Finish Delamination

[Frfurter]

I noticed that the clear finish on my king v has started to delaminate around the trem cavity on the back of the guitar.

I could grab it with a fingernail & probably pop off a pretty big chunk.

I've seen threads on here where the finish has delaminated on the headstock, but never how it was repaired.

Has anyone done anything to fix it? I don't want to refinish it. Can I run some ca glue into the area that is delaminated?

Thanks for any input.

[sully]

You can fix it, but can you post a pic of the area?

[Frfurter]

That's for looking at this Sully!

Kinda looks like someone got a bit to excited with the buffer!

[javert]

I'm interesting in hearing how to deal with this as well, so I'm going to be lurking here...

[sully]

Supplies:

- Water thin CA glue ( I use the stuff hobby lobby sells)
- Glue debonder (just in case)
- Glue applicator tips (hobby lobby sells them in the model car section – get the thinnest ones)
- Gloves
- Xacto knife (and perhaps a fresh razor blade)
- Masking tape (although Scotch tape will work fine in this case)
- Paste wax
- Q-tip
- Naptha (lighter fluid)
- Paper towels
- 1200, 1500 grit wet sanding paper

Prep:
Take the plate off and wipe the area to be repaired with naptha to clean it up. Mask/tape off the area so you don’t make a mess, but don’t tape all the way up to the area that’s delaminating; leave about ¼” exposed. You may also want to tape off the cavity, just in case you get all crazy with the glue. Put some wax on a Q-tip, and apply it on top of the tape, and close to the delaminated area. This way, in case you make a mess, the glue will not stick to the surface.

Let’s get goin. Put the gloves on, and put the applicator tip on the CA glue nice and tight. Practice a little with the bottle; get a feel how fast (or slow) the glue comes out. It should come out in tiny droplets, using very slight pressure. Essentially, you’ll use the Xacto knife to gently (and very slightly) lift the delaminating clear, and then apply a few drops of the glue underneath the xacto blade. The glue should wick underneath the delaminating clear. Once you’ve got the area filled, you can press the clear back down (Sometimes I’ll use the side of a razor blade for that) until the glue is dry. If you got any glue on the wax, wipe it up with the paper towel. Once dry, sand away any glue squeeze out if there is any.

That’s pretty much it.

[Frfurter]

Thanks Sully,

I'll give that a try this weekend after I get the supplies in.

[javert]

Interesting. How about a headstock, how do you avoid damaging the binding when trying to lift the clear? I have a DK1 with this issue* and I can't feel any gap between the clear and the binding.

* Some asshat traded me this guitar claimining it was "like new" except he meant "like new with production errors and a ding".

[sully]

Take your xacto knife, and very very carefully make a small incision where it’s delaminating. Essentially, break the skin where the delamination is and wick some water thin CA glue in the incision to fill the area and glue it back down. I don’t really recommend doing this, but I had to do something like this recently and was able to improve the area.

[Frfurter]

Too bad the finish isn't nitro.

Hey Sully - do you know what the finish is on these US jacksons?

[sully]

It depends; some of them have urethane finishes, and some have polyester. Nitro is definitely easier to repair, but nothing I'd really consider durable, ya know?

[Frfurter]

It depends; some of them have urethane finishes, and some have polyester. Nitro is definitely easier to repair, but nothing I'd really consider durable, ya know?

Is there a range of years where it was polyester then switched over to urethane or vice versa?

Yeah - just meant if it was nitro it would be a no brainer to fix.

[sully]

I really don't know offhand when they switched to polyester, although the white guitars aren't polyester (it has a yellowing tendency, iirc)

[javert]

Thanks for the advice, Sully.