Should I repair a cracked finish?

[almano]

What seems like a lifetime ago now (the early sixties) I became enthralled with the Shad’s sound plus several others of the period – notably Johnny Kidd and the Pirates and anyone else who did Chuck Berry numbers.

Over the sixties decade I became a guitarist with several different groups, and of course, I acquired a goodly numbers of guitars and amps on the way. There was obviously some, shall we say, awful instruments in that lot, most notable being a two pick up Broadway guitar that had a neck which bent into a distinct curve if you put heavy gauge strings on it! I think it was only meant as a beginner’s guitar anyway – so that didn’t last long at all.

Anyway, in the latter years I began to acquire some nice guitars and amps of the period that were selling for reasonable prices. These weren’t bought as investments at all – they just felt and played and sounded nicely – and in those days the price was right for the gear. If I remember correctly it was usually somewhere between £80 to £200 at most – never any more than that.

As time went on I bowed out of the guitar movement for somewhere around the last thirty years or so, but I kept in storage my favourite guitars and amps until some “rainy day” when I thought I might just get back into guitars again. This “rainy day” event actually happened about three months ago with a colleague sending me a link to a “Burnsernst” Shadows rendition on YouTube – I became hooked again and my interest was reawakened.

I therefore dug out some of my old gear and subsequently joined this forum, and then after David Martin telling me my old guitars could now actually be worth a few bob - I’m rather having to revaluate the importance of those instruments.

This then brings me to my current dilemma; one of those guitars is a Gibson Les Paul/SG from 1963 with the Maestro Vibrola tremolo arm. From the serial number it appears to be a somewhat early example of this model – so, now here comes the poser – the finish is cracked, it has gone to a similar appearance of the craquelure crazing you get on old oil paintings. The thing is, do I now clean it up and refinish it back to its original state – or do I leave it “as is”?

I know this has probably been a ridiculous question to put to you, but I do still see it as a £200 guitar from the late ‘60’s (although my insurers don’t seem to!) – so, do I leave it looking rather sorry for itself – or do I bring it back to a visually vibrant health? What would you do? Any advice will be most gratefully accepted.

Luckily however, my 70’s Strat’ has kept its finish intact – so I’m using that solely for my Shad’s sounds now – and, CBS or not, it still sounds good!

Cheers,

Alan.

[dave robinson]

Don't touch it, all you will do is devalue it in the eyes of a collector - you can clean it and brighten it up, but don't start replacing parts or painting it. An original guitar , if it is one of the 'sought after' models can be worth thousands. I'm no expert on which guitars are collectable and which aren't, but you could try several of the vintage guitar shops and get an idea just by calling them and describing your instrument/serial number etc. Good luck.

[ecca]

Leave it alone.
I chopped in a Les Paul deluxe I'd had since new in 1977 for the Gibson L5 I now have and it was in a bad way really.
The frets were down to the fretboard, there were chunks out of it, holes in it where various synth pickups had been screwed in, generally a scruffy guitar.
Yours is worth more in its original state than if you try and clean it up.
You'll be staggered when they tell you its worth.
Ecca

[des mcneill]

Hi Alan,
As Dave and Ecca say,don't touch it,you will massively devalue it.
Des.

[almano]

Thanks for the advice, I think it would be very prudent of me to follow your recommendations and leave this guitar “as is”.

Actually, to be honest, I’ve just this very day sorted the guitar out of storage to check its condition – and, with the warmer weather, it appears to be in exceptionally good condition. The cracking on the finish doesn’t now appear to be as bad as I initially thought it was.

Perhaps I’ll restring it and plug it in over the next few days to check out how it sounds after all these years. If I remember correctly it had a very “full” sound – probably those PAF pick-ups I suppose.

This Gibson is actually the identical one to the SG / Les Paul George Harrison used to use – a rock ‘n roll sort of sound, but not very Shadows I’m afraid to say!

Cheers,

Alan.

[JimN]

This Gibson is actually the identical one to the SG / Les Paul George Harrison used to use – a rock ‘n roll sort of sound, but not very Shadows I’m afraid to say!
Alan.

Don't be so sure. Les Paul himself was able to coax a very Shadows and Ventures sound from his (listen to his 1967/1968 Decca LP "Les Paul Now!" to check it out).

And when I played my own Gibson SG Supreme (see my avatar over to the right) at the Dartford Shadows club, several knowledgeable players said it sounded like a Strat...

JN

[cockroach]

Hi JimN,

But was Les Paul using an SG in '67-68? He didn't like them, which is why he asked Gibson to remove his name/endorsement in about 1962/3 or so. He may have been using one of his own Frankenstein project guitars with his own low impedance pickups, which I think may have been a vertically stacked double coil design but narrow like a single coil- prototypes of the eventual production Recording model pickups. Sometimes you can't always trust record sleeve photos to show what the player might actually have used on the recording...

Either way, I still belive it's the player whose touch largely determines the sound- at our small Shads club get monthly togethers, one of our chaps has a large collection of Gibson, Fender, Ovation , Tokai, Godin, Epiphone etc of which he brings along a different one nearly every month...and he gets his own distinctive sound, tone and touch on EVERY guitar, whether it has humbucking pickups, single coils, solid body, semi-acoustic f-hole or whatever...!!!

When I first heard 'Guitar Tango' when it came out years ago, it was obvious to me that it was still Hank playing- even if it was a nylon string acoustic classical guitar and not his usual Strat!

Anyway, that Gibson SG/Les Paul early model ,that Alan has still, was and is a very good guitar, and would fetch serious money if sold nowadays...

[almano]

Hi,

As a sort of follow up to my original posting on the cracking of the varnish (finish) on my ’63 SG/Les Paul – I notice on page 22 of the September issue of Guitar & Bass, in an article on “Relic” guitars that the manufacturers of these “Old New” guitars are actually introducing false cracking to the finish!

In fact, it seems they even deliberately highlight those cracks – they are proud of the things! – and there’s me worrying about some natural cracking!

Does this rather show my age? Back in the “old days” we used to treasure our guitars and polish them to within an inch of their lives – anything like cracks appearing in the finish was something to be corrected and remedied ASAP!

A sort of “coming from the bottom of a rubbish tip” appearance seems to be the fashion these days – amazing isn’t it? Some of the guitars they show in the article don’t look distressed – they look like they’ve been taken into battle in medieval times and used for knocking several kinds of brick dust out of the enemy! Compared to them, my old SG is in almost new condition.

I’m including a photo here to show that, compared to those “Relic” guitars, it isn’t actually too bad. There’s no cracking or breaks at the head or neck join – as is the fate of many early examples of the SG. The tuners are Schallers, but I do have the original Gibson Kluson tuners stored away – even the original screws as well!



Now that I’ve got it back up and running again, I’m pleased to say it sounds rather good – warm and mellow. Or should it really be doing Heavy Metal instead I wonder!?

Cheers,

Alan.

[cockroach]

Whilst you can 'B.Hank' with your Strat, You could 'B.Angus' with that guitar

Keep it, play it a lot, enjoy it...and it's also your grandchildrens' inheritance!

[ecca]

Boy was my SG dirty !
I'm sure the pick-ups could have lit a light bulb.