What is Guitar Finish Checking?
If you’ve spent much time playing or repairing vintage guitars, chances are you recognize the sight of multiple little cracks all over the finish. It’s generally known as finish checking and it’s quite normal on older guitars with a lacquer finish but could possibly happen to brand new instruments too in the right (or wrong)situations.
Lacquer happens to be a “breathable” finish. It has the capacity to contract and expand with the wood of the guitar as it moves through different temperature and humidity levels. Since it doesn’t secure the wood of the guitar inside the finish, as would other popular finish types, the tone of the wood remains alive and the lacquer will age with the guitar.
Over the years, however, the lacquer can start to crack or “check” as it is usually referred to. If you want to avoid this happening to your beautiful guitar there are a few things you can remember.
Should your instrument is exposed to cold temperatures, say in the trunk of an automobile, for a lengthy period of time (even in the case), you shouldn’t pull the guitar out and expose it to room temperatures the moment you have it indoors. The guitar will need to have time to slowly acclimate to the new warm temperatures, so leave it inside the case until it has had time to do so. If you don’t your lovely laquer finish will more than likely start to crack as the wood in the guitar warms up and begins to expand before the laquer has a chance to adjust.
Incorrectly humidified instruments is also a factor in finish checking, normally due to drying out.
While I almost certainly would not be glad to see this happen to a new guitar that I just acquired, on a vintage guitar I view things just a little differently. I would never think of a finish-checked vintage guitar as somehow less than desireable. Nor would I ever consider refinishing one.
There are varying opinions on this, even so the organic finish checking, for me, adds a level of identity and history that you simply cannot obtain on a fresh, new guitar. Every knick, ding, buckle scrape and finish crack is a part of the battered past of the guitar. Every single player who picked it up and played it left a tiny part of himself behind. All those campfire songs, lounge room singalongs, bar room gigs and late-night jam sessions are all right there, and the finish cracks are a portion of that history.
I would personally never wish to obscure that beneath a glossy finish. We have new guitars for that.
To get additional guitar care info and to see our selection of factory 2nd, used and refurbished guitars please come see us at http://www.brawbridgeguitars.com