Cedar Creek Case Destroys French Polish Finish
 

DO NOT keep your finest guitar in a brand new Cedar Creek custom case. The French polish on my 2001, Michel Bruck guitar was ruined as a result of storing it in a new case (700 series). I suspect the vapors from the construction material were at fault. The temperature and relative humidity in my home are well within acceptable limits, so I've ruled out environmental conditions. Also, I have another fine guitar with a French polish finish which is kept in a Calton case. It's fine.

That really sucks, but it makes sense. I've gotten a couple of brand new Cedar Creek cases in and they smelled heavily of the glue used in their construction.

The same thing's been true of Calton cases, for that matter - I was a Calton dealer for a few years and they really stank when they first arrived. With both brands of cases I typically kept them in my garage with their lids up for a week or two until they'd finished gassing off. During the warm months I'd put them out in the sun on weekends when I was around to keep an eye on the weather. (You don't want to let your guitar cases to get rain in them!)

French polish is especially delicate, and I can imagine that this is going to be a considerable expense for you to have the finish replaced.

In any event, stick the case outdoors with the lid open as much as possible.


whm

I would like to know if Cedar Creek assumes any responsibility for this, and if so--what will they do to help?

This is awful. Do new Ceder Creek cases come with any warnings?

Picture? We'd like to see pictures if available.

That's a somewhat unusual first post. Some clarification would help.

What do "destroyed" and "ruined" mean here? And what is the reason you "suspect" it was vapors from materials used in the construction? Is it the type of damage?

Let's see some photos of the finish and what kind of damage you have. How long had you been using the case when you noticed the problem?

Have you talked with anyone at Cedar Creek/TKL? What did they say?

Got a CCC with my John How Ladder Braced Concert and last summer I left my guitar in the case while on a long vacation, longest I've left the guitar in it's case, about 5 weeks. House was air conditioned, regular house temps, didn't get hot.

When I took it out the neck rest color had seeped into the neck. This was not a new guitar, it happened when the guitar was 3-4 years old. You can see the faint band of color around the back of the neck where it rested in the case and the interior color in the clear lacquer over the ivory binding.

I guess I should have mentioned it to John or Cedar Creek but honestly, once it happened, it was there. I wouldn't want the neck refinished, but it is a slight bummer. I'll have to put a piece of cotton tshirt over the neck rest if I leave the guitar in it's case that long again.

I'll take pictures and post them tomorrow.

I have a guitar with a French Polish finish in a Cedar Creek case and I've had problems too. I thought it was because it was a snug fit and was due to rubbing against the finish. There are dull marks on the sides of the guitar, but not on the back or the top. Is there any way to determine if the case did cause the damage? Also, is there any recourse if that is the case (no pun intended)? :D

I agree that this is a very odd first posting. It seems that the OP has posted this topic as a first time user on a few other forums.

I own 2 Cedar Creek cases and have not had a problem with the guitars stored in them. Both of these guitars were custom built for me but honestly I can't tell you if they're made with French polish or not. One of them has a vintage toner on the top though.

I also would be very curious to see what Cedar Creek says about this. From my own dealings with them... both of my cases were also custom built... the folks there seemed very friendly and helpful.

I would also be curious to see if the OP actually responds to this thread.

I have 2 cedar creek cases and no problems at all. Granted the two guitars in them are UV finish. but great cases! :up:

Well, my John How is lacquer and it clearly has a band on the back of the neck where it sits on the nest rest of the case. It's faint but it's there, bleeds into the side of the neck where the binding is and is easier to see.

Just tried to take pictures and my camera battery was dead. I'll recharge and post later today.

French polish is very easily damaged, and pretty easily repaired. Dribble your whiskey on your guitar and you'll see just how easy it is to damage -

Natural lacquers, they'll take a hotter solvent usually, but still pretty easy to find modern chemicals that will interact negatively with them. Nitro is pretty easy to damage, but also not too hard to touch-up.

Varnishes are harder to damage chemically, but still possible. Polyesters (UV cured) seem to be impervious to just about anything.

With all the chemical compounds used in the lining materials, vinyls, foams, glues - even the chemicals now used to cure, color, and tan natural materials like leather - it's a good rule to be extra careful initially when trying a new case, hanger, stand, or anything that comes in contact with the finish.

Well, fortunately I'm not a whiskey drinker, but your point is well-taken. I do have one French-polished instrument, and it sees a fair amount of use.

Exactly.

If the OP has been going around posting this in a number of guitar forums, as has been stated, my guess is that he put the guitar into a brand new case that was still stinking of the adhesives used to make it. It seems likely that he tried to get TKL/Cedar Creek's management to pay for refinishing the guitar but was rebuffed. So this would be his way of getting back at them, sort of a "United Breaks Guitars" revenge video but in a post instead.

Which would be completely understandable, but I understand the case company's position, as well (provided that I'm guessing correctly about what inspired this.)

I've had my own problems with Cedar Creek, and both times I dealt with them they got the sizes of the cases they built for me so completely wrong that they had to build other cases to replace them (the neck on the case for my baritone, for example, was about two inches too short.) So I don't think they're the most attentive outfit ever to go into the custom case building business.

But this one doesn't appear to be their fault. If the original poster ever comes back to rejoin the discussion perhaps he can give us some more details.


Wade Hampton Miller

In my situation it was not a brand new case or guitar when this happened, as I mentioned both were around 3.5 years old. But it was stored for 5 weeks in an air conditioned house.

I can't speak to the OPs claims, I'm just posting this because it happened to my guitar w/ a Cedar Creek case.

In the scheme of things, this is not a big deal to me. But it happened and really it shouldn't. A fairly expensive custom case built for acoustic guitars should be lacquer safe. If I store the guitar again, I'll be certain to put a piece of cotton over the neck rest.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...DSC_0006-5.jpg

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...DSC_0011-2.jpg

I got a Cedar Creek about three years ago. I put my nitro finished guitar in it the day the case arrived and except for playing time, it's been there ever since. The case smelled new, but the smell wasn't strong at all.