White streaks on older guitar that hasn't been refinished in a long time.

[YodaGuitar]

I have seen a lot of posts on white spots etc but they are all from recent refinishing. 

I have a 1965 Guild Mark III that I have owned for a few years. It's in rough shape but I love it. It was poorly refinished but I prefer to not mess with her too much if I can. 

White spots started showing up in the past 2 years and eem to be getting worse. Is there a remedy besides refinishing? They are mostly on the side, but now appearing on the fretboard.

[Bizman62]

I can think of at least two reasons.

First, it might be that the finish is shrinking and comes off at the bottoms of the pores. That's my primary suspect especially as you say it has been poorly refinished. There seems to be some sort of lacquer even on the fretboard which would explain that happening there as well.

The second thought is wax but as you didn't mention about having done any polishing recently I'm doubtful about that. That said, wax residues in pores are easy to fix: Simply take a brush and use it similarly to polishing your shoes. That would also serve as a test between these two options.

If option #1 is the more likely one, apply some boiled linseed oil. That alone can be good enough, but mixing it with turpentine and solvent based lacquer will make it fill the pores a bit for a leveler surface. TruOil and the likes are a commercial version of that mix. One third each is the starting point but depending on your goal you can change them, even leave the lacquer out. Another mix is shellac, alcohol and BLO, rubbing that vigorously in so the friction creates heat can result a nice gloss. That said, be aware that rubbing alcohol will melt nitrocellulose lacquer which may be used on that guitar so be careful with the latter recipe!

[YodaGuitar]

Thanks Bizman.

It's definently not wax but I tried brushing it off anyway with no change. 

Its funny what you don't notice or ignore. I never saw the laquer on the neck. I am not sure how I will get that off.

I will try the linseed oil mix this weekend. 

It's a shame the state of this guitar. I bought it at flea market for $30 8-10 years ago. It's too far gone to properly restore but I'm just fond of it. Over 50 years old with a bad finish but stays in tune and sounds good. (kinda like me).

[Bizman62]

2 hours ago, YodaGuitar said:

I never saw the laquer on the neck. I am not sure how I will get that off.

A single edge razor blade used as a scraper. And BLO after that.

When oiling, remember to first apply liberately, then when it gets tacky wipe everything off with a dry cloth. And after some 15 minutes wipe away everything that's been sweating out. Otherwise the surface will remain tacky forever.

Also remember that the oily rags and towels are self-igniting unless you spread them rather over a fireproof surface to dry. After they've become stiff you can wash them for reuse. Never toss moist oily rags into the trash can!

[ADFinlayson]

That is a few decades of grime built up in the open pours of the mahogany and rosewood. I would start by giving it a good clean. If it's an oil/french polish finish you could just wet sand a load of shellac into it and sprinkle some dark wood dust, eg ebony or rosewood in there to build up a slurry in the pours. Wipe off the excess and apply more coats to build up the finish. If it's cellulose, then after a good clean up, apply some grain filler and spray some more  lacquer.