pippy Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Following on from a post I made slightly earlier (06 Jan to be precise), I noticed some new checking on the horn of my Paul leading off under the pickguard. I removed said item and this is what I saw.... Does anyone out there have a similar phenomenon? I actually like the look! It's just odd that I've never heard of anyone else as having had a similar experience. I should add that the lines cannot easily be seen unless the light is falling across the guitar at a very acute angle. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bram Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I have two thoughts about this: -) The wood is cracking. -) It's done on purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I have two thoughts about this: -) The wood is cracking. -) It's done on purpose. The wood isn't cracking, the finish is. It happens either over a very long period of time (decades) from the finish drying out or by taking the guitar from one extreme temperature to another. Or by paying extra to have some cat at the Custom Shop prebeat a guitar for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmngretsch14 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Did you take it on a plane? I've heard of situations where leaving a guitar in the cargo hold of a plane causes the finish to check because of rapid changes in temp and pressure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmngretsch14 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Did you take it on a plane? I've heard of situations where leaving a guitar in the cargo hold of a plane causes the finish to check because of rapid changes in temp and pressure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AXE® Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 What year is this beast ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGBENDS Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Looks great! I wouldn't want my finish to crack from my carelessness, but if it cracks like that from ageing naturally, I could live with it. The color of finish you have helps. It looks like a worn instrument, not used and abused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80LPC Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Frequent changes in temperature and humidity, accelerated by leaving the guitar out of it's case. You could charge for providing this service ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 What year is this beast ? 1959. Sorry, I meant 1995 (damn). Serial No. 0 5449. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 Frequent changes in temperature and humidity' date=' accelerated by leaving the guitar out of it's case.You could charge for providing this service ! :)[/quote'] Yes, I think you're correct in the temp. + humidity bit but, as I said in the original post, the finish was perfect just eight months ago! I'm really not complaining at all - as I say, I like it - I just want to know WHY ME???????? Just lucky, I guess. Again. OK, if I was lucky enough to live in some freezing cold part of Canada (for example) I could understand, but I haven't heard Guitarjunkie, Deepblue or R9 saying their beasts were crazing in front of there very eyes! Perhaps I should see if one of my neighbours is called T. Murphy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil325 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 i think the pickguard area cracking looks awesome... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Yes' date=' I think you're correct in the temp. + humidity bit but, as I said in the original post, the finish was perfect just eight months ago! I'm really not complaining at all - as I say, I like it - I just want to know WHY ME???????? Just lucky, I guess. Again. OK, if I was lucky enough to live in some freezing cold part of Canada (for example) I could understand, but I haven't heard Guitarjunkie, Deepblue or R9 saying their beasts were crazing in front of there very eyes! Perhaps I should see if one of my neighbours is called T. Murphy?[/quote'] If your guitar was in the trunk of your car where it's cold for an hour or two, then you went inside of a warm building and immediately took it out to play without letting it warm up slowly in the case with the lid remaining closed, that's how it can crack. This stuff is all on Gibson's web site: http://www.gibson.com/Service/Owners%20Info%20Guide/Caring%20for%20the%20Finish/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 If your guitar was in the trunk of your car where it's cold for an hour or two' date=' then you went inside of a warm building and immediately took it out to play without letting it warm up slowly in the case with the lid remaining closed, that's how it can crack.[/quote'] Thanks for the link, RichCI. Other than going over to a mates for a jam several times the thing hasn't left my lounge in the eight months I've owned her. I suspect it's just down to temp. and humidity changes ; at the moment this varies from 14c at night to 23c during the day (if the sun shines; the room is South facing). The only other possibility is that the previous owner was called Dorian Gray and he kept it up in his attic...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepblue Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 prebeat a guitar for you. I like that term! I think it looks cool. Natural battle scars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chongo Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Following on from a post I made slightly earlier (06 Jan to be precise)' date=' I noticed some new checking on the horn of my Paul leading off under the pickguard.