PRS finish problems :(

[Connor]

Hey guys, so as some of you may know, I've been living in Canada for the past year or so. With that I only had the opportunity to take one of my guitars. The rest being stored at my parents house in the spare room.

The house is generally kept at a relatively decent temperature, its in Adelaide, Australia, not all that humid or anything like that.

My beloved PRS Hollowbody from the mid-late 90s was stored in its case along with a whole bunch of other guitars, as I am going through the guitars one by one setting them up, I noticed the PRS had quite a bit of discolouration in the finish.

The finish is a really thick gloss clear coat and it seems to have gone a tinge of white, its mainly on the inside of the horns and a little on the top side which is hardly noticeable.

I'm all for guitars starting to show their age, but this looks really trashy so I sent PRS an email in regards to the situation, unfortunately as soon as the guitar is exchanged hands on a private sale, the warranty is void, therefore it cannot be refinished under warranty and their quote for a sandback/refinish is $1200 + shipping (around 200 both ways). For which, I could almost buy a new one.

I do have some experience with woodwork and sanding by hand, I'm almost considering sanding it all back and finishing with an oil, tung or tru oil perhaps. But at the same time, maybe its not all that of a big deal and I'm over-reacting, and I could end up making it look even worse, thoughts?

 

[MoshJosh]

I personally would leave it as is so that's my vote

 

[ElysianGuitars]

Assuming it's nitrocellulose lacquer like their current guitars, that looks to me like blushing (why it happened I'm not sure, especially on a guitar this age). A spray of butyl acetate (used as a retarder for lacquer finishes) should be able to clear that up, if it's what I think it is. Of course, you'd need someone who really knows finish to do it, which may be a challenge to find.

 

[technomancer]

According to PRS that guitar should have a polyester base coat with a top coat of acrylic urethane.

See #6 on the FAQ

Customer Support Center | FAQ's

Might want to try to find somebody on the continent you're on that's good with finishes to take a look at it.

 

[XxJoshxX]

If that is just moisture trapped under the clear, just go with some really fine steel wool to open it up a little bit, then just polish it back up to shine.

 

[ElysianGuitars]

According to PRS that guitar should have a polyester base coat with a top coat of acrylic urethane.

See #6 on the FAQ

Customer Support Center | FAQ's

Might want to try to find somebody on the continent you're on that's good with finishes to take a look at it.

Interesting. Didn't realize they had so many finishes through the years (and even currently). I know they're one of Cardinal's biggest customers for nitro, along with Collings.

Good way to check if you're still not sure is a dab of acetone in the trem cavity (or somewhere not exposed). If it doesn't do anything then it's definitely not nitro. If it kind of melts it's nitro.

 

[technomancer]

Interesting. Didn't realize they had so many finishes through the years (and even currently). I know they're one of Cardinal's biggest customers for nitro, along with Collings.

Good way to check if you're still not sure is a dab of acetone in the trem cavity (or somewhere not exposed). If it doesn't do anything then it's definitely not nitro. If it kind of melts it's nitro.

Yeah they use nitro on the Private Stocks and one or two high end models but nothing else. If he has it dated right it is definitely not nitro.

 

[AKan]

I had something like this happen to a part of one of my guitars before, although not a PRS. I happened to finish the guitar in nitro clear several months (6+) before. I tried wetsanding the finish and re-polishing it, but it still looked the same. I was, and still am stumped.

 

[Connor]

This in from a luthier buddy of mine:
"milky conditions are typically called "acid bloom" and comes from too much catalyst in the clear which is usually some form of acid"

After a quick google searching knowing the correct term "blooming" I came up with this:
Paint blooming

 

[ahvia_musicom]

i worked on a customers prs that have exactly that same blushing problem if its any consolation you're not alone mate

 

[xwmucradiox]

Most of the problems mentioned in this thread are problems with new finishes that are improperly applied and would be unlikely reasons for the issue with this 15+ year old guitar.

 

[JEguitars]

A guitar I built for Mark Tremonti had a case of Hameritis. I have no idea why, and I shot blush eraser on it about 4 times, and it still persisted. I am guessing there was just some moisture there with the glue combined with the water I use to raise the grain while sanding, I am guessing some just got trapped in the joint. It will come out over time.

Yours is poly though, and is what I think a result of a humidity change, I don't see it coming out though since poly isn't a breathable finish like a nitro.