Strange Haze On Guitar Finish

[ESDictor]

I was looking at my les paul for the first time in a while last night and noticed this strange haze on the body finish. Any clue what this is (dirt, etc?) and how to clean/remove it?

[verhoevenc]

Is that a nitro finish? Probably blush. Blush comes from it being too humid when you spray and moisture getting trapped in the finish. Get "blush eraser" and spray it with that. It's essentially just solvents. Softens the finish allowing the moisture to escape. Keep in mind though, it'll up your cure time though! You've just resoftened your finish.

Chris

[ESDictor]

Is that a nitro finish? Probably blush. Blush comes from it being too humid when you spray and moisture getting trapped in the finish. Get "blush eraser" and spray it with that. It's essentially just solvents. Softens the finish allowing the moisture to escape. Keep in mind though, it'll up your cure time though! You've just resoftened your finish.

Chris

It's a Gibson Les Paul Studio .. so whatever they finished them with in 2004. I did just relocate from South Florida (humidity capital of the world) to NY, so not sure how that affects things.

[MiKro]

Is that a nitro finish? Probably blush. Blush comes from it being too humid when you spray and moisture getting trapped in the finish. Get "blush eraser" and spray it with that. It's essentially just solvents. Softens the finish allowing the moisture to escape. Keep in mind though, it'll up your cure time though! You've just resoftened your finish.

Chris

It's a Gibson Les Paul Studio .. so whatever they finished them with in 2004. I did just relocate from South Florida (humidity capital of the world) to NY, so not sure how that affects things.

The move may have caused it. It does look like blush though. I would give it a while out of the case to acclimate. Also did it ship with your movers and stay in a hot truck for days? If so the moisture in the wood most likely is the cause. Again give it time. I would contact Gibson about it though if you bought it new and have the receipt. Who knows they may refinish it for you. At the very least give you some ideas as to the cause of the problem and a solution. Maybe they had a bad batch of finish as well?

Just some food for thought.

MK

[verhoevenc]

Ah, sorry, for some reason I thought you were in the process of finishing this yourself. Sorry. No, that's not nitro. Doesn't mean it's not blush, just means I'm not sure if the usual blush remover will do the trick as all I know is nitro and tru-oil.

Chris

[sdshirtman]

I just read a thread the other day talking about a guy who had something similar on his LP. Turns out it was "Off" bug spray coming from from his arms. I guess bug spray and nitro guitars dont get along well. Do you think this is a possibility in your case?

[ESDictor]

Not bug spray … not sure what. I have the original receipt, so I'll contact Gibson and see what they say.

Thanks

[sdshirtman]

OK. Just thought you being from Florida it might be a possibility.

[Maiden69]

It could be that the finish itself got scuffed up by the material on the case. I had something similar when I brought my guitars back from Korea to the US. All I did was get polish the guitar and it was good again.

[ESDictor]

It could be that the finish itself got scuffed up by the material on the case. I had something similar when I brought my guitars back from Korea to the US. All I did was get polish the guitar and it was good again.

I was thinking maybe it would just clean/polish out, but wanted to check here with the picture beforehand just in case I should avoid that.

Looking at the receipt, I also now realize it's a 2002, not 2004 Les Paul.

Edited June 24, 2011 by ESDictor

[NotYou]

It there a different texture to the hazy area? Even just a little bit?

[ESDictor]

There was some surface texture, so I called a guitar shop that I trust and he had me bring it in. He used some sort of compound on it and it cleaned it up, so I guess it was all surface after all. Thanks for all the help everyone.