would you buy this?

[OneShot]

AHHHH a golden age S540LTD. A 93 to be exact.. almost perfect in every way except for this stress crack in the neck joint.
I know I already asked s-man this a while back,
but Im wondering... everyone else ...would this prevent you from buying this guitar?

[brothersnowgone]

Nope, I prefer guitars with flaws, they come cheaper That's nope to your last question, not the thread title hehe.

[Ranger-X]

I'd but it if the price was right. That crack's probably not a big deal, both my Strats have stress cracks and it hasn't changed the way they play. Granted they aren't as big as that one but in general I think it shouldn't matter, as long as the neck is still secure.

[Jeannie Pickguards Roger]

A little water in the crack and some Gorilla glue and you are repaid.
the water makes the glue bond into the grain and it will be stronger then the rest of the guitar.

Roger

[OneShot]

Originally Posted by Ranger-X

both my Strats have stress cracks and it hasn't changed the way they play. Granted they aren't as big as that one .

GULP! gee thanks.. j/k


i guess its controversial whether cracks like these are just in the paint or actually in the wood.. or through the wood I should say.

I have seen other pics of the guitar and it looks to be in really good shape other wise.. plus already has a super distortion and paf pro in it. plus to boot its a s540ltd, black with sharktooth and an original wizard, plus first year they did AANJ! yay! been trying to get one for YEARS. plus the price is right. so i say YES im gonna grab it....

BUT then I start to think... "hmmm cosmetically it doesn't bother me, I could always touch the paint up and sand and buff it".

its wondering if the crack is through the wood and if the necks tension will continue to increase the size of the crack that makes me second guess pulling the trigger.

for arguments sake couldn't I lightly sand the side of the neck in question to try and reduce to pressure against that side of the neck pocket? or is that a no no?

[DEADTUNES666]

I seem to love 'em better with the neck joint crack...

[newbieguitarmaker]

Has a lopro right? I'd get it

[Homebake]

dude, it really doesn't matter. a huge amount of ibanez (and non ibanez) guitars have em. if that's the only thing bugging you, just buy it.

[hall]

Originally Posted by Jeannie Pickguards Roger

A little water in the crack and some Gorilla glue and you are repaid.

Gorilla Glue ? Is that wise ? That stuff expands and unless you can strongly clamp the crack closed, it can cause it to open up more.

[OneShot]

yeah im leaning towards grabbing it 90%.

My only other concern is buying guitars sight unseen and only going off of pics. With that in mind I figure if I dont like it I can always turn around and sell it, but obviously the stress crack reduces the value. The only reason I would let it go would be if it didnt have good mojo.. or rather that "golden age S" feel that Im looking for, and have been looking for, for the better part of 20 years now. lol

in any case, thanks for the input guys, I was shocked to see this many replies in such a short period of time! thanks again

lastly, the gorilla glue.. I dont like that stuff at all.. If I were to attempt that type of repair it would likely be with a quality wood glue or some 2 part adhesive(cyanoacrylate and activator) better known as super glue.. but a high quality type with an accelerator spray if needed to speed up bonding to within several seconds. Trouble is, a hairline stress crack like this leaves no room to get the glue inside without worsening the actual crack to do so.. i would think.. then again, it remains to be seen whether the crack is just in the paint or the wood. if just paint, I would sand it out, touch it up w/ some black, sand again and buff it out.

anyway thanks again and feel free to keep the replies a' comin'

[hredcat]

I couldnt care less about little cracks like that that are usually just penetrating the clearcoat. I'd scoop it up in a heartbeat. That definitely was the golden age for Ibanez's, at least i think so. I miss those days!

[OneShot]

yeah well I did scoop it up. The seller wasn't accurate in his description of the stress being the "only" issue with the guitar. it had plenty others. Mainly the fact that someone had sanded the neck pocket and it now causes the neck to sit at an angle with the High E side about 1mm higher than the low E side. there was a decent sized gouge in the rear of the neck behind the 1st-2nd fret area, and a big gash around the 15th fret below the binding in the maple that had been filled in with crazy glue and sanded. The neck had been horribly tung oiled and had a sticky painted feel to it. Fixable but a turn off all the same.

Despite all that the body and paint were in great shape, but the guitar played like total ass. Out of the case the truss rod was so tightly adjusted that the first 3 or 4 strings wouldn't even play at the first fret and whoever last intonated the guitar had no clue how to.
after hours of adjusting and tweaking the setup it still played bad. so it sent it back for a refund. plus there were other little things adding to my frustration with it, like missing screws on the cavity plates, an upside down installed trem cover LOL, and backwards installed 5way switch plate, 3 different screws in the truss rod cover, and worst off all screw issues.. 2 DRYWALL screws securing the middle pickup. My god.

Ya know maybe if it played well like a 1993 golden age S540ltd should play, maybe then I would have kept it and fixed the minor things and dealt with the major things, leveled the neck pocket, sanded the neck a bit, etc.. but it just wasn't worth it.

Lesson learned was "just because it's a golden age axe doesn't mean its a golden age axe" AND buying sight unseen despite weeks of assurances via email from a seller with an actual music store STILL cannot be trusted.

pics.

The Gash at the 15th filled with crazy glue and sanded.



1/2 inch long decent depth ding behind 1st/2nd fret. On a neck this thin do YOU really wanna try sanding till this comes out? call me picky but I cant live with that. A barely visible neck pocket stress crack is one thing.. this is another. I mean maybe if it played great despite all this other crap.. but IT DOESN'T at ALL.



More smaller gashes/dings on neck along the side. Granted they are superficial, but dings are dings and this guy said it didn't have a mark on it! HAH!



Nice Gap huh? You can fit a pick in there. I dunno if some come like that or if someone got carried away sanding the bottom AND the side of the neck pocket or what.


Bam.. there it is.. Pick thickness gap fun for all ages! thats a medium thick in there with ease. A heavy would get stuck.


Here is the worst of it. Where the angle of the neck pocket is visible.
You can see that the binding is almost flush with the body...
you'll see below that it is not and the neck sits considerably higher in the pocket.


there it is.. 1mm or so difference "seems" small enough.. but we know how much of a difference that 1mm can make.
And to take a chance keeping it and trying to fix that..maybe it would be okay maybe not.. why risk it.

[OneShot]

Oh And a pic of the guitar herself. Honestly, like I said before the paint was in nice shape. A little buffing on the front to get rid of the pick marks, but nothing major on the body to speak of, other than that stress crack. Its everything else that killed the deal.

[mesaman]

Whenever you want to get a ding out of wood, try this it works......Lightly scrap off the top finish, use a razor blade or sandpaper, but the idea is to not remove any wood. Then heat up an iron to it's highest setting. Wet a thick paper towel and place it over the ding. Take the iron and press it to the towel. The idea is to create steam, which gets into the pores of the wood and lifts the ding out. Be careful not to abuse the heat and burn the wood or surrounding finish. When the ding raises, sand flush and finish to suit. Try it, it works. I have done it hundreds of times.

[LonePhantom]

Very cool axe, congratulations.