Arm discoloration on top

[MorrisrownSal]

Hey guys. I bought a used HD28 a month back. I like it a lot. It has an arm stain (I think its an arm stain) blackish triangle area on the lower bass bout. Its not on top of the finish. Any ideas how I can get get rid of it or minimize it?

 

In this picture (which has my Gibsons - too in their glory)

 

[Victory Pete]

Hey guys. I bought a used HD28 a month back. I like it a lot. It has an arm stain (I think its an arm stain) blackish triangle area on the lower bass bout. Its not on top of the finish. Any ideas how I can get get rid of it or minimize it?

 

In this picture (which has my Gibsons - too in their glory)

 

 

That is strange, I have a 1998 HD28 and all I can see is that some of the top coat is wearing through slightly to the base sealer coat but no discoloration. What year is yours and what were its conditions in its former life?

[MorrisrownSal]

Pete... it's a 2011. I bought it off reverb, so I am not sure who owned it, and what they were like. It certainly seems to be where a bare forearm might rest, and maybe they guy had funky body chemistry... but its been played for sure. The look bothers me, but the sound does not. I am going to keep the guitar regardless...

[MorrisrownSal]

Pete... it's a 2011. I bought it off reverb, so I am not sure who owned it, and what they were like. It certainly seems to be where a bare forearm might rest, and maybe the guy had funky body chemistry... but its been played for sure. The look bothers me, but the sound does not. I am going to keep the guitar regardless...

[Victory Pete]

Pete... it's a 2011. I bought it off reverb, so I am not sure who owned it, and what they were like. It certainly seems to be where a bare forearm might rest, and maybe they guy had funky body chemistry... but its been played for sure. The look bothers me, but the sound does not. I am going to keep the guitar regardless...

 

Can you post some close ups? You got my curiosity.

[dhanners623]

I'm no expert, but that area of discoloration looks a lot more defined than what I think you'd see with arm/body chemistry problem.

 

Curious.

[j45nick]

I'm no expert, but that area of discoloration looks a lot more defined than what I think you'd see with arm/body chemistry problem.

 

Curious.

 

 

My thoughts as well. Looks too perfectly geometrical. It's almost as if something lay on top of the guitar and reacted with the finish.

[blindboygrunt]

I'm with nick.

That's not forearm did that.

Maybe sat by a window with curtain that blocked the sun or something bacuase it's not a perfect shape , but it is rather square looking to be a forearm injury

 

Maybe it's too close to that Taylor ?

 

As long as it's not gonna fall to bits then it's part of its history. Learn to love it

[kwalker201]

Looks too perfectly geometrical.

 

That would be a weird arm stain

[wootpow]

I bought a used Martin d28 with a John Pearce rosewood armrest that left a stain on the top very similar to what the op posted.I tried but the stain remained.

[Buc McMaster]

Agree that it's too squared-edged to be forearm discoloration. Such finish reactions take a bit of time to happen...........perhaps there's something wonky about the case it lives in, in that particular spot of contact. Take look. Wouldn't let it turn me from an otherwise stellar instrument.

[dhanners623]

It seems the opposite of a pickguard "tan," that light-colored area you see when you remove a pickguard. The rest of the top has yellowed with exposure to sunlight, but the area under the pickguard hasn't. This is as if something covered everything but that little shape in the corner.

[blindboygrunt]

I bought a used Martin d28 with a John Pearce rosewood armrest that left a stain on the top very similar to what the op posted.I tried but the stain remained.

 

By Jove, he may have got it !

[fortyearspickn]

Did the previous owner have a male dog named Orville?

[MorrisrownSal]

Thanks guys... it looks like a defined-ish shape from afar, but closeup much less so...

I'm going to order virtuoso cleaner and polish it. If that doesn't work, oh well...

[j45nick]

Thanks guys... it looks like a defined-ish shape from afar, but closeup much less so...

I'm going to order virtuoso cleaner and polish it. If that doesn't work, oh well...

 

 

Sal, can you post a close-up picture for us?

[MorrisrownSal]

Here are two Nick...

 

 

 

[Victory Pete]

Does it change if you look at it from a different angle?

[MorrisrownSal]

Pete... at some angles it looks blended with the rest of the top... and at most angles... especially further away, the stain is more pronounced.

[Victory Pete]

Pete... at some angles it looks blended with the rest of the top... and at most angles... especially further away, the stain is more pronounced.

 

Sounds like "runout" in the grain. Typically runout would affect the entire top. Although other factors other than runout can give the same effect.

 

http://www.lutherie....ord.runout.html

[Dave F]

Have you peeked underneath to see if it's through?

[tpbiii]

That is a very common effect for guitars in genres -- eg bluegrass -- where the music is played in humid warm-to-hot environments. It comes from sweat, and the effect can be quite different for different people. It happens at jams for sure, but I play in outdoor stage shows several times a year where I come off stage so wet with sweat that it is almost like I just showered. It happens in GA a lot, but it also happens several times every summer in NS as well -- anywhere that heat and humidity combine.

 

I always ware an arm guard to protect old instruments.

 

There is a well known progression associated with finishes. The first few times the finish get wets in this way, the finish clouds up and become soft. If you don't touch it, it will dry out and return to its original state with a slight haze. For awhile the haze can be taken off with a good cleaner, but after awhile there will be noticeable surface deterioration. Since this is a surface effect, it can be polished out with a good polish for awhile, but every time you do, you take off some finish -- so eventually the obvious will occur. Also when the finish softens -- before it has dried out and returned to its original state -- the wood itself will eventually get some staining. This is so common and since it has essentially no effect on sound or playability, it is often ignored. It also only happens to some people -- something about body chemistry.

 

 

Best,

 

-Tom

[MorrisrownSal]

Thanks Tom.

It sounds like my energy will be wasted trying to correct this. And for sure, while this guitar is in excellent condition, it is clear it has been played.

I'll just enjoy playing it and ignore its cafe au lait spot.

[Murph]

 

Maybe it's too close to that Taylor ?

 

 

Somehow, you just knew that was coming.......

[mountainpicker]

The more I look at the discoloration the more triangular the shape appears to me. The straightness of the edge running in the same direction as the grain of the wood is especially suspicious. I think it might have hung or been on a stand in the sun and had some kind of right angle shaped object cast a shadow (or conversely, only a triangle of sunlight struck the guitar) on that part of the guitar over a period of time. I defer to Tom's assessment as he's been around a lot more instruments than I but if I were to want to try and get rid of it I'd take a piece of white poster board and lay it on a table, place the back of the guitar on top of it and draw the outline of the guitar onto the poster board. Then cut out the silhouette of the guitar. Next, cut away the place where the stain is on the top, effectively making a mask of all of the top EXCEPT for the stain. Attach the mask using blue painters masking tape and set the guitar in direct sunlight whenever you aren't playing it, moving it to follow the traverse of the Sun if possible. See if that works. It also may be that you have to do the reverse and mask the stain while allowing the rest of the top to get UV. Only experimentation will tell, and it will take awhile to find out but it won't be that onerous a task. Send it up to duluthdan or to me and we can double your UV exposure since we live closer to the Sun!

Or, just play it and forget about it.