Jbell15 Posted November 26, 2011 Share Posted November 26, 2011 I just purchased a Gibson es-137 custom, built in 2010. I played it at the music store for hours over the course of a few weeks and thought I checked everything, but when I got home I realized some little cracks on the binding of the fretboard. If you were to hold the guitar in playing position, you would see the cracks by just about every fret (surrounding the fret markers on the binding, not the fingerboard itself). The cracks run in the same direction of the frets, as if the metal fret was to continue over the side of the fingerboard where your thumb would be. Basically, the cracks "point" at the frets. This happened on both sides of the binding and seems cosmetic, but if there is any chance it's serious I need to know so I can return it, however heartbreaking that may be. I tried to get a picture but the cracks were not visible. Not sure this is something acceptable for a $2,700 guitar. Thanks for your replies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JellyWheat Posted November 26, 2011 Share Posted November 26, 2011 I just purchased a Gibson es-137 custom, built in 2010. I played it at the music store for hours over the course of a few weeks and thought I checked everything, but when I got home I realized some little cracks on the binding of the fretboard. If you were to hold the guitar in playing position, you would see the cracks by just about every fret (surrounding the fret markers on the binding, not the fingerboard itself). The cracks run in the same direction of the frets, as if the metal fret was to continue over the side of the fingerboard where your thumb would be. Basically, the cracks "point" at the frets. This happened on both sides of the binding and seems cosmetic, but if there is any chance it's serious I need to know so I can return it, however heartbreaking that may be. I tried to get a picture but the cracks were not visible. Not sure this is something acceptable for a $2,700 guitar. Thanks for your replies. I have a 2009 ES 137, and it may be the best Gibson I have ever owned (in 44 years!). Alas, the hairline cracks to which you are referring are common, and occur mostly due to the fingerboard having shrunk a bit, as a result of drying. This causes the fret tands (which are covered by the binding) to exert outward pressure on the binding material, slightly deforming it. The deformation is not sufficient to damage the binding, but it IS enough to cause a hairline crack to develop in the clear coat (final, glass-clear coat of nitro applied to the guitar before polishing). It is very worrisome the first time it happens to a Gibson owner, but I have played on guitars that exhibited such cracks for years, and the finish never flaked or chipped... Other common places for such finish "crazing" to show up are: at the joint of the heel of the neck and the body of the guitar, up the edge of the heel, where it joins the body, and the full length of the fingerboard binding, where the lower edge meets the wood of the neck. :unsure: Welcome to the wonderful world of nitro finishes! On the + side, it is this "crazing" phenomenon that makes 50-year-old goldtops look so cool. It's not a defect, per se, it's just a function of the finish shrinking at a faster rate than the underlying wood. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it! Hope you find this reassuring. Enjoy playing your 137... I sure do! J/W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted November 26, 2011 Share Posted November 26, 2011 . Welcome. As JW said. Likely dry environment. There's no way of knowing the shipping conditions. The store you bought it from may be dryer than the factory environment. I wish more manufacturers would cut the fret tangs back further. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strat-o-steve Posted November 26, 2011 Share Posted November 26, 2011 My brand new Les Paul Traditional Plus has the finish cracked ever so slightly in the binding around the side dot markers. It is only slightly cracked, and is not the actual binding that is cracked....whew! Binding usually won't just crack even from lack of humidity before the wood would (not without decades passing by).....so if the wood hasn't split, or the finish isn't cracked, the binding, if actually cracked, has cracked for a different reason. :( I'm agreeing with the fret tang issue. Left too long, and when the wood and binding shrink a little, it puts too much pressure on the binding. Since the binding is glued in a slot and cannot move...something has to give. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 This indeed is a very common issue. MF recently sold a number of ES-330Ls as used level 2 instruments with the exact same defect. These surface cracks will most likely stabilize over time, and should not be an ongoing cause for concern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jbell15 Posted November 27, 2011 Author Share Posted November 27, 2011 Thanks for the messages and reassurance! I just brought it to a well regarded guitar tech in my area and he said the same thing as all of you. Whew! What a relief! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbluesplayer Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 That happens when the guitar sits in a shop and the fretboard dries out. Make sure you oil the fretboard so the wood expands a little back to where it was originally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbaker Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 That happens when the guitar sits in a shop and the fretboard dries out. Make sure you oil the fretboard so the wood expands a little back to where it was originally. And make sure you control the humidity where your guitar will be stored! Many players neglect this, even in the desert southwest where I live - with relative humidity in single digits a large part of the year. All guitars (yes, including electrics) should be kept in a 45-55% relative humidity environment, and keeping them in a dryer environment will, sooner or later, result in fretboard shrinkage and perhaps much worse. Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now... Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CajunBlues Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 And make sure you control the humidity where your guitar will be stored! Many players neglect this, even in the desert southwest where I live - with relative humidity in single digits a large part of the year. All guitars (yes, including electrics) should be kept in a 45-55% relative humidity environment, and keeping them in a dryer environment will, sooner or later, result in fretboard shrinkage and perhaps much worse. Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now... Mark This is a bunch of bs... I live in Phoenix and I stored my telecaster in my attic for 2 years and the heat didn't affect it at all... I have stored my es-137 in my garage for about 3 years now... no affects... All my other guitars have been inside since I started living here in 1992, absolutely no adverse effects from the dry air... The only time you need to worry about humidity is when you have a solid topped guitar... