Kramer Bass Finish Repairs

The blue Kramer Bass that I picked up for Dave in exchange for a de-fret of my Washburn neck-thru T-24 Prototype bass had a problem when I picked it up. In addition to having no hardware whatsoever, well, sorry... it has the nut, it had a nassty chip konked out of the paint, all the way to the alder body.

The chip was bad enough that Dave thought he'd just jokingly slap a good old bandaid right over it. While that would be humorous, it would not be a great fix. After researching for a while, Dave figured out a couple of possible solutions.

One solution would involve matching the paint color from any given automobile paint repair source, and apply the paint in layers, allowing for ample drying time in between layers, so as to build up the finish to match the height of the crater in the finish. It was fairly difficult to locate an exact match for the guitar paint color, so that bass repair idea was tabled for the time being.

Another potential guitar finish solution was suggested by his daughter! I can hear it now, "Hey, dad, what about some blue nail polish?" What the... Where did that come from? Out of the mouths of babes, comes the truth, and possibly the best solution for the chip repair in the odd metallic blue bass guitar finish.

OK, so I'll tell the story from my side, without having seen the results, nor the process...

Using the magic of the metallic finish applicator (nail polish brush that comes with the bottle, how cool is that?), he dabbed some polish in the canyon of a chip, and made it look a bit like Crater Lake. Not really, but the first "layer" was applied. That dried, and another layer was applied and dried. And another... and so on. Last I heard, the crater wasn't so deep any more.

Dave did mention that he may have applied too much "thickness" in the most recent layer, and that it would likely take longer to dry as a result. So, that's where we are so far! I'll let Dave tell you his side of the story. He's probably going to tell you what really happened, and we'll show you a before and after shot.

Bass finish repairs update:

Remember, you can use this trick on your paint chip, too. If you want to ask for advice, contact us or login to the forum, and we'll try to help you out. It is a pretty simple concept when you think about it. When you get the crater just a little higher than the rest, you can mask and sand smooth with a very fine sand paper, then pop on a small bit of glossy finish, sand and polish, and you should be good to go! This would be very effective for all those chippity chips you have in your guitar body, guitar neck, or headstock.