Finish on Mexican Telecaster headstock ?

[Chris E Smith]

I have a project Mexican Telecaster that I put new locking tuners on. This left exposed screw holes that I would like to fill and finish. I saved some chips to make matching filler or I might use the maple colored filler from Woodcraft. My question is what is the clear finish on this guitar ? I don't know whether it is a water based finish or laquer. I was thinking I could mask off this small area and carefully apply the finish with a rattle can or maybe it would be better to brush or pad it on ? Thanks for any advice.

[Allen Breinig]

Chris
I'm almost sure it is poly. Not sure if it is water base or not. It is almost always tinted to give it that amber color. On a guitar they rarely stain the wood they apply the color in the finish.
Allen

[Chris E Smith]

Thanks Allen

[John Coloccia]

I would do a drop fill with superglue. Let it harden for a couple of hours, then come back and put a little drop of accelerator next to it to be sure it's really fully cured. Level, buff and it will look as good as any other touch up you could do :)

[Chris E Smith]

John, do you mean fill the entire hole with superglue or would you put some filler in first ? They are very small screw holes from the removed tuners.
Thank You
Chris

[John Coloccia]

No, just for the finish touch up. Fill the hole with wood of some sort. Don't use putty. If anything, use wood dust and thin superglue....or you can go nuts and carve a little plug from matching maple. For the finish, you can even buy colored superglue now:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Glues,_adhesives/Stewart-MacDonald_Super_Glues/Super_Glue.html?actn=100101&xst=3&xsr=82

Great stuff for things like this if your neck is amber.

[Chris E Smith]

Thanks John. I ordered some pots from Stewmac earlier in the week. If I had only known then what I know now I would have ordered some of that tinted superglue too.