Q: I’ve a 1972 Gibson J-55 and it sounds nice, however the binding is deteriorating, and the unique pickguard was shrinking and has been eliminated. I had a luthier inform me the liner within the guitar case is the basis of those issues, which I discover exhausting to imagine. What’s the actual purpose, and is it value investing in repairing the instrument? —Jim Weber

A: There are a number of good questions right here, and I’ll attempt to contact on every of them. Let’s start with the deteriorating plastic. In earlier columns, we’ve mentioned the sadly all-too-common drawback of celluloid plastic degrading over time, because the plasticizers within the polymer migrate out and evaporate. The vapors from this course of are corrosive and might trigger rust, oxidation, and discoloration in surrounding metals, finishes, glues, and even case lining. This has led some folks to imagine that it’s the case lining affecting the plastic, because the discoloration on the liner matches the placement of the plastic on the guitar. Nevertheless, in nearly all instances (ha!) the plastic binding is itself the basis of the difficulty. The pickguard most definitely suffered the identical destiny.

I say nearly all instances as a result of I’ve come throughout situations of instances inflicting harm to guitar finishes. Often, these conditions come up when both the case or the guitar (or each) is sort of new and nonetheless releasing solvents from its manufacture. Case lining and foam padding are sometimes utilized with solvent-based cements, and the dense, plush material and foam can retain these vapors longer than some would count on. Additionally, trendy molded instances are fairly good at sustaining a closed airspace, so the residual solvent vapors usually accumulate in a brand new case. Equally, some guitar finishes, particularly nitrocellulose lacquer, can dry shortly on their floor, making a pores and skin that traps solvents within the decrease layers. These solvents must slowly migrate out of the end, a course of that may take weeks and even months relying on the thickness of the end and the way shortly it was utilized. When both or each of those situations exist, the unlucky outcome will be case fur that imprints a tough texture on the guitar’s shiny floor—in some instances even leaving fur caught to the end. In uncommon situations, I’ve additionally heard of instances imprinting their texture into finishes after lengthy durations of storage, often in heat locations similar to attics. Nevertheless, this doesn’t sound like what occurred in your scenario.

Binding replacements on classic guitars have gotten more and more frequent as increasingly outdated celluloid turns to mud, however the restore is labor intensive and costly, and plenty of of my purchasers choose to easily go away the outdated, crumbled binding as is. This brings us to the final a part of your query—price of restore vs. instrument worth. As a restore luthier, I information purchasers by way of this dialog fairly frequently, and it’s not at all times easy. Guitarists usually develop relationships with their devices which are full of private historical past and that means. The worth of those sorts of issues is difficult to calculate however definitely value contemplating. I’ve finished full restorations on outdated people devices, and in some instances the restore estimates have been greater than double the real looking road worth of the guitar. In these instances, I’m at all times frank with purchasers, and as a rule they proceed with the restore, for the reason that instrument often holds sentimental or private worth that greater than makes up for the financial variations.

With classic guitars, I additionally really feel it’s essential to keep up and protect their operate and structural well being wherever potential. A 1972 J-55 will not be essentially the most helpful classic guitar proper now, however in 30 years it’ll seemingly be value fairly a bit extra. I’ve seen the market worth of late ’70s Fender electrics go up dramatically since I began taking part in, and even some ’80s devices at the moment are exhibiting up underneath the classic banner. Some sorts of restore work, like a well-done neck reset, will protect and even improve market worth. Binding substitute is trickier—it typically includes some quantity of refinishing, which may decrease market worth. Because of this, I at all times do binding replacements and not using a full refinish—quite, I work across the present end, after which contact up the brand new bindings to match. This course of is far more laborious, however it preserves the originality of the guitar as a lot as potential.

In case your purpose is to promote the guitar, my recommendation could be to skip the restore and let the following proprietor make these selections. There might be a participant on the market who couldn’t care much less concerning the situation of the binding and may even recognize the classic vibe it provides. In the event you want to preserve the guitar, then this merely turns into a query of your individual visible and useful preferences, and your private historical past with the guitar. There is no such thing as a proper or mistaken on this sort of restore, so long as you discover a luthier who is ready to do good work that’s applicable to the standard of the guitar. Watch out for anybody who says it is a fast and simple job—in the event that they assume it’s, they’re most likely not doing it proper!