Gibson ES-325 Sticky Neck - What can I do?

[rml]

hey guys

 

here goes with my first post!

 

ive been an epiphone casino (peerless factory) player for the last 10 years or so- i love that guitar, i've played so many guitars but the casino really is awesome and has done me well for such a long time-

 

i finally decided to buy a gibson- so i bought a '72 ES-325 on ebay- so far its been a bit of a horror story- the seller completely misrepresented the guitar as "excellent shape"- but its far from excellent shape- im currently looking into compensation

 

from what i can gather, the previous owner stored the guitar for a good number of years in a damp basement- the entire inside of the guitar was mouldy, the pickups, pots and tailpiece have quite a bit of corrosion on them, theres a whole lot of other problems too, and to top it off the whole guitar stinks- im not sure if the smell is just mould, or a combination of smoke and mould-

 

from what i can tell the neck is still straight, but im having trouble getting the intonation right, that could be the badly hacked nut though, im going to have a luthier look at that-

 

i'd like to keep the guitar and have it repaired but one thing worries me- the sticky neck

 

the neck is really sticky- i think being in a damp basement for a number of years has made the lacquer go soft- its far from smooth moving my hand up and down the neck- and after playing for a while the lacquer goes really smudgy- its as if the lacquer is smudging away as i play- i used a damp cloth to clean away the smudges, but they come straight back again- if i push hard with my thumb its as if im pushing the lacquer off and im left with this brown residue on my thumb and on the neck-

 

the rest of the lacquer on the guitar is fine, not sticky or smudgy-

 

is the neck ruined? can a sticky neck be sorted out easily with some sort of treatment or will the whole neck have to be stripped and re-lacquered?

 

all suggestions welcome- would appreciate any help to save this old guitar from years of mistreatment-

 

cheers, rob-

[vincentw]

For "sticky" necks:

 

I would suggest that you apply naphtha (lighter fluid) to a clean cotton cloth and rub this on the neck of the guitar. Sometimes this will produce a cloudy or hazy appearance but, if you will follow up by polishing it with Gibson guitar polish, it will shine it properly. This is the method used by our repair facility and it is imperative that naphtha is the only liquid used as any other type of solvent can damage or destroy your finish.

[rml]

thanks for that reply.

 

while the gibson forum was getting upgraded and was unavailable, i went to a guitar store in the city that specialised in gibsons to seek their advice.

 

they said they thought it was years of grime embedded in the lacquer that was smudging around when you played it.

 

i personally was unsure of this as it seemed pretty unbelievable.

 

they sold me the "gibson reissue restoration kit" and said to use the "cream guitar polish" (for nitro finishes). unfortunately they didn't have the cream just by itself, so i had to buy the kit.

 

you wouldn't believe how many times i had to reapply that cream to the cloth. you wouldn't believe the amount of grime that the cream was able to bring out.

 

it's still smudging a bit in spots, but when it does i use the cream again, hopefully all the grime will be out of the lacquer soon. it's 90% clean of the grime and smudges now, all shiny and smooth to play.

 

i would recommend the cream to others ;)

 

i had read other posts saying to use lighter fluid but wasnt sure it this was a joke- thanks for confirming that it is a technique used by the gibson repair facility.

 

cheers, rml

 

For "sticky" necks:

 

I would suggest that you apply naphtha (lighter fluid) to a clean cotton cloth and rub this on the neck of the guitar. Sometimes this will produce a cloudy or hazy appearance but, if you will follow up by polishing it with Gibson guitar polish, it will shine it properly. This is the method used by our repair facility and it is imperative that naphtha is the only liquid used as any other type of solvent can damage or destroy your finish.

[vincentw]

Great!

[g6120]

For "sticky" necks:

 

I would suggest that you apply naphtha (lighter fluid) to a clean cotton cloth and rub this on the neck of the guitar. Sometimes this will produce a cloudy or hazy appearance but, if you will follow up by polishing it with Gibson guitar polish, it will shine it properly. This is the method used by our repair facility and it is imperative that naphtha is the only liquid used as any other type of solvent can damage or destroy your finish.

 

 

Winner naphtha = Best bet