What’s Going On Here?!

[RRuskin]

Originally Posted by Dryfly

Attachment 24393
This is the bottom waist which rests on my knee while playing seated.
It’s a two year old guitar. The finish is not broken but I can feel the texture.
Santa Cruz claims operator wear and that I’m SOL. I can’t comprehend this. Never had any other guitar with this finish “wear”, including a 35 year old Guild.
I don’t wear rubber pants or play in shorts with the guitar touching my skin.
This is a very expensive guitar purchased new.

Residual laundry detergent or fabric softener, perhaps?

[Earl49]

I'll pile on and say it was an impression from something in your pocket like keys, coins, capo, phone, etc. And it could be from one single episode. The extreme case is called a "key crack" where pressure cracks can develop in the side wood if you press hard enough.

[Orfeas]

I've had a similar problem with my old Guild D55. The culprit was a small Bic lighter in my pocket.

[Photojeep]

My Gibson J15 exhibits the exact same thing in the waist where it rests on my right thigh. I've been known to strum pretty aggressively from time to time (actually every Sunday to be more precise) and I remember seeing that for the first time after about a year. I was really bummed out until I realized it was just the weave of my jeans/pants pressing into the finish repeatedly over the 11-12 months I'd been playing.

And yes, I have "things" in my pockets when I play. Normally I don't think about it until it becomes uncomfortable then I move whatever is in my pocket directly beneath my guitar to the side and continue playing.

My guitar was probably about 2 weeks out of the factory when I first got her and I started playing the moment I unboxed her. She is my first Gibson and was my first all solid wood guitar and I couldn't have stop playing if I'd tried. I was so enamored with her sound I just couldn't stop. After almost 3 years I still feel the same way about her tone but life has been conspiring against me playing her several hours daily...

I imagine most of what I saw that first time, after about a year, probably happened in the first few months of ownership as the nitro finish was still "curing" or "drying". I'm really not worried about the marks at all.

Having said that, now I have a small chip on the upper bout between the sound hole and the shoulder on the high e side which I WILL get repaired.

If it ain't one thing it's another...

Best,
PJ

[sgarrity]

Guitars get wear and tear from playing. Just keep playing and enjoy!

[Denny B]

The advice on this thread reinforces my firm habit of emptying my right pocket whenever I sit down to play...it's just good common sense, and trying to play with something in my pocket wouldn't be comfortable to me in any way...

And no buttons, rivets or belts come into contact with my guitars...

I'm not OCD by any means, but it just takes a few seconds to play it safe...

[3notes]

Originally Posted by colder

Some of my guitars have that on the bottom waist. It's from the guitar lightly touching a chair or whatever I'm sitting on.

That doesn't make sense.??