Ugh... how to fix chipped finish

[HeavyDuty]

Dissenting opinion:

The proper repair is a drop fill. It is simply larger, which is not a problem, and curved, which is more challenging. All standard drop fill techniques apply.

A couple of notes on challenges:

1. If you place any color under medium viscosity CA it will tend to migrate into the glue. That will dilute the color. A seal coat of of shellac is a good idea. Nitro will also work if the color is dry, as will acrylic. Vinyl might. Test on scrap.
2. It doesn't matter if you get CA on the surrounding finish. As a matter of fact, that's what you want. It will be ground off during the leveling process and finished smooth during rub out.
3. CA is not that brittle, especially when applied over large areas. It is actually gummy. That makes it easier to scrape with ease. Clean your files as you work. Swap out sandpaper as soon as it begins to load.
4. Curves are a challenge. In repair work of this sort, "challenge" translates to "time consuming." If you have a good eye and feel it's not a big deal. If you don't, then it is better to start with a much larger drop fill and grind until the flats are true but raised and the curves are fair but raised before starting rub out. Raised is a roughly .010" or less.
5. Most importantly for this particular repair, treat the two areas as one. It is one giant drop fill. If you attempt to do each separately it is likely to take twice as long and create four times the frustration.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Listen to this guy, he’s drop filled more stuff than I have.

 

[mesaplayer83]

I have drop filled larger spots than that on used basses I bought with black nail polish to good effect... It took *a few* layers to build things up to where I could sand to level and buff, but it worked out pretty well....