Gibson Les Paul Cracked Binding
K150 pic programmer software windows 7. The Classic: Gibson Les Paul. Soaring solos, a thick tone and tons of heavenly sustain. Punchy riffs thundering along like a freight train, smooth bluesy chords in light overdrive, melodies that drip off the fingerboard like dark, intense honey.
I just purchased a Gibson es-137 custom, built in 2010. I played it at the music store for hours over the course of a few weeks and thought I checked everything, but when I got home I realized some little cracks on the binding of the fretboard. If you were to hold the guitar in playing position, you would see the cracks by just about every fret (surrounding the fret markers on the binding, not the fingerboard itself). The cracks run in the same direction of the frets, as if the metal fret was to continue over the side of the fingerboard where your thumb would be.
Basically, the cracks 'point' at the frets. This happened on both sides of the binding and seems cosmetic, but if there is any chance it's serious I need to know so I can return it, however heartbreaking that may be. I tried to get a picture but the cracks were not visible. Not sure this is something acceptable for a $2,700 guitar. Thanks for your replies.
I just purchased a Gibson es-137 custom, built in 2010. I played it at the music store for hours over the course of a few weeks and thought I checked everything, but when I got home I realized some little cracks on the binding of the fretboard. If you were to hold the guitar in playing position, you would see the cracks by just about every fret (surrounding the fret markers on the binding, not the fingerboard itself). The cracks run in the same direction of the frets, as if the metal fret was to continue over the side of the fingerboard where your thumb would be. Basically, the cracks 'point' at the frets. This happened on both sides of the binding and seems cosmetic, but if there is any chance it's serious I need to know so I can return it, however heartbreaking that may be. I tried to get a picture but the cracks were not visible.
Not sure this is something acceptable for a $2,700 guitar. Thanks for your replies. I have a 2009 ES 137, and it may be the best Gibson I have ever owned (in 44 years!). Alas, the hairline cracks to which you are referring are common, and occur mostly due to the fingerboard having shrunk a bit, as a result of drying. This causes the fret tands (which are covered by the binding) to exert outward pressure on the binding material, slightly deforming it. The deformation is not sufficient to damage the binding, but it IS enough to cause a hairline crack to develop in the clear coat (final, glass-clear coat of nitro applied to the guitar before polishing).
It is very worrisome the first time it happens to a Gibson owner, but I have played on guitars that exhibited such cracks for years, and the finish never flaked or chipped. Other common places for such finish 'crazing' to show up are: at the joint of the heel of the neck and the body of the guitar, up the edge of the heel, where it joins the body, and the full length of the fingerboard binding, where the lower edge meets the wood of the neck. Welcome to the wonderful world of nitro finishes!
On the + side, it is this 'crazing' phenomenon that makes 50-year-old goldtops look so cool. It's not a defect, per se, it's just a function of the finish shrinking at a faster rate than the underlying wood. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it!
Hope you find this reassuring. Bud powell transcription pdf printer. Enjoy playing your 137.
My brand new Les Paul Traditional Plus has the finish cracked ever so slightly in the binding around the side dot markers. It is only slightly cracked, and is not the actual binding that is cracked.whew! Binding usually won't just crack even from lack of humidity before the wood would (not without decades passing by).so if the wood hasn't split, or the finish isn't cracked, the binding, if actually cracked, has cracked for a different reason. I'm agreeing with the fret tang issue.