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I picked up a 90's Spector bass with a nasty crack running from the headstock half way down the neck, which I'm in the process of repairing. This is an all maple through-neck in "transparent red" color that covers the body and the neck. As I understand it, the factory achieves this finish by layering tinted polyurethane lacquer on bare wood. My questions about how to repair the finish:

- In places where the finish has chipped to the bare wood, I am thinking I could mix some super glue with alcohol-based red dye, and use it to spot-fill the area. Then I would sand with a foam block and increasing grits and polish/buff.

- There are some significant pick scratches near the pickups. If this were a clear coat over paint, I could have easily just fill/sand/polish, but because this is a dyed lacquer, wouldn't sanding lighten the entire area? How do I correct this?



Reference photo (not my guitar)

Standard Super glue will not mix with dye.
Epoxy can be dyed. I’d try an epoxy that dries hard like zpoxy finishing resin.
Best of luck!

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Check out Glue Boost products. They have CA and tint. I've used their products since they came out and they work very good.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Since I had never heard of "polyurethane lacquer" I had to do a search, still don't know what it is. My experience with solvent lacquers is that I can more or less fix them and I have shot a couple of guitars with a transparent red finish. My experience with all the various polys is that I usually can't. GlueBoost is about as good as you can get (check out their videos).

I've reached the point where I turn down repairs with poly-whatever or tell people that I won't be able to hide the damage.

+2 for Gluboost fill n finish and their tints. I do rather a lot of these. Tape both sides, fill the crack in stages. Use a small hard block to level, switching to transparent tape to protect surrounding paint, then remove all tape and final levelling with P400 and fingers. Wet sand and buff. Maximum one hour labour start to finish. I always warn clients that repair will not likely be invisible, especially with transparent colours, but should be smooth to the touch. With that in their mind, they are invariably very pleased with the result.


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Gluboost even has a red tint about that color. Play with the mix ratios until you get the right amount of transparency. Razor blades with a turned edge work well during leveling of the glue.

That is a pretty nasty crack in the neck. Get that well repaired before you start touchup.