Guild D-55 Neck Issue

Long time reader, new member and first time poster here. Delighted to see a forum dedicated to all things Guild. I have a D-55 with some odd neck issues near the fretboard binding by the headstock. I am not sure sure if it is simply the paint flaking or if something more serious is or has happened. I have attached a picture and I welcome any thoughts on what may cause this or how/if it can be repaired. Note: I live in a very dry climate but have always tried to keep the guitar properly humidified...

TIA,
Todd

Todd, it looks purely like a finish problem. I don't see any damage to the wood or the nut slot (good news).

Do you use a capo a lot?

Thanks for the quick reply and I am relieved to hear it is more cosmetic than structural. I do not use a capo very often. I wonder if a local luthier could repair it...

^ Absolutely repairable, Todd. Some new lacquer just needs to be put on that spot. It's likely that the area might've been "green" wood on the neck or perhaps slightly contaminated before the factory sprayed the tinted lacquer there. In any case, no sweat.

Is that a Tacoma-era instrument, by the way?

chazmo said:

Is that a Tacoma-era instrument, by the way?

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I cannot get a specific manufacture date from the online tool but it is a Westerly, RI model. I think it is around 1999/2000. (Serial Number AD551261)

chazmo said:

^ Absolutely repairable, Todd. Some new lacquer just needs to be put on that spot. It's likely that the area might've been "green" wood on the neck or perhaps slightly contaminated before the factory sprayed the tinted lacquer there. In any case, no sweat.

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So glad to hear this. Thank you!

OK, I asked because Tacoma had some lacquering issues, but that's not the case here. Well, to me, it looks like the lacquer (nitro-cellulose lacquer, by the way) was scraped off in this area. I was guessing it was the fault of a capo, but maybe not.

Anyway, should be an easy (optional) repair.

As has been mentioned this is a cosmetic and not a structural problem. However, the fretboard binding in that area looks kinda torn up as well. I'm gonna guess that whatever caused the damage to the binding also caused the lacquer to tear away and cause this issue. As has also been mentioned by chazmo, this mahogany neck is finished with a tinted lacquer to darken it which is why the wood underneath is lighter. This can be fixed with sanding and smoothing (to the binding, too) and then touch up tinted lacquer put on the defect and then blended.

Are you the original owner? Just curious what caused this damage in the first place. If it was from a wall hanger I'd expect damage further towards the headstock, but that's not the case. Anyway, it can be fixed, but it's not horrible or terribly obvious so it could be left alone as well. Welcome to LTG!!

davismanLV said:

As has been mentioned this is a cosmetic and not a structural problem. However, the fretboard binding in that area looks kinda torn up as well. I'm gonna guess that whatever caused the damage to the binding also caused the lacquer to tear away and cause this issue. As has also been mentioned by chazmo, this mahogany neck is finished with a tinted lacquer to darken it which is why the wood underneath is lighter. This can be fixed with sanding and smoothing (to the binding, too) and then touch up tinted lacquer put on the defect and then blended.

Are you the original owner? Just curious what caused this damage in the first place. If it was from a wall hanger I'd expect damage further towards the headstock, but that's not the case. Anyway, it can be fixed, but it's not horrible or terribly obvious so it could be left alone as well. Welcome to LTG!!

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Tom, thanks for the reply. I wish I knew what caused it... The guitar was purchased new by our family and has been sitting in the case for years... Its been played very little. I am relieved it can be fixed... We have a wonderful local guitar builder who I trust and I may chat with him next time we meet.

Hi Todd, and welcome to the forum.

As Chazmo has already indicated, a capo is a common culprit.

(For posterity) Another potential culprit (not in your case - ha, ha - pun discovered) is the act of repeatedly hanging the guitar on the wall or in a stand, as Tom mentioned. Compounded by heavy playing, where the left hand spends a lot of time in the first position, the lacquer can/will yield over time. But it will often look more worn, not chipped, as your's does.

It looks to me like the nut has taken a blow, as has the edge of the neck. A wild guess would be due to the rapid removal of the instrument from the case, where it "catches" briefly on the latch of the case lid - just enough to crack the lacquer and start the chipping process (which could occur over several years, especially if the instrument was not played frequently). Or perhaps something tipped and fell, striking the instrument while it was out of the case? Or perhaps the instrument was resting fret-side-down against a coffee or end table, and then slid suddenly until it was stopped by contact with... something?

Christopher Cozad said:

It looks to me like the nut has taken a blow, as has the edge of the neck.

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That's exactly what I thought too. Sometimes an impact itself causes checking (cracking of the lacquer) and since it's at the edge of the unfinished fretboard, it begins to chip quite readily.

