Be careful with Loctite around lacquer finishes

thermionic

The saddle height adjustment screws on my Strat were tending to work loose, resulting in a too low action and fret buzz, so I set them at the right height and fixed them with some Loctite. I was careful to only apply a small drop to each screw, soak up the excess with a paper towel, and keep the guitar flat until it dried. However, I wasn’t careful enough, and must have put the guitar back in the stand before the Loctite had completely evaporated/hardened… a drop dribbled out and melted the finish, like a glacier carving out a valley, Very annoying, but I thought I could fix it by scraping the “pushed up” sides flat with a razor blade, and drop-filling the “valley” with clear lacquer. The first attempt showed that the Loctite had melted further down than the clear coat, so I tried again with tobacco brown lacquer - both were 50ml pots from Northwest Guitars. The touch-up lacquer was actually very easy to use and resulted in a hard, glossy finish which I was able to flat and polish to a reasonable standard - a good product from Nortwest Guitars. Unfortunately, even though the filled in central part turned out pretty good in teems of shade, the raised edges either side of it ended up darker:

https://i.imgur.com/thWp2cr.jpeg

In reality though it’s not that noticeable as it’s between the jack plate and pickguard, and usually obscured by the trem arm.

So, be careful with Loctite around lacquer finishes! On the plus side, I fitted a CRL spring action switch, which is a big improvement, and I also used piece of shielded cable left over from an amp build to connect to the jack.

ElectricXII

Oh that's a bummer. Was it Loctite 243?

thermionic

It’s blue stuff, actually labelled X-Lite, which was a mountain bike components manufacturer. I’ve had the bottle many years!

Doubly annoying - first that I was careless, and secondly the middle bit is matched well but either side of it has darkened noticeably.

ElectricXII

Loctite 243 is blue. I'll be much more careful in future!

BobHillman

Is that nitro lacquer?

Basher

FWIW, I quite like the look of that mark - much more "honourable duelling scar" than repair. It's got character and, in a world where even the relics are starting to look alike, it's nice to see a unique bit of wear and tear 
You just need to work up a cover story along the lines of it being made by a knife thrown by an angry gangster who's girl you'd just stolen, as opposed to the slightly less impressive locktite business.

victorludorum

I think it looks ok and it wouldn't put me off buying it if I were a potential buyer.

Neil

That's a shame but you made a good job of fixing it as well as you have. 

thermionic

Although those darker sides are quite annoying, overall it’s not bad and barely noticeable from a normal distance - looks almost like a quirk of the grain. Having had the guitar in bits for about two weeks, it’s great to have it back together again - you can’t beat a nice sunburst Strat!

And yes, it is a lacquer finish - Classic Series Lacquer 60s. 

Alex2678

I know that nitro can be pretty noxious and smelly, did you find it wasn’t so bad with such a small amount? Considering getting a pot myself. 

Epsilon

If you hadn't told me I'd have assumed it was part of the natural wood grain. Lesson learned in any case!

BillDL

Damn, that's a bummer.  It's hard to "unsee" a blemish on your own guitar when you have caused it but, as the others have said, I honestly would have thought that was part of the grain structure had I seen it without knowing and it wouldn't have bothered me.

I wonder what is in the X-Lite thread locker that would do that?  I've dribbled purple and blue Loctite thread locker onto guitar finishes (my own ones - Nitro and Poly) in the past and it didn't eat into the finish like that.  I did see and wipe it up within about an hour though, so perhaps it may have etched its way deeper had it stayed on for longer.

thermionic

Alex2678 said:

I know that nitro can be pretty noxious and smelly, did you find it wasn’t so bad with such a small amount? Considering getting a pot myself. 

Yes - not so bad with a small pot where I was just dipping a small paintbrush into it every couple of hours. I’d open a window, and stay out of the kitchen and living room though.

SPECTRUM001

@thermionic - I am struggling, are you talking about the tiny brown circle above the jackplate screw ?

If so, it absolutely looks like part of the finish - and given how nitro marks and wears, it is/will just blend in even more.

You know it is there, but I wouldn’t think it an issue at all.

Good job with the remedial work !!!

Edit - ah, you mean the NW to SE streak - heck, I thought that was just the wood/finish. Wouldn't bother me - I find nitro lacquer wear and repairs to be just "part of the finish" as opposed to poly, where there seems to be a (mental) separation.

bbill335

great job on the fix. i agree with the above comment. battle scars are cool.

i don't think i've ever had enough loctite outside of the bottle in one go to make a drippy run like that. i normally just wick a teeny little bit into the screw threads, wipe any excess immediately with kitchen roll or something.