Nail-polish for touch up repair

[Sharkfin]

Happy New Year!!! I haven't been up in here for quite a while. I am glad the site is still around

This may sound like a ridiculous question, but I was curious if anyone has tried using nail polish for minor touchup repair? I'm looking to touch up a Jackson Import RR in Metallic Black. Has anyone tried this before?

[pianoguyy]

depends on how good you want it to look.

[CaptNasty]

What kind of finish? I am guessing an RR would be poly. You don’t want to use nail polish on poly. To patch scratches in poly or eurethane you would use thin cyano acrylate (super glue).

If you need to repair a scratch on a nitro finish, acetone can be used to redisolve the nitro and try to fix the blemish.

You have to level and blend the repair then polish it to complete the repair.

[JJ119]

Interesting this came up.

The DX10D I got has a couple chips that go to the wood.

I got the GluBoost Black in the premixed bottle with a few Whip Tips, Accelerator, and the assorted
Micromesh.

It's going to be a few days before I can get to do it.
My test will a chip on he back of the Ibanez.

[Number Of The Priest]

A year or two ago I went through a phase of finish repair.

I wrote a summary about it here. There are links to instructional videos included. The topic is also very well covered on Youtube if you watch videos about automotive finish repair. The fundamentals and principles are identical for finish repairs on vehicles and on poly-finished guitars like whatever import Rhoads you likely own.

https://www.jcfonline.com/forum/equi...st#post2536587

Not to counter CaptNasty but I have used nail polish on poly (2002 Jackson WRXT) and am unsure why he is issuing that warning, yet not suggesting what to do about color-matching (cyanoacrylate is colorless on its own without using a base coat underneath). Additionally, one of the Youtube videos in the above link is specifically repairing a guitar ding using nail polish.

Anyway, there are many ways to skin a cat and it's up to you to try which method works best for you. Over the course of several project guitars, all poly-finished with various degrees of finish damage (surface scratches, down to the color, and down to the wood), I have tried various combinations of:

Base coat (color): Nail polish, automotive touch-up paint

Clear coat: Nail polish topcoat, automotive clearcoat, cyanoacrylate

Compound: Turtle Wax Renew Rx Polishing Compound, Meguair's Ultimate Compound

Polish: Meguair's Ultimate Polish

Without having tried it but practically seduced by what I've researched online about it, at one point I secretly worshipped GluBoost (which JJ119 mentioned) as the most comprehensive finish repair solution until I realized two disadvantages:

1) Its high price

2) It only works on solid finishes (straightforward) and possibly graphic finishes (if you can mimic the original artist's artwork). You can't color-match metallic finishes or transparent finishes with their product system. If you have a paint chip down to the wood in a trans-finished guitar, you're not going to be able to replicate the look of the original wood with its grain; the repaired wound will look like a bland, featureless splotch of color that happens to match the tint of the wood. If you have a metallic finish, you won't be able to have the repaired area look the same as the rest of the guitar simply because GluBoost's products lack metallic powders. You can color-match the same "base" color but the products will lack flakes and sparkles, so the repaired wound will look like a featureless patch of color that happens to color-match the "main" color without the flakes or sparkles.

One word of warning: I undertook the endeavor to see if it was worthwhile. Particularly the blending step is extremely time-consuming, tedious, and can be frustrating especially at the beginning as you learn new fine motor skills. I've chewed through my delicately applied repair with excessively heavy-handed sanding and micromeshing, forcing me to start over and wasting hours of curing time leading up to my missteps. For me, this is the worst step in "guitar restoration" when I buy a beat-up used guitar that it makes every other task (complete guitar disassembly, fret polishing, fretboard cleaning, hardware cleaning, Floyd disassembly and cleaning, reassembly, setup, and Floyd balancing) all very quick and easy by comparison.

[JJ119]

Number Of The Priest

Thank You for the link! I will read it!

From watching the Gluboost videos, I think the
Master Tint Kits are nice, but I don't think I want to waste it just trying to get it mixed right.

I can spend the time filling them in smaller layers with the premixed.

[JJ119]

Sharkfin

The stuff I got was a bit more than $50 total.
I found out there is a Black cyanoacrylate.
[ Superglue ]
Super glue is a trade mark so it's called " CA " which I believe is a shorteed generic name.

Loctite 480 is a Black CA.
There's a YouTube vid of a drop fill a guy did.
It came out really good.

[Sharkfin]

CaptNasty from what I've been told the finish is Poly. I'll have to do some research to determine how to determine the difference in paint types. The finish looks pretty thin from one of the small chips on the body.

