There's a chip surrounding my strap button from over-tightening the screw. It's hard to tell if it's the paint or the wood. Either way it looks fixable with minor cosmetic repair. However, I'm scared to remove the screw. Should I just go ahead and do it? Will the strap button go back in securely? I heard about using woodglue on the threads to be safe, but I'm not too knowledgeable in this area so any tips on good fixes or methods will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
If you can get up a picture of the spot, that will make it clearer.
What kind of cosmetic repair are you contemplating? A chip from overtightening is pretty likely to be paint only, in my opinion. If it's near the strap button, it's not likely to be visible, so if it doesn't look like it's going to get worse, I personally might leave it alone.
If it looks like it will spread, or it bothers you...you've got some options, depending on what kind of damage it is.
In theory, taking the strap button off and putting it back on one time shouldn't be problematic. If it turns out to be, you're right- wood glue could work.
Best,
Ande
two things that might be of help:
if your strap button does not already have it, add a thin circle of felt between the strap button and guitar body when/if you re-install the strap button. black or while felt would be the typical color choices for this, depending on the color of your guitar. this will minimize strap button damage to the guitar's finish.
secondly: if you resort to the wood-glue-on-the-screw fix, pre-coat the screw in a thin layer of wax or soap. that will keep the glue from bonding to the screw -- you really don't want that. if the hole is badly stripped, a better fix is filling it with toothpick segments and wood glue (mostly toothpicks), letting it dry, redrilling a pilot hole for the strap button screw and re-installing (with felt as above).
good luck
-=tension & release=-
here's a pic of the crack:
as you can see it's not terrible. you might suggest leaving it alone, it's just bothering the hell out of me LOL. i was thinking of super-gluing the broken piece (if i had to), then using black nail polish to make the cracks less noticable. is that dumb? thanks for your replies thus far.
Honestly, it looks like...nothing I would personally bother about.
But we're all different. If it's something you want to fix, would you even have to remove the strap pin for this?
And no, super glue and nail polish doesn't sound too dumb. Could work fine. There are harder enamels than nail polish available in your hardware store if you think you'll want to sand it smooth after you paint.
I'm pretty sure that my bass (bought second hand) has had several chips fixed with nail polish or similar. But I sort of like the beat up look.
Best,
Ande
