Finish cracks...any advice?

[fiveightandten]

I have an '01 Sterling that I bought brand new a while back (I mention the year, because the warantee has definitely passed).

Well, to make a long story short, this is what happens when you're a nice guy and you lend your bass out to a friend for a week.

There's 2 cracks. One starts at the neck joint in the back, and goes all the way around to the front of the body and stops at the fretboard. It's straight through the finish down to the wood.

The other isn't quite that bad yet. It starts at the strap button and comes out a few inches. It's not wide enough or deep enough to see the wood...yet.

They both started out as little 1/8"-1/4" hairline cracks, and just grew over time. It's been over a year since I first noticed them (over a year since I lent it out to him). To this day, he insists that it was never dropped or anything (it wasn't cold out at the time). But I have a hard time believing that TWO random finish cracks would just appear a few days after I got it back from him, when i've treated the bass like gold every year i've had it.

So my question is...

Does anyone have any advice about this? I love the bass to death. I played 11 Sterlings at 3 different stores when it was time to pull the trigger on one. This bass was just the ONE, ya know... so I don't really want to buy a new body for it or anything...i've been through a lot with it. I can deal with the cracks as long as the finish doesn't just finally come off in a huge piece one day. I can't tell if they're getting wider because the finish is contracting, or because the wood is expanding under it from picking up moisture. But if anyone has experience with this stuff and can lead me in the right direction to minimize any more problems with it, that would be great.

Any advice on refinishing it if it gets much worse? Does MM refinish basses? Does it change the tone a lot?

Thanks in advance.

-Nick

 

[bovinehost]

Hey Nick,

I hope you meant 'ex-friend'. That is extremely weird. I've never seen anything quite like it. Something definitely happened, and I would have guessed temp extremes, but not that, eh?

In any case, if you want to refinish, I'd suggest Michael Dolan. Absolutely stand-up guy, will do custom work if you want to go crazy, and gets things done on time (unlike some other genius luthiers I know).

Google Dolan Guitars if you're so inclined or I'll get you contact info if you need it.

Jack

 

[jongitarz]

I wanna see pics of what happens to a friend who returns a bass looking like that

 

[fiveightandten]

Hey Nick,

I hope you meant 'ex-friend'. That is extremely weird. I've never seen anything quite like it. Something definitely happened, and I would have guessed temp extremes, but not that, eh?

In any case, if you want to refinish, I'd suggest Michael Dolan. Absolutely stand-up guy, will do custom work if you want to go crazy, and gets things done on time (unlike some other genius luthiers I know).

Google Dolan Guitars if you're so inclined or I'll get you contact info if you need it.

Jack

Jack,

Thanks for the reply. I don't really keep in touch with him much anyone anyways, as he moved out of state. It's just a wierd situation, as I lent it to him, and he left it at his drummer house, as that's where they practiced (I guess you don't need to keep your eye on a $1500 bass when you borrow it). So long story short, I have no idea what the heck happened to it.

But i've been through a few tours with this bass, and a lot of playing. I've really grown attached to it. The cracks don't bother me all that much asthetically. I've learned to live with it. I just don't want that whole chunk of finish falling off.

I'm curious about a refinish. If I did do that ever, i'd want exactly the same type of finish that's on there now...as the bass sounds and feels so good, i'd hate to mess with a good thing and have it not be the same afterwards, ya know.

I'll give Michael a call and see what he has to say about it. I'm not in a hurry to get it refinished or anything. I just want to know if there's anything I can do to keep it from getting worse, and hear some opinions from people who know about refinishing and have experience with cracks like this.

Thanks again for the info, I appreciate it.

-Nick

 

[fiveightandten]

I wanna see pics of what happens to a friend who returns a bass looking like that

That's the worst part. When I got it back from him the first crack was barely noticable. I only saw it a few days later when I was cleaning the bass off and polishing it. The 2nd crack I didn't notice until a while later...probably because the strap button was hiding it.

I'm guessing it got dropped on the top part of the body over there. But there's no marks on the bass, or on the strap button. Maybe it was in the case when it fell...who knows.

They just kept growing and growing. What started out as a little tiny hairline crack (and didn't seen all that bad to get upset about at the time) just kept getting bigger and bigger.

-Nick

 

[TheAntMan]

Does anyone have any advice about this?

Yeah. Don't ever lend quality Sh*t out to anyone. If a friend asked to borrow my EMBB bass, I'd tell them -- Sorry, I don't lend that out, but I can try to help you find one or they can borrow my Fender Squire Jazz Bass.

Some people just don't respect other's property.

Sorry this happened to you. Best of luck.

--Ant

 

[bovinehost]

Dolan's a good man. He'll treat you right and get you what you want.

As far as loaning things out, well....I do it occasionally, but only to the few people that I really trust on this earth.

One of my Bongos is with Rockin' Ray Duke this week, but we go way back and I don't have to worry (I think!).

That really is amazing damage. Let us know how it turns out, if you decide to go for the refin. With that much wood exposed, I'd be tempted to refin it.

Jack

 

[fiveightandten]

Yeah. Don't ever lend quality Sh*t out to anyone. If a friend asked to borrow my EMBB bass, I'd tell them -- Sorry, I don't lend that out, but I can try to help you find one or they can borrow my Fender Squire Jazz Bass.

Some people just don't respect other's property.

Sorry this happened to you. Best of luck.

--Ant

Dolan's a good man. He'll treat you right and get you what you want.

As far as loaning things out, well....I do it occasionally, but only to the few people that I really trust on this earth.

One of my Bongos is with Rockin' Ray Duke this week, but we go way back and I don't have to worry (I think!).

That really is amazing damage. Let us know how it turns out, if you decide to go for the refin. With that much wood exposed, I'd be tempted to refin it.

Jack

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm usually reluctant to lend stuff out because of the possibility of stuff like this happenning. But he's always been helpful with lending me stuff. When I was just starting out on bass and didn't have a rig worth touring with, he let me take his '77 Jazz, Ampeg 8x10, and Mesa 400+ on the road, no questions asked. I also borrowed his Jazz and '78 Ric 4001 many times before I got the Sterling. Basically, he let me have my pick of any of his stuff to use whenever I needed while I saved up money to buy my own bass gear. So when he was without a bass for a while, I had no problem at all returning the favor, ya know.


Does anyone have experience with refinishes? I'm wondering if and how much the tone of the bass will change. How much does something like that run? I'm sure Dolan can answer my questions, but I want to get a good idea of what i'd be getting into and talk to at least a few luthiers before I send my baby across the country to someone to have the bass taken apart completely, the finished stripped off, and have it refinished.

Thanks again for the help.

-Nick