthier. Back in the day word was out and I started getting calls but after a few jobs I decided I did not want to pursue it.

[tobijohn]

If there is a good thing to be had, the chip appears to be within the area of a solid color, so blending should not be necessary...

[andrewsrea]

That repair is called a 'ding' repair, which typically involves clearing the lose original finish, swelling any compressed wood, matching base color and drop-filling the crater with minimal witness lines. I've done quite a few and they are tedious, more so on the edge, as you need to make a form that the drop-fill material pools instead of running down the side. Edges are also tough, as it is where the finish is the lightest and is easy to sand through. I typically spend 2 to 6 hours per ding, then an hour blending and polishing the original finish.

I would normally charge $150 plus shipping for a single edge ding. AGF friends' price would be $50, plus shipping.

I wish I took a 'before' picture of this guitar, as I took it on trade for amp work and it was covered with dings. @golem may remember it before I restored it, but it was a wreck. Perhaps 30 in total. Now it only has one spot which you can tell there was a ding, as the stain did not take and it appears lighter (on the back, near the rear edge - sorry no pics). But the rest of the guitar would defy you to find where the dings were. I did not refinish it, this is all drop-fill technique.

I also used the same technique on this headstock repair to hide the cracks from being visible from 3' or greater distance.

Before:

After:

[Tiga]

Wow this is good work!