I've got a late 60's Burns Baldwin Vibraslim bass, had it in storage for a few years, got it out and the lacquer is all cracked. Anybody got any repair tips or tricks?

Yep, this.

John Carlucci said:

Don't refinish it. Don't try to fix it. Leave it be. To do so will drastically reduce the guitar's value. Checking on old guitars is a normal part of the guitar's aging process. It has to do with the wood expanding as another poster already mentioned.

It's one way of proving a guitar is original & not a re-issue. Seriously If you want a pristine. clean guitar go buy a new one & leave this in it's original condition. Trust me on this. Ask any quality vintage music store & the will tell you the same thing.

Don't refinish it. Don't try to fix it. Leave it be. To do so will drastically reduce the guitar's value. Checking on old guitars is a normal part of the guitar's aging process. It has to do with the wood expanding as another poster already mentioned.

It's one way of proving a guitar is original & not a re-issue. Seriously If you want a pristine. clean guitar go buy a new one & leave this in it's original condition. Trust me on this. Ask any quality vintage music store & the will tell you the same thing.

I had a go with the superglue on a larger crack (maybe 0.5mm across) and only just managed to get the drop to go in the crack on attempt no. 3. It clearly wasn't going to be worth trying to get it into the hairline lacquer cracks - as it was I got superglue over my hands and then managed to touch the inside of the guitar case, resulting in a very uncool hairy palm look.

 

I've attached a pic that shows a couple of cracks typical of those on the guitar.

Ha ha, Actually we're both correct.

dublÉ said:

Actually it's the wood that shrinks/expands due to (usually rapid/excessive) changes in temperature and/or humidity, causing the laquer to crack...

Personally I wouldn't go the superglue route... as I understand, superglue is mainly used to fix hairline cracks in the wood itself, and not to repair the varnish.

Mardy Pune said:

The checking or crazing (depends on what part of the world yer from) is caused by shrinkage of the lacquer. Don't kick yerself to hard cause it happened to yer baby.

Personally never meet a collector that wanted the finish to look like that. Any that do would want them real cheap so they could get them re-finished.

Find a luthier that specializes in respraying, not the guy who works outta the back of the local guitar shop, although he might be able to point you on the right direction.

Biggest question is do you want it as a piece to hang on the wall or as an instrument to play? You might really pissed off with yerself if you re-finished it and then scratched it on its first outing.

I wouldn't bother with re-finishing it if I was playing it live, but I am really hard on my instruments.

Actually it's the wood that shrinks/expands due to (usually rapid/excessive) changes in temperature and/or humidity, causing the laquer to crack...

Personally I wouldn't go the superglue route... as I understand, superglue is mainly used to fix hairline cracks in the wood itself, and not to repair the varnish.

Mardy Pune said:

The checking or crazing (depends on what part of the world yer from) is caused by shrinkage of the lacquer. Don't kick yerself to hard cause it happened to yer baby.

Personally never meet a collector that wanted the finish to look like that. Any that do would want them real cheap so they could get them re-finished.

Find a luthier that specializes in respraying, not the guy who works outta the back of the local guitar shop, although he might be able to point you on the right direction.

Biggest question is do you want it as a piece to hang on the wall or as an instrument to play? You might really pissed off with yerself if you re-finished it and then scratched it on its first outing.

I wouldn't bother with re-finishing it if I was playing it live, but I am really hard on my instruments.

It's probably worth trying the superglue in a  out of sight place, but I think once you've scaled up the effect of how that looks over the whole body, it'll probably detract overall.

So, in short, guess I'll live with it.

Yeah, I've heard of people using super glue to fill those sort of cracks before; but it only fills the cracks and doesn't make the finish look original again and depending on how much of the finish is affected by the 'crazing' you could be sitting there, sniffing glue, for a long time!

The other thing is that sometimes, in very rare cases' Nitrocellulose lacquer can react with whatever your applying to it. The finish might start clouding or the cracks could open up even more. I've seen both of these things after repair shop assholes didn't bother to see how the finish would react.

Thanks for the replies. I'm hard on my gear too, and although it's a real pretty guitar it's not worth enough to spend big money on. Heard someone recommend putting a drop of superglue into cracks before, not sure if it'll make things worse in the long term though.

The checking or crazing (depends on what part of the world yer from) is caused by shrinkage of the lacquer. Don't kick yerself to hard cause it happened to yer baby.

Personally never meet a collector that wanted the finish to look like that. Any that do would want them real cheap so they could get them re-finished.

Find a luthier that specializes in respraying, not the guy who works outta the back of the local guitar shop, although he might be able to point you on the right direction.

Biggest question is do you want it as a piece to hang on the wall or as an instrument to play? You might really pissed off with yerself if you re-finished it and then scratched it on its first outing.

I wouldn't bother with re-finishing it if I was playing it live, but I am really hard on my instruments.

Nitrocellulose lacquer "checking" or crazing is considered a desirable quality to collectors of old guitars. I'd say leave it alone unless it's starting to chip off. If you can't live with it, have it assessed by a luthier. Don't store guitars/amps in self strorage units, basements or attics - unless they're climate controlled.