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I found an old estudio Conde Atocha at the local music store. Its has the green label so I know its a workshop student model but it has a nice sound and I was thinking of buying it.
However it has some weird spider web type cracks in the nitro finish, they are just in the varnish and do not go through the wood.
The store owner says its normal with such an old guitar but thought I'd ask here before I buy it. Is it ok?
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RE: Estudio Vintage Conde (in reply to hxwhf72752003)
Nitro finish 'checking' isn't a problem, just aesthetic.
As 'hxwhf72752003' says; some electric guitar players seek it out. Even paying thousands extra to have new guitars with deliberately induced nitro cracks.
Hope you got lucky and got a good one there for a good price. Sometimes one can get lucky with these older Segundos. Jose Carlos Gomez had one which he prefered for years over many Media Lunas, and did concerts with it.
These kind of cracks, chicken feet like, are generally due to the instability of nitro finish in the long term. A more evenly spreaded and linear kind of cracks reveal some issues in the spraying sessions. Anyway, it doesn't affect the sound and it makes it appear more vintage...
If the cracks are in the finish and not in the wood of the guitar it is usually a normal thing that happens as the guitar gets older and the temperature changes. Guitars get this kind of thing a lot.
The guitar sounds the same. The guitar is just as strong. I would still take a look at the guitar under light to make sure the cracks in the guitar are not deeper and check if any parts of the guitar like the braces or the bridge of the guitar are loose.
If everything else looks good and the guitar plays well I would not think the cracks, in the finish of the guitar are a problem.