Gibson L5 binding and wood joint ridge
 

Hello,
I recently acquired a 2002 Gibson L5 that I noticed has a ridge all around the binding - wood joint.
It is like the wood is not level or flush with the binding. Wood stands a little higher where the side, top, and back woods meet the binding.
It is not as bad on the neck.
In the worst spot, there is actually a surface crack at the meeting joint (the bottom of the guitar body).
It is not impacting playability and I don't mind that it is there.
I read elsewhere that this could be caused by too much scraping of the binding.
My concern is, can it also be due to binding shrinking or the wood expanding over time?
If so, what can be done to ensure it does not get any worse?
I am keeping the guitar humidified with 2 D'Addario humidipacks inserted in the F Holes in the case.

It may be from over-humidifying.

Think about it. If all the plastic/wood meeting areas show the same thing, what are the chances that the person doing the scraping did so in a consistently poor manner?

Conversely if the binding were shrinking in a way to cause that, wouldn't splitting of the binding be expected?

Where are you living and what it the average relative humidity in your area at this time of year?

Post pictures, please.

Regards,
Howard Emerson

My initial thought is modern binding doesn't shrink much if at all, and it's quite hard to scrape the binding so that it's shy of the level of the wood, and very easy to scrape so the binding is perfectly flush. So like Howard, I go to the wood has swollen possibly through over humidification.

Thanks. Here is a Google Photos link of the worst spot
https://photos.app.goo.gl/pHNw37FdRu5Jck9cA

I live in New Jersey, but the guitar was Las Vegas area until a couple of months ago when I bought it. It was like this when I got it.

To me, it looks more like it was very dry for a while.

Thanks. Why do you think that? Do you think the binding shrunk?

If the guitar was in Nevada(dry climate), and not humidified enough, then some small amount of shrinkage of the side could occur, causing the visible separation between the side wood, and the plastic binding. Then again,
nitrocellulose lacquer finishes shrink over time, because of the outgassing of solvents(causing checking), that could be contributing too(I believe Gibson still uses lacquer as a finish).. Just my opinion!

I have a 2001 L5 and it sounds like the bindings are like yours. I think they shrunk. Also I guess my guitar is 19 years old. I don't humidify it but I'm in NC rick

Thanks. I guess it comes down to the question of if this is an issue or not? Did the 2001 L5 binding shrank over time?

Normal Gibson binding scraping.
 

This is 100% normal. On colored stained wood bodies, Gibson, (and probably everybody else?) scrapes the sprayed on color off of the white binding before the clear finish is applied. You can tape off the binding but still need to scrape right where the wood and binding meet. Perfectly normal. I don't suppose you will find a Gibson, colored guitar without this step/ridge.