Not being familiar with capos (don't use 'em) I didn't recognize that as a possible cause, but now I realize that if one had clamped the fretboard binding tightly enough, the binding could have been compressed underneath the lacquer, causing it to separate from the lacquer.
Bingo: Beginning of problem.

Christopher Cozad said:

It looks to me like the nut has taken a blow, as has the edge of the neck.

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That nut moved quite a bit towards the bass side! So something hit it quite a bit out of place! No wonder the lacquer cracked.
You also see the point of impact at the upper end of the neck binding (no red arrow there).

I think the nut needs to be taken out and fixed at the correct position again. Wouldn't the nut stand out on the bass side quite a bit?



Ralf

Good closeup, Ralf.

As you can see, Todd, no stone is left un-turned at LTG. Members here are great detectives.

In addition to the compression of the capo, Al, is the repeated smacking of the metal of the device against the edge of the neck. Try as one might to avoid it, it occurs. If there happens to be lacquer beneath the area subjected to repeated clobbering with metal... well...

Wow! Unbelievable input and thank you all for investing time to help sort this out. It is interesting that when enlarged, the photo I provided visually suggests the nut is pushed inwards/upwards or is somehow not flush with the neck/headstock. However it is actually very smooth along the bottom of the nut/neck with no indication of an indentation nor does it appear visually as pronounce as the picture suggests. However, clearly something has likely caused some trauma...

Final note... There more I look at things, it would seem that a capo with some force could indeed be the culprit. There was one of those old locking capos in the case at one point which perhaps was over tightened and then maybe bumped...

The guitar plays and sounds amazing and I am not sure I could leave it with a luthier given I am having so much fun with it...

Thanks again all!!

Mr.Bluesky said:

Wow! Unbelievable input and thank you all for investing time to help sort this out.

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Aw shucks, it's just what we do 'round here.

It's our hobby. Also we keep finding out new stuff, even I still do after so many years. Guilds seem to have actually been in an almost constant state of evolution since day one. From little things to bigger ones like changing the wood formula of a model of a model, and surprise nut widths..let alone the model name changes for the same basic build...

I still keep gettin' surprised. It's the real mystique of the brand.

Mr.Bluesky said:

The guitar plays and sounds amazing and I am not sure I could leave it with a luthier given I am having so much fun with it...

Thanks again all!!

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I get that. Play it until it needs a fret job and then get it handled.

Oh it occurs to me you may want to get the small exposed wood area sealed. Over time your finger oils will soak in and discolor the area, and might make it a little troublesome for new lacquer to adhere.

My hack, have used it to drop-fill some bare spots in the top of my D25:



Sally Hansens Hard as Nails nail polish.

Note first 3 ingredients are NCL solvents and 4th ingredient is nitrocellulose so it's actually an NCL lacquer itself, so will blend onto those chips by the nut. Not as durable as the Westerly stuff, but won't harm it.

In my case, the little brush was the perfect size for drop-filling small worn areas along the grain lines, just below the fretboard extension. I frequently prop a fingertip or 2 there while fingerpicking (even strumming sometimes) right over the fretboard, which I do a lot.

So yeah it's needed "refilling" a couple of times over the years, but at $3.00 a bottle, it's a lifetime supply, right? Until you're ready to finally let her go the luthier for a bit.

Wow, up close it looks like a dog chewed on it ;]

+1 for the lid latch hypothesis, there is usually one right around that spot, and there have been a lot of guitars damage by a hurried exit from the case with guitar impacting latch in lid, or worse, the lid falling and a latch gauging the top, heartbreaking. Then there's the old case ain't latched and somebody picks it up and the guitar falls out. Always always latch at least one latch.

The extended chipping would indicate that it happened a lot, so maybe that's not it.

Anyway this was caused by work that was done to the nut, which looks like it's raised on a wooden shim?

Hey you know that does look like a shim was pounded in there! Do you think someone didn't want to create a new nut or drop fill the nut slots and just wanted to raise the action there and pounded a shim in?? Could that possibly be? Good eye!!! Wow, the mystery deepens..... we're building a mystery just like Sarah McLachlan!!!

I don't know about y'all but that string height off the nut looks super high..... to me anyway.

davismanLV said:

Hey you know that does look like a shim was pounded in there! Do you think someone didn't want to create a new nut or drop fill the nut slots and just wanted to raise the action there and pounded a shim in??

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Except that, that assumes would indicate it was pounded in from the side? Doesn't seem to make sense. I'd think if anything it would need to be pushed in from the top after it was centered... also OP says it was bought new, so when would the work have been done?

Assuming the shim is factory re-work, one would expect the rework to have occurred before finishing, and thus before the damage occurred, right?