NCDTD - New Cheap Dinged Tele Day

[culturejam]

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:



Super-ding:

[gtr2]

That poly finish is not going to relic nicely IMO.

[GermanCdn]

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.

[pickdropper]

How about filling the hole with black epoxy?  You could have the world's first gooped guitar.

[thesameage]

Cover it somehow. Relicing is not going to look good on that guitar.

[midwayfair]

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.

[culturejam]

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.

[gtr2]

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

[pickdropper]

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.

[bela1961]

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.

[chuckbuick]

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.

[madbean]

Superglue the chips back on and fill in the gaps with black sharpie!

[culturejam]

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. 

[pickdropper]

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.

[spin]

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.