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I have an Ibanez , probably with a polyurethane finish I think, it had the chip you see in the pic when I bought it 2nd hand. I figured, no biggie, I'll just get some wood filler, sand it , then paint in some black paint using black fingernail paint...What a collossal failure! Between not knowing how and when and how much sanding to do, every step I took seem to make things worse! Now I've sanded the paint back to the filler and and going to start over but a bigger problem, all this sanding has scratched and dulled the surrounding area, and I can't seem to get rid of it....I've been using 800 grit dry, then 1500 grit wet or dry, then tried using a guitar polish and microfiber cloth, and also a dremel with polishing pad and both their red polishing compound, then the white guitar polish, as you can see from the pics, the dullness ain't going away! Am I doomed to have this look this way (dulled surrounding sanded/polished area) , or is there a magic sequence of DETAILED steps to resurrect the original finishes high shine? My next thought was to tape around the chip and use black spray paint , but I dunno if that will work either, and there's still the dulled, sanded surrounding area to deal with. There is another chip , about the same size near the guitar strap bottom pin, and it's in about the same mess....

how it sounds.. you have sanded throught the clear coat leaving the black paint bare. anything over 1000g for finish (pre buff) sanding should be fine.

"My next thought was to tape around the chip and use black spray paint , but I dunno if that will work either"

i would go this route. but not to tape right around the section. leave a bit space. maybe even tape off the whole cutaway section)
light sand 800g, spray a few light coats of black. and some clear coats. after dried and cured. Wetsand with 1000g or 1500 till dull and flat . ie, no orange peel

automotive polish compund, buff to shine

Thanks, I'll try that...

I would say no to the spray paint. You'll end up with a hard edge where you have it taped off that will be impossible to get rid of without going through the clear surrounding it...again.

I've done finish touch ups with Ibanez guitars many times. I call them touch ups and not repairs because there will always be a visible indicator of the repair; it's never invisible. Polyester/polyurethane does not "melt in" like lacquer will.

What I would do for both spots is get black nail polish, put on LOTS of thin coats, letting each one dry fully before the next. Heap it on. You want the nail polish to "mound" over the finish. Nail polish craters, though, so you'll need lots (down to the wood would be around a dozen coats or so).
After it's all dried up good (like a week after the last coat), tape the finish around the repair. I use blue painter's tape, followed by regular masking tape; two layers of tape. Next, use an extremely fine file to get the "lumps" off. DO NOT file below the "mound" line, or below the surrounding finish; keep the repair raised above the finish.
When it's close to level with the surrounding finish, I move to 400 grit wet or dry, used dry. Follow with 600 dry. You should be really close to level with the surrounding finish now. Wet the 600 and sand again. Follow with 800 wet. Take off the tape, and do 1000 wet, 1500 wet and 2000 wet, feathering into the surrounding finish. On a dime sized chip, I'll be 2000 gritting an area about 3in by 3in; that's how much you end up feathering out to make sure there's an even transition. I used to use automotive compound after this, but have found you get a "hazeless" polish using micromesh up to 12000 grit, followed by fine automotive compound, finishing with plastic polishing compound.

What you'll end up with is a spot that matches the surrounding in gloss and color, but there may be a "dip" or it may look like there's a hair in the clear coat surrounding the repair. This is because there's no melt in. But unless someone is looking for it, it's really hard to spot.

This is just my method that I've used satisfyingly on over a dozen Ibanez S series (I'm a collector, but I only like the ones from the '90's). Use whatever you feel comfortable with, and for Buddha's sake, DON'T SKIP GRITS!!!

Good luck to you.

AKV