Nitro next to fretboard, strange blemish.

[Standard Magic]

I just noticed this on my new R9, I've seen this before on another Gibson (different forum) and just wondering what to make of it. Pics of this are hard to take but it's much more prominent to the naked eye. It's where the fretboard meets the top:

Bass Side:

Treble Side:

Can this be fixed/smoothened? It's as if the nitro didn't cure properly, perhaps a reaction with something that was next to fretboard?

 

[Any Name You Wish]

If you try to smooth it out you run the risk of going through the top coat and it will look a lot worse. A good luthier with experience in re-finishing Gibsons can fix it, but I would just leave it. All 3 of my Gibson Custom Shop guitars have small imperfections that you have to look closely to see. Just part of the charm of a hand-made instrument.

 

[fred dons]

being so close to the fretboard, the painter did not sand well enough before polishing. it can be flattened a bit more but indeed there is a chance your will go through the topcoat if you are not used to doing this on a regular basis.

 

[charliechitlins]

If you hold the guitar like you mean business...like it was meant to be held... you'll never see it.

 

[El Gringo]

Looks like "orange peel " to me .

 

[brandtkronholm]

I just noticed this on my new R9, I've seen this before on another Gibson (different forum) and just wondering what to make of it. Pics of this are hard to take but it's much more prominent to the naked eye. It's where the fretboard meets the top:

Bass Side:

Treble Side:

Can this be fixed/smoothened? It's as if the nitro didn't cure properly, perhaps a reaction with something that was next to fretboard?

I don't think anything can be made of it. It's just an extremely minor imperfection in an otherwise perfect finish. It won't affect the sound or the playability.
Play swiftly with a loud noise and think nothing of it.

 

[Standard Magic]

Thanks everyone. New guitar but I don't want to replace it because almost everything else is perfect and I like it too much. (The only other imperfection is that one output jack plate screw hole was drilled on an angle and the screw sticks out a bit, but I can live with that.)

It's more fault free than other VOS LP's I've seen, just seems like playing roulette with Gibson quality. (I have a feeling that any replacement will have worse blemishes.)

 

[Wilko]

It’s hard to sand and polish there so close to the binding without messing it up. You’ll see that to some degree at that location and just above the nut on most Les Pauls.

 

[renderit]

Orange Peel. The bane of my existence...I have it on most of my Gibsons made in the last 20 years.

It is the "new acceptable" after so many years of chit car finishes.

You don't see that on a Collings, but a Gibson - it is there.

Anybody worth a shit who does spray work for custom processes like cars and guitars and furniture looks at that and says "rookie".

Live with it, but you don't HAVE to like it...

 

[garywright]

I’d image with Collings having a Bolt on neck the body is sprayed beforehand ? ..edit..or is that just their acoustics ( never owned one )..either way, that blemish shouldn’t be there but it wouldn’t bother me to the point of having it touched up

 

[DANELECTRO]

My 1955 Junior has similar orange peel. Its nothing new, just part of what makes it a Gibson..

 

[1allspub]

Yep orange peel… hard place to get rid of it (hard, not impossible). I have had it to some degree on about 50% of the 25 Gibson Les Pauls I’ve owned (both USA & CS)… my current 2022 LPC 57 RI (BB7) even has a bit. That percentage seems to carry through to the ones I see in stores as well (maybe even a bit more than 50%). Ironically, the LPs I tend to see it the least on… Norlin era ones. They seem to have gotten that area pretty well dialed in back then.

All that said, ain’t nuthin’ to get worked up over.

 

[jb_abides]

I’d image with Collings having a Bolt on neck the body is sprayed beforehand ? ..edit..or is that just their acoustics ( never owned one )..either way, that blemish shouldn’t be there but it wouldn’t bother me to the point of having it touched up

Yeah only acoustics... Collings electrics are all set-neck and all models are some departure from a Gibson style, with tweaks.

 

[El Gringo]

I don't think anything can be made of it. It's just an extremely minor imperfection in an otherwise perfect finish. It won't affect the sound or the playability.
Play swiftly with a loud noise and think nothing of it.

That really is the best advice to "Play swiftly with a loud noise and think nothing of it " That is exactly what I will be doing shortly this afternoon (blasting my Les Paul into my 2 Marshall 2555X's and making plenty of noise and some music )

 

[J T]

Orange Peel. The bane of my existence...I have it on most of my Gibsons made in the last 20 years.

It is the "new acceptable" after so many years of chit car finishes.

You don't see that on a Collings, but a Gibson - it is there.

Anybody worth a shit who does spray work for custom processes like cars and guitars and furniture looks at that and says "rookie".

Live with it, but you don't HAVE to like it...

Funny you should mention new car finishes with orange peel. I was over getting my car annual inspection at the dealer. While I was waiting, I walked through the showroom and every car in that show room from 40k to 120k was covered in orange peel paint. I guess nobody cares about the finish like glass thing anymore. For 120k, some attention to detail might be a priority, but I guess not anymore.

 

[charliechitlins]

I am very aware of automotive finishes.
It's amazing how much orange peel is out there.
My wife is 34 and pretty tuned into the same stuff as I am (because I talk so much), but she still never notices paint.
She does keep our '52 Gretsch under her side of the bed, though.

 

[surfreak]

Orange peel in current production cars, with robot-controlled, automatic e-coating, spraying and baking? That’s like saying that a Mac laptop is running out of ink.

 

[charliechitlins]

Orange peel in current production cars, with robot-controlled, automatic e-coating, spraying and baking? That’s like saying that a Mac laptop is running out of ink.

I see it all the time.
It is surprising.
Sprayed using computer controlled electrostatic methods and measured in microns of thickness...tho old orange peel still rears its ugly head.
It reminds me of first getting high speed fiber optic phone/tv/internet in my old house and seeing the high tech modem/interface/thingy with an antenna....and following the wire to the same big bakelite terminal block with 2 big, brass knurled thumb screws that my rotary phone was still hooked up to.
The old ways and limitations can be hard to shake.

 

[Standard Magic]

being so close to the fretboard, the painter did not sand well enough before polishing.

After noticing something else I believe this is what happened. There is another area/corner under the neck where the neck meets the body, is rough and there's a knife mark. The hard to get to areas weren't sanded/polished properly. Will fine grit sandpaper work? Fret erasers? Can lacquer thinners help? I can live with it, just seems like a doable job.

I used to be a house painter and when you had to do prep work it's what you had to do, get into the corners and hard to reach areas. Everything else was easy. I'll stop here before I go into a rant about work.

 

[charliechitlins]

It is doable.
There is finish in the pits, so you can absolutely sand down flush with the bottom of the pits.
I would probably start with 320 and go to 400, 600, 1000...
If you're not familiar with this kind of fine touchup, start with 600.
It'll take longer, but there's less chance of screwing it up.
Wrap the paper around a small block to keep things even.
Don't just do it with your finger.
Finish with automotive products.
Rubbing compound and a Hand Glaze or Swirl Remover.