Gibson neck heel damage

[scott gannon]

1939 Gibson J-55. Neck set, re-fret, and other things. Work performed by very highly respected and well known man in your industry. The lacquer cracked. Yeah sure. Damage is into the wood. My question. What can I do to seal this safely until I can afford a professional fix? Thank You All. Scott

[Greg Mirken]

Don't do anything yourself. Any attempt to seal or otherwise protect the damage will make the real repair more difficult, more expensive, and probably more obvious.

[Frank Ford]

 Unlike Martin guitars, the finish on those old Gibsons is notoriously thick and brittle, and very prone to cracking all over the instrument.  Neck resetting is potentially more traumatic than normal ambient heat/moisture variations, so it's not uncommon to see this kind of finish stress in the heel area, especially down at the bottom where the heel is more flexible.

Most of the time there's no structural need to repair the finish but it can be filled to be less objectionable looking.  Likewise, it can be left as-is for a long time before addressing the cosmetics.

[Greg Mirken]

To add to Frank’s comment, there’s no pressing need to have something done; in the meantime just leave it. It’s not a big deal for an experienced finish person to make that look pretty good.