Serious Finish Checking After Setup...What Should I Do??

[jcwu]

Will let you know how I make out.

Just curious - any update?

 

[marcellis]

I certainly can relate. I recently purchased a D50CE (Carona) that was shipped from Nashville to Pittsburgh (my home away from home); when it arrived I felt sick to my stomache.

I realized that it was not the shippers fault, and I waited 28 hours before opening, but we think it was placed in the lower belly of an airplane and got real cold. I was given the option to return it for full refund, but after playing it I could not part with it, even with the checking, so he gave me a reasonable settlement of $100. I plan on bringing it out to play at the pubs, so it's probably going to take a beating anyways. I figure that it just adds character and have decided to live with it. Who knows, after being dragged around in the Canadian winter, it probably would have developed the checking eventually anyways.

Unfortunately these things happen and there is not much you can do about it. Try to accept it as it is and play the crap out of it.

Bobby.

When I buy a guitar, I never think about selling it. I've only sold one guitar in my life.
It wasn't a Guild. I just didn't have enough space for 5 guitars at the time.

So from my POV, there is no problem with refinishing an instrument. Any guitar I buy,
is something I am going to keep and use until it becomes part of my estate. If one of
my Guilds checked like that D50ce, I'd probably get it refinished.That's because I've never
cared about resale value. If I cared about that, I'd be buying Gibson & Martin flat-tops.

I had no qualms about refinishing my old 1972 D25 & putting a G-shield on it too.
It belongs to my son now. He's not interested in selling it either.

(*That D50ce is a beautiful guitar BTW. I like that idea, a cutaway Rosewood/Spruce dread.)

 

[jcwu]

So from my POV, there is no problem with refinishing an instrument. Any guitar I buy,
is something I am going to keep and use until it becomes part of my estate. If one of
my Guilds checked like that D50ce, I'd probably get it refinished.That's because I've never
cared about resale value. If I cared about that, I'd be buying Gibson & Martin flat-tops

I thought the main problem with refinishing was that it'd affect the tone... in which case, if you don't care about the resale value, why not leave the checking in place?

 

[marcellis]

It wasn't the checking that was the problem. In fat, D25 was barely checked at all.
Check my sig.

The tone was not affected at all from what I can hear.
I insisted on a very light finish application.

 

[adorshki]

Yeah, I wonder how much a refinish really would affect the tone. I'm sure there would be some degree of change, but probably very small. My D25 has major finish wear around the soundhole, and while I'd love to make her all pretty and new looking again, I don't want to take any chances with the way she sounds now. Even if it would just be a "Start Over" I don't want to spend another 13 years just getting back to where she is now! :lol:

 

[taabru45]

It wasn't the checking that was the problem. In fat, D25 was barely checked at all.
Check my sig.

The tone was not affected at all from what I can hear.
I insisted on a very light finish application.

Wasn't that the one that survived, kind of, Katrina..?? Pretty rugged guitars these are... Steffan

 

[marcellis]

Yup. The sound hole had a piece chipped off. The back was cracked.
The headstock looked like one corner had been filed down.

Checking was the last thing on my mind for that beauty.
The problem was, the repairs could not be made without
re-finishing it. It broke my heart the luthier could not duplicate
the cherry red finish. First he gave it to me almost black. I didn't
like it. So he made it sunburst.

I noticed zero difference in the tone. If anything, it sounded better
after it was re-finished..

But since the neck was re-set in 2003 & the guitar was restored
and refinished in 2006, it should be good for another 37 years or so.

BTW, the original finish on that guitar never checked. It smudged.
A couple of years after I bought it, the neck finish kind of smudged.
I got that fixed in the restoration too.