Levism Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Hi guys, I recently posted my new N-225 I bought from Long and Mcquade I bought last Friday. I inspected in on purchase but missed this somehow. The picture attached is the neck about midway around the 5 th fret. It looks as though it's just the grain but I have never come across this before. My first thought was holy s$&t is that cracked !? There is absolutely no indentation and very smooth. I know I have the gibson warranty if something were to happen but this after the mistake with the black paint on the natural finish makes me consider sending it back to gibson and chancing another special order. (Last one took 6 weeks) Has anyone come across this before ? Is this as simple as the grain of the maple ? Is this possibly an area of the neck I should be concerned with being weak? This is my fourth gibson and I love everyone of them. Hope you guys can shed some light. Cheers M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Californiaman Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Find a small, soft rubber malet and tap the area around the crack. If it's solid you should know right away. Conversly, if it's cracked you should be able to tell right away as well. Hope it works out for you. That's too bad if it is indeed a crack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjsinla Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I've seen stuff like that in maple and it wasn't a crack. I would be very surprised if that was a crack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 It is hard to tell from here but I don't think it's a crack. To my eyes it looks like tooling marks. There are strange ones on some Gibsons of mine, too. The bodies of my EB 2013 basses are strongly affected since processing ashwood is different from that of every other tonewood and Gibson seems to have little corporate knowledge about treating ash. But however, I found tooling marks on mahogany and maple as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Not that I'm a guitar finishing guy, but it appears to me that the mark goes across the grain, if it were a crack I suspect it would follow the grain. It appears to simply be a mark, possibly a tooling mark that happened just before or during the finish coat process. I highly doubt there is any weakness or reason to worry, but again I'm no expert... If it plays like a dream and it doesn't make you lose sleep or give you consternation over it (beyond worry of weakness or crack) and you love the guitar, and you can live with a mark on the neck nobody will see but someone playing it and inspecting it closely visually for themselves, then I would keep it. It only adds character and allows you to distinquish "your" guitar from other similar guitars... It does help make it your unique axe... I also understand wanting a new "unblemished" guitar, as I can be the same way, but sometimes the minute blemishes are the things that help us identify our own unique instruments... I think it's up to you on how you feel about it, but I truly suspect there is no crack and not even any weakness there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Hi Levism. Hope you don't mind my taking the liberty to post the larger versions here in the thread? I'm no woodworker but in these images the marks look, to me, like natural markings in the wood itself. Is there a timber / lumber dealer anywhere near you? You could always take the guitar along and ask for an opinion from those who work with the stuff on a daily basis. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I think Pippy's blow up is pretty helpful. looks like maybe just an anomaly in the wood grain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauloon Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Can (don't laugh) Lacquer crack in stages?.....one of my Deluxes has a 1/2 inch ruler straight ''crack''....but you can't feel it...and it's not the paint (goldtop)...now,as they put lacquer on in layers..is that possible?...the first or second etc layer would crack...but layers above would not? Other lacquer cracks on my other Gibsons I can FEEL.......this one ..nope..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quapman Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I'm no woodworker but in these images the marks look, to me, like natural markings in the wood itself. P. Ya, Pippy's enlarged photos really help. They look natural to me to. Maple has some funky characteristics in its grain that defy the more predictable grains in other woods. I wouldn't worry about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Yeah.. that looks like wood grain to me... I see stuff like that all the time which at first I nearly always think is a tool mark and often ends up just being inconsistences in the grain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levism Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 Thank you all for the feedback. It does put the crack concerns to bed. It's my first all maple guitar and i couldn't find much on google regarding this. I have a good guy at my dealership who I'll take in for further inspection. I do want to say I completely agree with the fact that characteristics like this make them our instruments and define them. I do love the guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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