As with everybody else after seeing how bad it is I would say something needs to be done, apart from anything else you're liable to rip your hand open on the edges!

Definately take the chip to a good painter, custom or car shop, they should be able to help.

I've never seen a finish come off like that. Would a Fender Warranty cover such a flaw?

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As it's a seven year old guitar I doubt if you would get anywhere but certainly worth a try? I've seen wear, scrapes, chips, scratches, dings but never seen a finish coming away from the body like that.

Surely this has to be some form of factory error? Badly prepared or primed?

I mean, look at the famously worn guitars, SRV's or Rory Gallagher's they wore down to the wood yes, but the paint didn't just come away like that. Even the strats that Pete Townshend smashed didn't exhibit anything like that. I've dropped my own, and had a large chunk of the finish chip off, but the paint still stayed heavily bonded around the impact.

I would contact fender immediately, because that, to my eyes anyway, looks like a fairly obvious factory mistake.

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"I like it when a flower or a little tuft of grass grows through a crack in the concrete. It's so f*ckin' heroic!"

Okay, thanks guys. I'll shoot Fender an email with a picture and see what they think. I'm not hopeful of it being covered by warranty (after all, this thing has been USED over the years), but what the heck. I'll let you know what they say.

Contacting Fender is worth a shot. The worst they can do is say tough, live with it!

I've had good results from contacting manufacturers, I was trying to find Jim Dunlop flush mounted straplocks but the guitar part only, didn't want or need the strap fitting. Couldn't find them anywhere so contacted Dunlop and they sent me a pair free of charge California to Scotland, threw in a tin of picks as well!