Paint Checking Question

[shredmonster]

Anybody know how cold it has to get before I need to worry about paint checking?

Have a guitar coming next week and it's in the 30s now here in MN.

[decadentdave]

Leave it in the case for a few hours before you open it up. I know it's hard to wait when you get a new guitar, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

[toejam]

Yeah, let it sit in the case for a little bit just to acclimate to the temperature in your house. I usually only wait for maybe an hour, but I've heard others wait for close to a day.

[Spivonious]

What are the physics behind this?

I can't imagine the case is so air-tight that the temperature inside won't match the house temperature after 5-10 minutes.

[straycat]

If the paint is nitro lacquer I would wait several hours.Polyurethane I dont think it would hurt it.
The physics are that wood expands and contracts with cooler temps thusly affecting the paint.The paint is thinner and will crack as the temp rises.
A poly finish is much thicker and less likely to crack.

[ihocky2]

Plus nitro lacquer is much harder than poly making it more brittle. It holds up better, but it also expands and contracts more so with the wood. The case might not be air tight, but neither is your house. Turn off your heat on a cold day, it takes quite a while to get to the temperature it is outside. While the case is not air tight, it is not allowing rapid temperature swings, which is what causes the checking. If the case is closed, it will still at least an hour for the guitar to get to the same temperature as the room.

[guitarsjb]

What are the physics behind this?

I can't imagine the case is so air-tight that the temperature inside won't match the house temperature after 5-10 minutes.

Not 5-10 mins for sure. I can't explain it, but it don't work that way.

[DeathThrashAttack]

I jammed with a '88 BC rich gunslinger the other day and when I took it from my house to the friends house to jam with, I noticed two or three "cracks" in the paint, big ones too. it recently has gotten very cold. Do you think that could be the reason behind it?

[ulijdavid]

I jammed with a '88 BC rich gunslinger the other day and when I took it from my house to the friends house to jam with, I noticed two or three "cracks" in the paint, big ones too. it recently has gotten very cold. Do you think that could be the reason behind it?

Are they actual cracks or is it the seam lines where the different pieces of wood are glued together?

[DeathThrashAttack]

man, straight up cracks in the finish all they way down to the primer coat