Are Gibson finishes 'designed' to age quickly?

[0v3nm4n]

Re: Are Gibson finishes 'designed' to age quickly?

I had a pan/blend for the pickup selection for a while. It enabled me to hold a chord and switch to lead sound smoothly for recording. (Throwing a switch while holding a chord was like changing the radio station in the middle of the song.) I was restoring the original switch wiring when I took this photo.

a switch like that fit into the back? Must have been a blend pot....any audio samples of this? it sounds like a killer idea

 

[astrozombie]

Re: Are Gibson finishes 'designed' to age quickly?

The Gibson SG standard in my band has an aged finish... if im not mistaken it's a 90s model. In our case, the "cherry" red colour is now a lot darker, kind of what the angus young model looks like, that darker wine kind of red.

the guitar doesn't shine.

no signs of bare wood.

 

[Ascension]

Re: Are Gibson finishes 'designed' to age quickly?

First off, the showing age thing is actually a Gibson niche; most their fans like that and that's a market they cater to, so its nothing to do with building cheap guitars and everything to do with being done on purpose.

As for your last two Gibson having unstable necks, really? You really owned two Gibsons - in a row - with confirmed unstable necks due to poor manufacturing? I highly doubt that, if that's true you better stay indoors during lightening storms because you apparently have incredibly bad luck. The numerous Gibsons I've owned/own had/have perfectly fine necks, SG's included. I will admit I prefer the three piece maple Norlin necks though, much stronger than a single piece of mahogany.

What I sense is is typical Gibson bashing. Don't like them? Cool, buy a Washburn or Carvin, or a PRS, but don't rant like aging is a sign of a cheap guitar when its just not your preference is all.

Bought both a Silver Custom Shop Showcase U2 and a White WRC in 1988 while working for a big Gibson dealer. Both guitars were unreliable POS's and fell apart on the road within 2 years and Gibson could care less when I contacted the Service department.
Could not keep the necks on both adjusted on the road and the finish on the U2 turned purple then a putrid green before checking like crazy in a little less than 3 years. Dumped them both and never looked back.
Should have bought that Black neck through Arched top Kramer Stagemaster we had instead of the Showcase U2 but I just HAD to have a GIBSON :banghead::banghead:!!
Kept the 1990 Carvin DC 200 I traded the WRC for in 91 until around a year or so ago. After years on the road the Carvin still looked and played like it was new when I sold it. Only reason I sold the guitar was it weighed a TON!
This is from 1990 with the U2.

The Carvin I replaced the Gibsons with.

 

[Zombiwoof]

Re: Are Gibson finishes 'designed' to age quickly?

Actually, modern Gibsons add plasticizers to their nitro finishes to keep them from checking as fast as the vintage guitars, so the answer is no. Vintage nitro guitars aged a lot quicker than the modern ones. If you want to slow down the aging, keep the guitar put away in the case when not using it, keep it polished and wipe it down after use. Most Les Paul freaks actually want that aging you're talking about, and expose their new guitars to the elements to speed it up, but if you want to keep it in new condition, you just have to take measures to limit the exposure to the things that age the finish.

Al

 

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: Are Gibson finishes 'designed' to age quickly?

Now are you saying that you looked under the pickguard when you bought it and the finish was more or less uniform over the entire face of the body?

Or did you just notice it when you looked under the pickguard for the first time recently?

It looks to me like they sprayed some lightly tinted lacquer around a template of a pickguard to get that effect...

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Are Gibson finishes 'designed' to age quickly?

Now are you saying that you looked under the pickguard when you bought it and the finish was more or less uniform over the entire face of the body?

Or did you just notice it when you looked under the pickguard for the first time recently?

It looks to me like they sprayed some lightly tinted lacquer around a template of a pickguard to get that effect...

Gibson doesn't do that...the colour change is just plain old, old fashioned finish aging...

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Are Gibson finishes 'designed' to age quickly?

Now are you saying that you looked under the pickguard when you bought it and the finish was more or less uniform over the entire face of the body?

Or did you just notice it when you looked under the pickguard for the first time recently?

It looks to me like they sprayed some lightly tinted lacquer around a template of a pickguard to get that effect...

I used the SG in the studio for a few years and then swapped the whole pickguard package out for one with SD Seth Lovers in it. At that time of the swap, there was no shadow of the pickguard visible in the body finish. Then just a week or so ago, I swapped out the Seths to put in another guitar and noticed a uniform pale shadow of the pickguard all around where it was. So the entire body started out a uniform, even brown, and when I took the pickguard off just a couple years later, the exposed portions had darkened uniformly. (e.g. not dark in certain areas due to dirt, usage, hands, abrasions, etc., but evenly across the finish.)

I'm not complaining about it, I was just surprised how fast it happened. That's all. My 1994 Les Paul took more than 10 years to show that kind of darkening. I was just wondering what changed that might have accelerated the aging.