Q: Guitar stands and nitro finishes...

[sixesandsevens]

How long does a guitar need to be in contact with a nitro-unfriendly guitar stand before you can tell there's a problem?   Minutes?  Hours?  Days?  Months?

 

[sled]

Depends. If it a new guitar and it could take seconds. 

[Steve Haynie]

I never saw one get affected within minutes, but it probably took a days for some stains to appear way back in the old days.  The reaction between the rubber tubing and the lacquer would have to be immediate, but the effects show up later. 

[sixesandsevens]

Thanks!

[sled]

Just a bit from my experience. A few years ago I bought a new Gibson V. It was my first Gibson and was not familiar with the nitro finish. The guitar nitro was fresh. You could smell it.  Being uninformed I placed it on one of my cheaper guitar stands.  Less than a minute later I moved it and noticed the burn on the back of the neck right where the rubber meets the guitar. A few years later I came across a used Gibson V that was 15 years old. I was able to leave it unprotected on the stand without issues. A lot of gibsons will have the burn mark. It's not a big deal. If it is new be very careful if old and used then no issues.  This is my experience and hope it helps.  

[tbonesullivan]

"Fresh" nitro guitars are definitely still out-gassing when received. When I got my Black Gibson SG years ago, the serial number legible. after a year I couldn't see it anymore because the finish had settled more in the thinner areas.

It's also my understanding that the yellow rubber surgical tubing style stands are the worst for finishes. Hercules makes stands that I have heard have no problems with nitro, but they won't guarantee it in case some company uses a strange formulation.

[Steve Haynie]

You would think that a stand manufacturer would have been sued way back when.  Music stores would have been getting stuck with damaged new guitars on their floors. 

The people designing the stands surely had to try them out or photographing the stands with an expensive guitar to show how secure they were. 

[crunchee]

Watch out for vinyl ANYTHING, too.  I once had an old '60's Harmony guitar with it's original nitrocelluose finish, where the previous owner kept it in an old Ovation acoustic case.  The case fit fine, but the vinyl pull tab for the case pocket lid was located under (but not touching) the back of the neck.  The finish on the back of the neck, that was just above the vinyl pull tab, had turned into sticky goo...and again, it wasn't touching, just in a close vicinity.  Apparently, vinyl outgasses too, which had caused the nitro on the back of the neck to de-cure/un-cure/turn into goo/whatever in a small strip roughly the same size as the vinyl pull tab.      The best I could do at the time (besides keep the guitar in a different case), was scrape the gooey part of the nitro off of the neck, thankfully it was only a small area and it wasn't a valuable guitar, but still....     Watch out for vintage straps that might have any old vinyl on them too, as they can also damage a nitro finish.

[sixesandsevens]

Damn!  So much for the throne of records I was building in the music room...

[tbonesullivan]

Also be careful with some colored fabrics, and especially colored leather. The dyes can come out and stain the finish.

[Hamersaur]

Also watch out for tee shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, etc. with vinyl transfers.

[tbonesullivan]

Speaking of tee shirts, make sure you never get insect spray near any nitro finished guitars. You can use some to polish Polycarbonate headlights, so it makes short work of nitro. I've heard quite a few outdoor gig nightmare-inducing stories involving insect repellant.

[jettster]

I've been using this one for 12-13 years without any issues.