Matt Simmons Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 Hi, I stumbled across this brilliant site a couple of weeks ago and it must be said at this stage that I am an enthusiastic amateur who has fixed up and customised guitars for myself and my fellow musicians, predominantly from the hardware and electrics side, for the past 25/30 years but I have no luthier skills (yet ) My problem is this. I have a beautiful (and previously) mint Tobacco S/B Les paul Standard that I bought from new in the 70s which for a number of reasons hasn't been played for the past 5 years and has been stored in its foam-lined flightcase. To my horror, the plasticer has leached from the foam stipples and has marked the top, which I have polished out the worst of, but the main problem now is that the back of the neck is tacky to the touch. This makes it a bitch to play as the more you sweat the worse it gets during a playing session. What can I do? As I see it I could have the guitar refinished or the just the neck stripped and either refinished or tung oiled. Am I right in thinking that to shoot another coat of nitro over the whole lot won't solve the problem - the plasticiser will still leach through? Has anyone had a similar problem and does anyone on the board have any thoughts on how to solve this. Many thanks - I will be pathetically grateful for any suggestions. Matt PS I know it was stupid to leave it in the flight case but hindsight is a wonderful thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 Hi, I stumbled across this brilliant site a couple of weeks ago and it must be said at this stage that I am an enthusiastic amateur who has fixed up and customised guitars for myself and my fellow musicians, predominantly from the hardware and electrics side, for the past 25/30 years but I have no luthier skills (yet ) My problem is this. I have a beautiful (and previously) mint Tobacco S/B Les paul Standard that I bought from new in the 70s which for a number of reasons hasn't been played for the past 5 years and has been stored in its foam-lined flightcase. To my horror, the plasticer has leached from the foam stipples and has marked the top, which I have polished out the worst of, but the main problem now is that the back of the neck is tacky to the touch. This makes it a bitch to play as the more you sweat the worse it gets during a playing session. What can I do? As I see it I could have the guitar refinished or the just the neck stripped and either refinished or tung oiled. Am I right in thinking that to shoot another coat of nitro over the whole lot won't solve the problem - the plasticiser will still leach through? Has anyone had a similar problem and does anyone on the board have any thoughts on how to solve this. Many thanks - I will be pathetically grateful for any suggestions. Matt PS I know it was stupid to leave it in the flight case but hindsight is a wonderful thing ← Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted April 15, 2005 Report Share Posted April 15, 2005 Have you tried wiping it down with naphtha? As solvents go, it's pretty mild, and shouldn't do any damage to any uncompromised lacquer remaining. Dan Erlewine recommends it for a pre-polish cleaner/degreaser on old nitro finishes, so it should be relatively safe to use. Surely somebody out there knows something about restoration and could chime in here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted April 15, 2005 Report Share Posted April 15, 2005 This happens in furniture a lot. I'd follow Lovecraft's advice and hit it with VM&P Naptha first See how tacky it is after that. If it's only a little tacky you can recoat it. I'd recommend Deft spray cans because the solvents in that seem to be able to cope with stuff like you're dealing with. One or two really light dust coats and then an good wet coat. Can't hurt and the worst that can happen is that you'll need ato strip it downto the wood and re-do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted April 15, 2005 Report Share Posted April 15, 2005 Not having had my hands on this guitar, I can't comment...but this is how almost all of the brand-new music store Les Pauls feel to me. Pretty sticky back of the neck, much more so than my "vintage" '83 LP Custom. I have the impression it is a difference between newly-buffed nitro and old broken-in nitro. A common thing to do is to go over the back of the neck with 0000 steel wool; you'll lose that mirror buff, but it will feel nice & smooth to the touch. Assuming the nitro is well-cured, that is... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug Posted April 17, 2005 Report Share Posted April 17, 2005 Wipe it down with naptha. let it dry well, then see if it's still "tacky". Then you might put some naptha into 0000 steel wool and scuff it a bit. You'll loose the gloss of course like erikbojerik said, but I do all my guitars with dulled finish on the neck. If it were me, I would be sure to let that guitar rest in open air for at least a week just in case the nitro has solvents in it that are effectivly softening the finish. You don't want to rub soft nitro because you run the risk of removing a whole bunch of it. Give it time to harden. New nitro takes weeks to harden anyway, and continues to harden for the next year or more, so be patient. -Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Simmons Posted April 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2005 Wipe it down with naptha. let it dry well, then see if it's still "tacky". Then you might put some naptha into 0000 steel wool and scuff it a bit. You'll loose the gloss of course like erikbojerik said, but I do all my guitars with dulled finish on the neck. If it were me, I would be sure to let that guitar rest in open air for at least a week just in case the nitro has solvents in it that are effectivly softening the finish. You don't want to rub soft nitro because you run the risk of removing a whole bunch of it. Give it time to harden. New nitro takes weeks to harden anyway, and continues to harden for the next year or more, so be patient. -Doug ← Hi Doug, Thanks, I have always preferred matt finish necks over gloss anyway. Since discovering the problem, I did actually leave the guitar out in the open air for 3 months (!) to see if it would cure itself as you suggested. No change I'm afraid. Its quite tacky (much more than a new shop Gibson for example) and the finish does feel 'soft' if you gently dig a fingernail into it although it doesn't mark. I'll try the Naptha - then the wool. If this wasn't an old guitar (its a good mid 70s - and there wern't many) I'd do thisin a hearbeat and take the consequences of a FU. There are also complications as there is the edge binding. Does the nitro finish cover that as well as the wood? And should I mask off at the heel and nut to get a hard edge? Thanks Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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