Stress cracks in finish around neck heal

[powerwagonjohn]

Has anyone seen stress cracks in the finish around the neck heal joint on 1980's-90's Starfire IV guitars? I would think this means the neck is moving but I am no expert. Do you think this would be a problem in the future or is this a common thing since there is a lot of stress on the neck joint. There is no sign of finish cracks or movement on my 1992 X-170 but it does have a much larger neck heal to body joint. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks john

 

[kakerlak]

Hi John,
I wouldn't worry about it as a rule. Of course, a neck joint that's loosened will crack the finish, however, still-tight neck joints (glue joints in general, really) often develop finish cracks along them. I have seen a lot of guitars with cracks/checking right along the neck glue joint in particular.

Over time, the wood expands/contracts with changes in temperature and humidity. Since different pieces of wood, often of different species and usually oriented in different directions (grain-wise) are joined together, those subtle shifts can cause the finish to crack as it too dries out/shrinks, etc. My '74 SF-VI has finish cracks along the neck joint as well as along the binding in a few spots and around the headstock inlays, too. All those glue joints are still tight though.

If you have the guitar in hand, a good test is to take a dollar bill (or other thin paper) and see if it will slide into the neck joint (or other suspect joint). If so, then the joint is indeed starting to give and will need re-glued. If not, there's a good chance it's just finish cracking, especially if the neck angle seems good (action is reasonable and bridge has room to be lowered).

To me, finish cracks are just old guitar stuff; you have to look beyond the finihs cracks to judge whether anything more significant is going on there.

If this is something non-local to you, I'm sure lots of us here would be happy to offer our best attepmt at interpreting photos, too.

 

[SFIV1967]

Hi John,
yes, post pictures and I am sure somebody will comment what it might be. Hard without a picture.
Ralf

 

[GAD]

 

[Christopher Cozad]

Hello John,

What a pretty guitar!

I had this very same issue occur, not with a Starfire, but with a 1980 Epiphone. I panicked and took it to a luthier who laughed at me. (I remember crowd of customers that day. It was humiliating and I will likely never get over it.)

He charged me a small fortune (a "vanity" surcharge, I'm sure) to touch up the finish and all was well again in the universe for another 30 years (or so) until I sold the guitar.

I was told at the time that this could be due to a number of things, the most likely cause being a shift in the tension of the woods. Of course, I was concerned about the potential "popping loose" of the entire glue joint. It was explained to me that my guitar had a bolted-on neck and there was NO glue in that joint. As a result, unless I slammed it up against something, any 'shifting' would be ultra minimal and yet enough to crack the glass-like finish.

I am unfamiliar with the Starfire construction, as to whether it has additional glue in the neck joint or not. Glue decreases the likelihood of the neck coming completely loose, once you realize how much wood surface area has been adhesed. A qualified luthier can assess it quickly and offer to touch it up.

Hope that is of some assistance.

Christopher

 

[kakerlak]

Hey GAD, good example! I meant to take and post some pics of similar finish cracks from some of my instruments, but I'm busy and lazy...

If the instrument in question looks something like the pics GAD posted, I wouldn't worry about it. At worst, you might want to have a luthier drop fill the crack with super glue, but that's only if it looks like the finish is lifting at the edges of the crack and would be purely to prevent it from chipping off, and not something needed for structural reasons.

Wood shrinks and expands with time and seasons and that glue seam is exactly where the finish on top of it will crack.