Repair And Restoration
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Mid-90s Gibson acoustic finish adhesion
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Mid-90s Gibson acoustic finish adhesion
A fella left his 1994 Gibson Blues King locked in a damp garden shed through a hot humid summer. See attached pics!
The clear coat has lost adhesion pretty much everywhere on the neck, back and sides, and is starting to let go on the top too in places. But 95% of the colour underneath seems to be hanging in there.
Customer is open to a full refin. But I’m wondering how exactly the colour on these was applied, why it seems relatively unaffected by its time in a damp steel box, and whether there’s an opportunity to keep some of this colour rather than strip it all.
I have considered gently misting the remaining clear lacquer with some solvent and retarder and seeing how it behaves. Does anyone have any information on the finish schedule for these mid-90s Montana guitars? I welcome all comments and suggestions.
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10 Replies
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The body actually looks like it could respond well to slow solvents and a few coats of clear etc.
The neck is something else. Not sure why orange and the back and sides remain roughly their original color.
Not sure about Gibson 90s finish schedule, but on vintage back sides and neck, the color was usually provided by using a dark oil/dye based pore filler.
They were going for a vintage look here and it is not uncommon for manufacturers to miss interpret how to get the mahogany that dark. One thing people will errantly do is use a pigment based pore filler to bare wood so more color is applied. This has a distinct feature of completely nuking chatoyance and showing off cross grain scratches in the wood.
One other think they might have done is to give it a dye based toner coat. You can detect this by taking a sample.
One thing that gives me pause is the way the clear coat is flaking off of the back. It looks like there was a layer that missed scuff sanding. That can be tricky.
All in all, you are entering uncharted territory and could end up doing a lot of work on a project that has super funky chemistry. It would be good to hand the customer a big fat envelope stuffed with caveats.
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Thanks Ian, yes the lacquer on the neck is super weird. It’s by far the flakiest part of the finish and I may try and see how much I can encourage to fall off on its own. The peghead has its own issues, with the peghead veneer loose in the center, but still stuck down at the edges and some unusual decals to replicate. Guess I’ll be bidding this one pretty high.
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We might hop on the loothalong to take a look at this. I might record the convo a stash it here if that’s cool with you ?
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Only just saw this, sorry Ian. Happy to chat on the loothalong if you like, let me know what time you’re around.
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What time do you usually pop on ? It’s late for me I think. Usually 7-8 pm EST ?
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Yeah it would be 7:30 or 8:00 for you I think. Could also try to pop on late one evening my time, which would be your morning.
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I’ll start swinging by late. Fair warning. My A game leaves the station at about 4pm these days cuz I’m old.
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Hey Ian, sorry we haven’t crossed paths – have had a run of hectic mornings that prevented me from hopping on until a little later in the day. So don’t be staying up late on my account, I have no idea what each day will bring at the moment!
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Have you taken a peek inside? My guess would be that the heat and humidity that did the damage outside probably worked some magic inside.
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Yes, there’s four or five braces to reglue but it’s all regulation stuff.
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