SanQ Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Hi, I'm hoping some knowledgeable people here can help me. A couple of months ago, I took my 2005 Gibson Advanced Jumbo (Historic Collection) into a shop to get the frets fixed because of some buzzing. There was a distinct discoloration on the diamond and arrow that I never noticed before. I am the original owner since 2005. I know this guitar because I've looked at it and played it for the past 9 years. I love this guitar. It's beautiful and it sounds really good. The script was clean before. It was beautifully perfect and bright. There was none of what is there now: what looks to be marks around the script and writing. It now looks appalling with each passing year. The diamonds and arrows were bright pearl and there was not a hint of the brown discoloration that is there now. So while I am glad and relieved that my guitar wasn't tampered with thanks to all of you knowledgeable folks, I am disappointed in the deterioration. I decided to edit this post to take out what I originally wrote. It's embarrassing to me...anyway, I breathe a sigh of relief! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rar Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 ... Does this look tampered to you? ... No. It looks like finish checking due to differential shrinkage. BTW, the whole idea of stealing the inlay and replacing it with counterfeit doesn't make any sense, economically. -- Bob R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rar Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Oops! Double post. -- Bob R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62burst Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 First off, take a deep breath. It's ok. Your luthier is totally innocent. The perpetrator in this case is more than likely a substantial change in the temperature and/or humidity. Take your guitar out much? Some research on this forum should turn up a fairly well documented history of this happening to headstock inlays, AJ's in particular from the early/mid 1990's to mid 2000's. One thread on this topic got pretty heated, as it suggested "inexcusable" quality control issues. Now I can say "welcome to the club". I hope you like the way your guitar plays/sounds now that you had that work done. Btw, what work was it that was done on your AJ? Best to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanQ Posted June 9, 2014 Author Share Posted June 9, 2014 First off, take a deep breath. It's ok. Your luthier is totally innocent. The perpetrator in this case is more than likely a substantial change in the temperature and/or humidity. Take your guitar out much? Some research on this forum should turn up a fairly well documented history of this happening to headstock inlays, AJ's in particular from the early/mid 1990's to mid 2000's. One thread on this topic got pretty heated, as it suggested "inexcusable" quality control issues. Now I can say "welcome to the club". I hope you like the way your guitar plays/sounds now that you had that work done. Btw, what work was it that was done on your AJ? Best to you. Ok thanks to everyone for posting a response. Yeah you're right I think it's age. Man, I'm getting paranoid at my advancing age. I just wish it didn't start looking like this though. It looks kinda bad. Maybe I'll sell it. Yeah I've had this guitar out a lot, and where I am, the temperature fluctuates quite a bit between extreme cold and extreme heat, and I've had it in a lot of different environments. The work I had done to it was leveling out the frets and replacing the saddle and nut to bone. I used it for a lot of different styles like soloing which wore down some of the higher frets. It started buzzing after that. It's better now. Anyway, I can't describe how dumb I feel right now. I might have ruined a good man's name over my stupidity. Not a proud moment for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarLight Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Ouch! I feel your pain! Sorry to hear about it. Large temperature swings in temperature, or humidity, or both, can cause what you see on the head stock, particularly on the inlays. Weather this was caused in the shop, or occurred when taking it there or bringing it home again might have to be looked at. A good shop generally does not let such fluctuations occur because of this. But it does happen. And I find Gibsons are more sensitive to this inlay finish cracking than any of my 5 Martins were. Humidity and temperature are the key items you should watch when storing, or moving your guitar from one location to another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanQ Posted June 9, 2014 Author Share Posted June 9, 2014 Ouch! I feel your pain! Sorry to hear about it. Large temperature swings in temperature, or humidity, or both, can cause what you see on the head stock, particularly on the inlays. Weather this was caused in the shop, or occurred when taking it there or bringing it home again might have to be looked at. A good shop generally does not let such fluctuations occur because of this. But it does happen. And I find Gibsons are more sensitive to this inlay finish cracking than any of my 5 Martins were. Humidity and temperature are the key items you should watch when storing, or moving your guitar from one location to another. Most of the time, I play it for a few hours, then it goes back in the case. Sometimes I leave it out longer. I never expected this. Can this type of checking be fixed? Is it even worth getting fixed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogeye Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Any good repair shop that can spray nitro can fix it. It should be quite an inexpensive fix and not take long at all. They will take the tuners off strip the finish off the headstock and refinish it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Fixing this will likely cost you.......you had better be prepared to open your wallet. I think you need to find a new luthier. Apparently you've been burnt in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Look at this way - folks lay out big bucks to buy a new guitar that is artificially reliced to look like yours (which believe me ain't that bad). Personally I would just leave it be. Finish checking is just part of the aging process. It is natural and I guess unless you build yourself a special climate and light controlled room it is unavoidable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 I think you need to find a new luthier. Apparently you've been burnt in the past. That is exactly what crossed my mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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