Problem with Finish on 120th Anniversary Les Paul Traditional

[jk60LPTH]

Okay... this is interesting...thanks for replying...

I am curious.... possibility

So, now I have to be a stinky Les Paul owner....

cheers

Wiz

I was thinking along the lines of lespaul1648... wondering if it might be mosquito or some other kind of bug repellant?

 

[Dogbreath]

I was playing a Custom Shop Fender Strat a few years ago. I had a cloth Band-Aid on a left hand finger. After an hour or so I found that it had eaten into the lacquer on the neck. I figured that it was the adhesive in the Band-Aid. It happened that fast.

 

[jk60LPTH]

I'd go with the armpit scenario (yes, sounds funny, but still).
Deodorants can be pretty toxic, even the really expensive ones.

Now that said, an expensive nitro finish near an uncovered window with direct sunlight access as all windows are? And hanging there for years? No.
Why push it.
Sun will kill anything given time.
Not the case here, but.. don't man, take it out of that spot.

A material, liquid or solid doesn't have to be toxic to negatively interact with another material. This would be a chemical reaction between incompatible materials. This happens quite often with items that use petroleum derivatives to influence their characteristics. I'll give you an example. I have 3 Electrovoice RE20's that I bought a couple of decades ago. 2 have been on stands in the studio for all of that time. The third was a spare and sat sat on a shelf in it's original case with a molded interior all of that time. A couple of months ago I needed another micro, so I pulled the spare off the shelf and when I took the mic out of the case, something heavy was obviously loose inside. When I took the case apart, coarse black 'dust' poured out of it. The 'dust' as you may have figured out, was the foam 'shock absorber' for the microphone capsule. It probably would have been fine if I opened the case regularly and allowed the outgassed chemical vapor to dissipate, but 20-30 years ago we weren't seeing that happen regularly because petroleum-based plasticizers weren't used as much to change the characteristics of plastic to behave more like rubber. Now, it's far more more. And, neither of those materials alone, the foam, or that soft molded rubber-like liner in the mic case is considered toxic, just like the soft sponge rubber-like material used on some guitar hangers and stands is classified as toxic either, and yet if you put your nitro-finished Les Paul in one, or hanging from a hook that has that incompatible material, it will melt the nitro finish, sometimes faster than you would imagine, and these are all things that we handle very often with no toxic consequences whatsoever. So, while it's possible that a material that is also toxic could do harm to the finish, that doesn't mean that it's any more or less likely to cause damage than a material that is non-toxic but has characteristics that are not compatible with the material it comes in contact with.

As far as the sun goes, it will fade some dyes used in the nitro finish process, and for that one reason alone, it's not a good idea to leave your guitar in a sunny location unless you have windows that adequately block the UV range if you want your guitar to remain the same colors as it was when you bought it. If you've had your guitar in a sunny place for a while, take the nut off your pickup selector switch and remove the plastic guard, and you'll see what the sun does to your guitar finish.

 

[101ABN327]

I've never seen a nitro finish do that... Hope you get it resolved.

 

[Mikee57]

Hi

I am hoping someone can give me some advice.

I have a Les Paul Traditional,the 120th anniversary model.

I bought the guitar new (2014?) and it has hung on the wall of my studio since...only ever took it out to one gig. I have 21 other guitars in the same studio.. none of them have any issues.

I noticed yesterday, that the finish has developed quite a weird problem....It is only on the top side of the guitar (atm) its a sort of weird bubbling ....

I contaced Gibson support here in Australia, as I read on the Gibson site, that the guitar is warranted for lifetime of the original owner... only to be told that, in Australia, that doesn't apply and the warranty is only 12months......

Now, there is a chance under Australian law, that I could push this and perhaps get it repaired...

I am wondering if this is some sort of manufacturing defect.

My initial search was to try on the Gibson forums, but it just says I am banned (never registered)

Searching around for help, I came across this place....

Any help would be greatly appreciated

This is interesting because I also have a 2014 Les Paul traditional end it has 120 anniversary label on the fretboard. It's lemon coIor I guess a lemon burst and I bought that guitar in 2015 at the Gibson factory in Memphis. It was a floor model but I did not get a break on the price it was like 2100. One of the only guitars I ever bought brand new. But anyway there are no issues at all with the paint. I changed a lot of things on the guitar including removing that pre-amp circuit with the switch. And the circuitboard inside and went back to hard wiring. Good luck with that.

 

[Mikee57]

This is interesting because I have a 2014 Les Paul Classic and it has 120 anniversary label on the fretboard. It's lemon coIor I guess a lemon burst and I bought that guitar in 2015 at the Gibson factory in Memphis. It was a floor model but I did not get a break on the price it was like 2100. One of the only guitars I ever bought brand new. But anyway there are no issues at all with the paint. I changed a lot of things on the guitar including removing that pre-amp circuit with the switch. And the circuitboard inside and went back to hard wiring. Good luck with that.