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamBooka Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 This is a bunch of bs... I live in Phoenix and I stored my telecaster in my attic for 2 years and the heat didn't affect it at all... I have stored my es-137 in my garage for about 3 years now... no affects... All my other guitars have been inside since I started living here in 1992, absolutely no adverse effects from the dry air... The only time you need to worry about humidity is when you have a solid topped guitar... FAIL! :D xoxoxo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JellyWheat Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Actually, I believe the truth lies somewhere in the middle ground between mbaker and CajunBlues POVs. Taken individually, both of these opposing views seem a bit extreme to me... My $0.02//YMMV J/W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaicho8888 Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 I've had a couple of 40 year old Gibsons with me in Saudi Areabia in the dead heat for over six years plus months of storage in shipping containers...there are no binding cracks on the neck to date. ...Gibson made them better in the old days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JellyWheat Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Hey... This is just an opinion, but I think a lot of it has to do with whether the tang ends you can't see sit slightly proud of the fingerboard or are dead flushwith it beneath the binding. IMO it wouldn't take a lot of overage to cause problems. My $0.02 J/W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CajunBlues Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 jBell... by the way, I have these same very small tiny cracks in the binding at the frets in my ES137... it was like that soon after I bought it in 2002, and it has not gotten any worse... My binding has however started to brown/age which I actually think looks great... And keep in mind I have kept my guitar without any humidification in the Arizona air since 2002....... I wouldn't fret over it really... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ISirius42 Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Just my $0.02, but I think it might be major changes in the relative humidity that will effect the guitar woods. Here's my story: A fews ago, I built a Warmoth guitar. The neck was birds-eye maple with ebony board which I treated each string change. I had the frets dressed by a local luthier in the spring I built it. The relative humidity in the house at that time was between 40 and 50%. The following winter, the house got really dry due our heat pump. The relative humidity guages registered "LO"--as in >20%. The fretboard shrunk so much that I could feel the frets poking out of the side of the guitar neck (remember, the Luthier had round filed the fret edges to be even with the sides of the neck). I also noticed that my Taylor acoustic was developing a gap at the tail of the guitar. Spring came back around, the relative humidity rose, the frets returned to normal and the gap disappeared. It convinced me to buy a whole house humidifier for my music room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyGibson Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 I wouldn't fret over it really... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbaker Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 This is a bunch of bs... I live in Phoenix and I stored my telecaster in my attic for 2 years and the heat didn't affect it at all... I have stored my es-137 in my garage for about 3 years now... no affects... All my other guitars have been inside since I started living here in 1992, absolutely no adverse effects from the dry air... The only time you need to worry about humidity is when you have a solid topped guitar... Everyone is entitled to their opinion, although that seems like a rude way to put it. If you really did that, I'd be willing to bet you at least had sharp fret ends protruding from the fretboard - I've seen it many times. I would never treat a high-quality guitar like that, but hey, to each his own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CajunBlues Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 I'd be willing to bet you at least had sharp fret ends protruding from the fretboard - I've seen it many times. No, no fret ends protruding from the fretboard... Although I would not recommend putting any guitar in an environment that gets up to 150 degrees F in the summertime... I did it partly to prove a point... There is absolutely no affects from heat/dryness on that telecaster... Anyway don't take my word for it, I dropped by last night and talked with the guys at Bizarre over on 7th ave and Camelback ..... and they say the same thing I do... you only need to humidify your solid topped guitars... If anyone knows about storing guitars in Arizona, it's them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinh Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 It's been my experience that finished wooden parts tend to shrink slightly over time irrespective of humidity. I've seen plenty of binding cracks at fret ends due to fretboards getting a fraction narrower, even in the humidity of Oklahoma or the plain dankness of rural England. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarfish Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 The first couple years I had guitars I also had a large aquarium in my house. The aquarium evap'd about a gallon of water per day. Although I never knew it at the time, that was keeping the house comfortable in the wintertime. I got rid of the aquarium and then the next winter, I had sharp fret ends one my Strat, and my acoustic was outta whack too. I then got a humidifier which is large enough to keep the house at about 40%, which is pretty comfortable during winter. No guitar problems after that. Acoustics are FAR more likely to be affected by humidity or lack of it, because they are very thin pieces of wood, and unfinished on the inside.They are like sponges, soaking up and drying out quickly. Solid bodies, or even semis, hold up much better. The ES-335 is laminated, which makes it react better than an acoustic. To say a solid body is not affected by humidity at all isn't necessarily true. Incidentally, storing a guitar in a very hot place can do bad things to the glue. Just ask anyone whose left a guitar in a hot, closed car for too long, only to find the glue has become, well, unglued. Rule of thumb - guitars like to be in the same environment most people do. Extremes = bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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