Axis cracked finish

[edoardo]

Good day to all, newbie from Italy here, I'm on the hunt for an Axis and have stumbled accross this one:



Looks beautiful on the front, however the back has two rather appaling cracks on it.



They don't extend from the neck pocket so I'm wondering what the cause may be; the seller says it's rather common on guitars with a poly finish. Has anyone experienced anything like this ?

I havn't played the guitar but will do so this coming week end, any suggestions on what I should look out for ?

Thanks to all!
Edoardo

 

[fbecir]

Hello and welcome aboard

The cracks are not stress crack. I am quite sure they were caused by a bad handling of a previous owner (guitar stand with sharp edges ...).
These cracks will not change the sound. But they are a good reason for haggling on the price.

 

[Jack FFR1846]

The comment about poly cracking like this often might be true with older Ovation acoustic guitars, but I have not seen the issue on a solid body guitar. Certainly it can be used as a bargaining tool. I have had one guitar (not EBMM) where the owner told me all about the cord being tangled in his foot and he unknowingly walked away and the guitar flew......crashed to the floor and cracked the wood, causing 2 cracks. They showed only on the back and looked almost like finish cracks. I only confirmed that they were into the wood by stripping the body. Not difficult to fix at that point, but of course I had to refinish the body. It had no cracks on the front of the body.

 

[edoardo]

Gentlemen, thankyou ever so much for your replies, It sounds like the previous owner may have not been sufficiently protective of his axe, an excellent reason for it to change owner
I'll check the headstock and neck joint just to be sure that the're are no further signs of damage. The price is about 150USD lower than that which is usually asked for a used Axis in good conditions here in Italy, so I guess that I could use the difference in order to have the back refinished.
Of course in the end, it will all come down to how good she sounds.
Thanks again!
Edoardo

 

[dibart77]

I have 70 EBMM guitars, including about 30 Axis. I have NEVER seen poly cracks except for an occasional stress crack around the neck pocket, which is still pretty rare for me. I agree, those are scratches, not cracks, caused by a ****ty guitar stand missing rubber bumpers.

-J

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[acwild]

I have 70 EBMM guitars, including about 30 Axis.

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That's it?!? Honestly I thought you hit the hundred mark by now.

 

[dibart77]

That's it?!? Honestly I thought you hit the hundred mark by now.

Nope. 70 total. 37 Axis including Axis Tributes (just checked). See!!! You're closer to me than you thought, man!

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[edoardo]

That is definetely one amazing collection!
All comments hint to the possibility of a faulty gear stand being the cause of the scratches/cracks; I'll check the guitarout and so long as the damange doesn't affect playability and tone in any way, the lower price may actually be a pretty good incentive for the deal
Thanks again to all

 

[ozzyrules]

That's it?!? Honestly I thought you hit the hundred mark by now.

C'mon Andrew, buy more !!!!!

 

[acwild]

That is definetely one amazing collection!
All comments hint to the possibility of a faulty gear stand being the cause of the scratches/cracks; I'll check the guitarout and so long as the damange doesn't affect playability and tone in any way, the lower price may actually be a pretty good incentive for the deal
Thanks again to all

If the crack isn't in the wood (and I'll wager that it's not), this may become the guitar that you grab the most. You'll never have to worry about babying it.

@dibart and ozzy... I'd love to catch up to you guys but you've already got a nice head-start.

 

[AndyK]

You can buff those out - and look how pretty the top is! Like fluffy clouds.

 

[Spudmurphy]

Beware - you can buff out a scratch. You can't buff out a crack. The photos are not conclusive enough for me.

 

[edoardo]

The top looks pretty indeed, however I agree with @spudmurphy, I have to see exactly what the damage, I'll post my impressions on the guitar as soon as I get to try it out this week end !
Cheers
E

 

[bazxkr]

When you take a look over the guitar remove the lower rear cover and see how that crack/scratch line ends as it enters into that cavity. Almost like trying to view in section.... if it is a deep crack will probably be obvious... a scratch will fade out at edge of the coating as you slide down cavity recess
Good luck. If only scratches I'd offer a lot less and then just keep upping your offer til you are happy or not.......and then just play the hell out of it. Wouldn't worry about em. You can't see it when you are playing and you can't see it on a stand or in the case...
Go for it
Cheers Baz

 

[straycat113]

I agree with Jeff that they look much more like deep scratches then cracks. Over the years I have dropped a few guitars on a hard floor and never had cracks like those. If you are going to just be playing the guitar to make music if everything checks out okay I would not even bother spending the scratch to get the back re-finished.

On a side note the most amazing repair job I ever saw was about 20 years ago on one of my best friends beloved Les Paul. He is about 6'5 so it had a long fall to the floor lol and it looked like it was blasted by a shotgun as the body was practically split in half. I told him he might as well save the neck and hardware and junk it as I could not see how it could be fixed. Well he happens to be very good friends with famous bass luthier Carl Thompson who is from the neighborhood and two months later he came over and showed me the guitar and you could not tell the guitar ever had an accident unless you put it under a black light.That is when I realized their are some seriously talented people out there.

 

[edoardo]

Hello to all, just a quick update, I didn't manage to see the guitar last week end, but the seller was kind enough to give me a couple of extra photos of the crack: damb they look ugly...



Kind of thinking this may not turn out very well over time!

 

[Spudmurphy]

^
No it doesn't look good does it.

Unless you were to get a substantial discount I would steer clear of it. - there's plenty more out there.

 

[Tollywood]

^
No it doesn't look good does it.

Unless you were to get a substantial discount I would steer clear of it. - there's plenty more out there.

+1 keep looking

 

[dibart77]

Oh damn. That guitar has had its neck bent backwards or was dropped hard. I am picturing someone doing the Vai toss over the shoulder and the guitar hitting neck first on the floor. Run from this guitar, I say...

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[edoardo]

Gentlemen, thanks to all for your precious advice.
At the end of the day I won't look further into this instrument as the seller won't budge from his asking price which just seems too high considering all the work to be done and the potential damange to the body and neck which may not appear upon inspection (who knows what's happened under the paint coat ?.... I agree, this guitar has had a rather rough encounter with the floor)
Thanks again, cheers to all.