Number Of The Priest Priest Thanks, I appreciate the detailed info and links. I remember seeing that StewMac drop fill repair video in the past. Dan Erlwine and the StewMac videos are a God send. I'll think about it further to determine IF I want to go ahead with the repair. I thought that nail polish would be a decent solution as there are so many different options and it's inexpensive compared to the pricier solutions. I recently obtained (NGD!!!) a new RR and as you know with he body style, they tend to have a few chips and dings particularly on the wings. There is a tiny chip on the back of the headstock and on the face of the body close to the neck. Nothing terrible in my opinion. It's not a collectors piece but I do intend to take care of it.

JJ119 thanks I'll check it out

[CaptNasty]

A year or two ago I went through a phase of finish repair.

I wrote a summary about it here. There are links to instructional videos included. The topic is also very well covered on Youtube if you watch videos about automotive finish repair. The fundamentals and principles are identical for finish repairs on vehicles and on poly-finished guitars like whatever import Rhoads you likely own.

https://www.jcfonline.com/forum/equi...st#post2536587

Not to counter CaptNasty but I have used nail polish on poly (2002 Jackson WRXT) and am unsure why he is issuing that warning, yet not suggesting what to do about color-matching (cyanoacrylate is colorless on its own without using a base coat underneath). Additionally, one of the Youtube videos in the above link is specifically repairing a guitar ding using nail polish.

Anyway, there are many ways to skin a cat and it's up to you to try which method works best for you. Over the course of several project guitars, all poly-finished with various degrees of finish damage (surface scratches, down to the color, and down to the wood), I have tried various combinations of:

Base coat (color): Nail polish, automotive touch-up paint

Clear coat: Nail polish topcoat, automotive clearcoat, cyanoacrylate

Compound: Turtle Wax Renew Rx Polishing Compound, Meguair's Ultimate Compound

Polish: Meguair's Ultimate Polish

Without having tried it but practically seduced by what I've researched online about it, at one point I secretly worshipped GluBoost (which JJ119 mentioned) as the most comprehensive finish repair solution until I realized two disadvantages:

1) Its high price

2) It only works on solid finishes (straightforward) and possibly graphic finishes (if you can mimic the original artist's artwork). You can't color-match metallic finishes or transparent finishes with their product system. If you have a paint chip down to the wood in a trans-finished guitar, you're not going to be able to replicate the look of the original wood with its grain; the repaired wound will look like a bland, featureless splotch of color that happens to match the tint of the wood. If you have a metallic finish, you won't be able to have the repaired area look the same as the rest of the guitar simply because GluBoost's products lack metallic powders. You can color-match the same "base" color but the products will lack flakes and sparkles, so the repaired wound will look like a featureless patch of color that happens to color-match the "main" color without the flakes or sparkles.

One word of warning: I undertook the endeavor to see if it was worthwhile. Particularly the blending step is extremely time-consuming, tedious, and can be frustrating especially at the beginning as you learn new fine motor skills. I've chewed through my delicately applied repair with excessively heavy-handed sanding and micromeshing, forcing me to start over and wasting hours of curing time leading up to my missteps. For me, this is the worst step in "guitar restoration" when I buy a beat-up used guitar that it makes every other task (complete guitar disassembly, fret polishing, fretboard cleaning, hardware cleaning, Floyd disassembly and cleaning, reassembly, setup, and Floyd balancing) all very quick and easy by comparison.

It’s good man.

The reason I say that about nail polish is that it is an acetone based nitrocellulose suspension. Nitro and poly are not compatible finishes. Acetone by itself does not react with poly. It will bead up like water and do nothing.

When applying nailpolish to poly, the nitrocellulose media is inert and the poly and acetone are non-reactive so you get no chemical bonding. In other words, you have a temporary “patch” that is not bonded and sealed. The nitro media is just sitting in the void it filled.

By using cyano acrylate you get a chemical reaction between the poly and the CA that reseals the damaged area. Unlike nitro, the CA is for top coat fill only. For scratches or gouges that have removed paint, dyes/paints must be used to retint the exposed wood before applying the CA fill.

Here is a video from Dan Erlewine covering CA drop fill. Note that he uses acetone to flow the dye/paint down to the wood. He does this specifically due to acetones non-reactivity with poly and it’s quick evaporation.

The cool thing with a nitro finish is if you need to repair the nitrocellulose you can simply re-dissolve the nitro finish with an evaporative solvent, correct, level, blend, and polish... though blending must be very gentle and cure times can be lengthy.