[/quote'] I've got maybe 10 Gibsons, all built prior to 1980, some dating to the very early '50's, all with original finishes, and some have checked, some not. This is one of the charms of nitrocellulose lacquer on wood -- it becomes ever more brittle with age and the less the wood has been properly aged when the guitar was built, the earlier you'll begin to see these things happening. It also discolors -- it will normally amber with age, but can also degenerate altogether in the presence of some gasses, such as those coming from the old pickguards and plastic inlays and tuner handles, especially when those gasses have been cooped up in a case with the guitar finish for a long period of time. If the wood wasn't properly and sufficiently aged, and if your guitar hasn't been kept at about a 45-50% humidity level, that wood will expand and shrink more than it should, and that will cause early onset of checking, especially on nitro-painted bodies and necks. Wide variations in temperatures, particularly wide variations over a very short time span, will accelerate the process of checking I DO have an old Epiphone (built in 1939, before the company was acquired by Gibson and while it still produced world-class guitars) that was refinished in a french polish in the mid-60's. That finish has never checked Nor have the finishes on several poly-coated guitars dating back to the early '80's. These days there's really no good reason to use nitrocellulose lacquer on anything, especially with the advent of some of the very thin coat UV-catalyzed poly finishes. There's some hokum about guitars breathing and/or resonating better because of the Nitro, but by and large that's all internet myth and traditional balderdash repeated and sworn to by people who really have no clue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 If the wood wasn't properly and sufficiently aged' date=' and if your guitar hasn't been kept at about a 45-50% humidity level, that wood will expand and shrink more than it should, and that will cause early onset of checking, especially on nitro-painted bodies and necks. Wide variations in temperatures, particularly wide variations over a very short time span, will accelerate the process of checking [/quote'] Thanks very much, chongo, for all that you posted. That all makes sense. I'd never want to give the impression that I suspect Gibson of not having properly seasoned the wood from which my guitar was crafted and I'm also certain the previous owner - a private collector who bought it new and kept it in a near-museum quality showcase - wasn't responsible; I checked it over thoroughly before I bought it. I'm sure it's all down to the changes it has experienced since coming into my ownership. My question is - Has no-one else experienced anything similar? My house experiences temp. and humidity changes but, surely, so do many other houses? Could my instrument be the only guitar built in 1995 not to have pre-seasoned timber? Where are the owners of 0 5448 and 0 5450 when you need them?! As I said earlier, I made a close inspection of the guitar last August and found two or three small cracks. Pretty soon the finish will resemble a comprehensive road map of Europe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bram Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I don't think it has anything to do with temperature changes. If it was normal about 8 months ago, then it should be still normal at this moment (unless the guitar is gone through VERY extreme temperature changes in these 8 months and even then I have doubts. Any Gibson goes through temperature changes, but this is something uncommon (for a '95 Les Paul). I don't think it looks cool at all. It's more troublesome, especially if you don't know the reason WHY. Maybe it gets worse and worse if you don't know what causes these cracks. Cracks are never a good sign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackHawk233 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 So on the subject, Have I just evaded this whole problem having a guitar with no finish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundergod Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 So on the subject' date=' Have I just evaded this whole problem having a guitar with no finish?[/quote'] I think so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 I don't think it has anything to do with temperature changes. If it was normal about 8 months ago' date=' then it should be still normal at this moment (unless the guitar is gone through VERY extreme temperature changes in these 8 months and even then I have doubts. Any Gibson goes through temperature changes, but this is something uncommon (for a '95 Les Paul). I don't think it looks cool at all. It's more troublesome, especially if you don't know the reason WHY. Maybe it gets worse and worse if you don't know what causes these cracks. Cracks are never a good sign.[/quote'] You also thought that the wood, rather than the finish, had cracked and have a tendency to recommend swapping caps and pots no matter what tone or sound issue someone comes with to this board. But, maybe you're right - what does Gibson know about the finish used on their guitars? http://www.gibson.com/Service/Owners%20Info%20Guide/Caring%20for%20the%20Finish/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcelo Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 I will tell you guys something, wood moves all the time. It shrinks and expands. I know this is not a good comparison to a guitar, but the wood floors at old place used to be nice and tight at the joint where two planks met, when seen in the summer months. In winter, when the furnace was running and I guess the humidity levels dropped, the wood shrank and you might be able to squeeze a dime on its edge between the same the joints. My guess is that if the nitro and the wood are shrinking or expanding at different rates, you will get the cracking. If nitro was more elastic, this would not happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modoc_333 Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 it's just finish checking. it happens on tons of guitars. it IS the result of the finish and the wood expanding/contracting at different rates as temp changes too quickly. there are some other factors such as humidity and the exactly mixture of nitro on the particular guitar....but this is absolutely normal. some people like it, some don't. the only way to avoid it is to make sure the the guitar's environment stays constant, and if it does change then you acclimate it gradually to the new environment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bram Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 The finish checking is a shame really. Although it may happen on tons of guitars (like modoc_333 states) I haven't seen this before on a brand new looking Gibson Les Paul from '95. RichCI: what's your problem dude? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bram Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 You also thought that the wood' date=' rather than the finish, had cracked and have a tendency to recommend swapping caps and pots no matter what tone or sound issue someone comes with to this board. [/quote'] What's your problem? Yo have a tendency to be a prick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 What's your problem? Yo have a tendency to be a prick. Only when people people talk about things as if what they are saying are facts when it's really either opinion or BS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.