Finish repair on a Fender Stratocaster Guitar

This Strat came in with a big chunk taken out on the horn, right at the end-grain of the flame maple top. It was deeply into the wood and there was a lot of fractured finish, causing refraction as it went deeper. The photo on the left is after I cleared away the damaged finish and used a graining marker on the maple to color it prior to filling, sanding and buffing, which can be seen in the “after” photo. This was all done with no refinishing or respraying. Simply tinting the raw wood in the damaged area and building up several layers of translucent layers of finish material, which was then carefully shaped and polished to reflect light as if the damage had not occurred. You can still see the darker area where it was filled, but it is so much better than simply leaving it the way it was. I considered this a “non-cosmetic” repair. It would have cost a great deal more to make this vanish and the client agreed that it was not needed.