I've been reading about some people having bad experiences with their guitar stands reacting with the lacquer finishes on their guitars. Was thinking of cutting some t-shirts or a guitar polishing cloth and attaching it to the areas of the stand which make contact with the guitar.

Have any of you done this or experienced bad happenings?

I'd be interested to hear if anyone had this type of problem. I personaly have never heard of it, but I am certainly not a know it all!

I have two guitar stands that hold my guitars 24/7 and have never had a problem with them marring the finish. It has the regular foam rubber on the arms.

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'00 American Deluxe Stratocaster (Kinman Hx pups)
'08 Ibanez AS73 (Gibson Burstbuckers)
Fender DeVille 410

the ones to really worry about are the old style ones with the surgical tubing-like rubber on them.

these are only an issue on lacquer finished guitars, not either poly finish.

So for fender owners, most don't have to worry.

people use various skirts on stands, like a polishing cloth or other micro fiber.
If you are unsure your stand is safe for your lacquer finish you could do this, but i would suggest finding one that is lacquer safe.

I have several 'hercules' wall hangers. the ones i buy are nitro lacquer safe, but i am not sure if they all are.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Even Gibson acknowledges this issue:

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Support/FAQs/#

Return your guitar to it's case when you are done!

I've heard of this being an issue with Highway One Fenders, but that's about it. I haven't heard of many other guitars using the Acrylic Lacquer instead of the Nitrocellulose.

I've had my Gretsch, Les Paul, and Stratocasters on stands for years with no adverse effects, though.

I think it will happen with regular lacquer as well since that isn't as durable as a modern day finish. I've seen some photos on Ebay of guitars that have black marks on the finish as a result of this.

A safe route might well be get some felt and use it in place of the rubber bumpers.

Like it or not, all things are made of / covered in chemicals, and often, reactions will happen, slowly, when items are in contact or even close proximity.

Happened to me on my Line 6 Variax Nylon - left quite a little dent in the finish on the back of the neck.

Once burned, twice shy.. so I'm now particularly careful with my Highway Strat and it's nitro finish.

It's my understanding that some guitar stands react to the Nitro finishes on guitars. That's due to the chemicals used to make the guitar stands. If one has a nitro finish.......look for the guitar stands that specifically state that they safe with the nitro finish. Also.....some guitar stands will actually say that they are NOT for nitro finishes.

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"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them."-John Wayne

A couple rags made from old tees or flannel shirts work great. I just lay them over the contact points, then I always have these soft rags available for wipe-downs too.

My hotrods never been on a stand or a hanger. It lives in the case when i'm not playing it. Even working on it, it has its own thick soft wool blanket. Simply because i dont know whats safe and what isnt. Nothing is as safe as the case anyway.

Consequently the guitar looks like it was made yesterday.

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No no and no

I keep mine in their cases too! If I'm playing them and do sit them on a stand I have cotton socks covering the contact points. Not a good visual though!

It is true that nitrocellulose will react to the surgical tubing used on some guitar stands. I learned the hard way. I have an 82 Martin D35 that I used to leave on a similar stand and it softened the laquer on the neck to the point that it wore off in places. Roadworn but not quite the way I wanted to wear it down.

I"ve read that neprene is even more harmful to lacquer finsihes than rubber. I think some people mistake neoprene for rubber surgical tubing. It's the chemicals in the neoprene that disolves the lacquer. Nitro or acrylic. I think Nitro is even more suseptible to damage. ( or a more expensive guitar that getrs ruined) I've found that most cheaper stands and some not so cheap are using neoprene tubing The fist stands I owned in the 70's never hurt a thing on any of my Nitro finished guitars, then most makers started using Poly because it got cheap and was so durable until Purests demanded Nitro Finish

Best to store guitars in hard cases and gig bags. Any stand has pressure points.

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