top wood crack question!

[Seventh Avenged]

Hi guys,

I'm hoping some awesome person or people here can help me out but:

the 1/8th inch redwood top on one of my guitars has a few small cracks in the wood.

They're parallel to the grain and they're not big at all, but are they anything to be concerned about?

I was informed to lemon oil the top and it would be fine, but I'm looking for any more information or help I can find, as i don't like to take chances.

Do you guys know if those cracks'll be okay?

thanks so much!

[JACKSONFREAK]

Redwood? Do you mean cedar? what kind of guitar is it? and i assuming its a solid topped guitar. If its cracked its cracked. Lemon oil will not fix the crack. It needs to be done by a qualified luthier. If its a laquer finished guitar like a Martin or Gibson it could just be the clear coat checking a bit from weather changes etc.. I bit more info about your guitar would help a lot.
Gil

[straycat]

+1

[Seventh Avenged]

haha, hey guys!

Sorry for the miscommunication.

It's a solidbody electric, a redwood top, mahogany back Jackson PC. Where PC-1s would have the quilt maple top, mine has a redwood top, 1/8th of an inch thick (per standard PC top thickness, right?). and i think the whole thing is oil finished, because it's satin, and the natural wood is everywhere. there's no laquer or clearcoat on it at all.

And i didn't expect lemon oil to really fix it, per se', i just heard the cracks were to not be worried about and it would prevent other cracks.

does this help guys? am i in trouble?

I'm not really around any truly qualified luthiers so i hope this is nothing earth shattering!

[Bengal65]

Nothing too worry about. Redwood, like cedar or spruce is relatively a light wood with grain strength less than hardwoods, such as maple, alder, mahogany or basswood as an example. The redwood may continue to crack in places, but is nothing to worry about. The base wood mahogany will continue to solid, so no worries there.

[Seventh Avenged]

thanks so much for the reply, Bengal.

so it's nothing to be too concerned about? i shouldn't worry about taking any measures to fix it?

And are there any ways to clean it?

It looks to be a bit dirty in some spots, and I don't know what to use to give it a good polish and getting it looking beautiful.