Hey there,

I just found out that on the back of the neck of my strat, the finishing is cracked.
This in its length of the dark piece of inlay wood that covers the truss rod, just where the two pieces of wood meet.
I thought that this damage was caused by temperature and or moisture, but I am not so sure about that.
Those two pieces are glued together, I presume Fender uses the best glue on the market so that is why I have my doubts.
The strat I am talking about, is an 2008 standard.
I have an older one without that problem.

Does anyone knows about this problem, what it may have caused?
Does this happen more often?

Help me out here guys, this really sucks.

Sudden temp or humidity changes more than likely. What about truss rod tension have you adjusted it? Dropped the guitar?

You should take it into the nearest Fender repair center and see what they think as well. Could be warranty work. It might get worse.

Can you take some photos? As it would be interesting to see. Upload some pics to tinypic.com. Paste the links in a reply or highlight the url in a reply and click Img (which will embed it).

I am not sold on the weather change, as I have seen Strats and Teles left in basements that were not heated for a few years and only need a set up. Tightening the truss rod or a drop would seem more likely the culprit.

I'm going to be moving into a house with central air in the coming months and wondering whether people's experience that the temperature/humidity shifts that the air conditioner produces are enough to affect the finishes of the guitars? I'm not going to be leaving the air on all the time.

Don't keep the guitars on a stand or wall in direct sunlight. If the room is going to be really warm then move the guitars elsewhere. Don't air condition the room they are stored in constantly if you can avoid it. Store the guitars in a hardcase when you not playing for long periods. Get a case Hygrometer so you can check every now and again.

Thanks for that. The room I have selected for the guitars is on the south side of the house and only has a south window (as this is Australia, it means no sunlight will come in there even during the summer) and so it should stay fairly cool.

I'll check with the aircon guys to see what can be done in that room for additional control there during the hot summer and cold winter...

The best thing to do if its not sun facing is open the door so it can be at the same temp as the rest of the house. If its ducted air conditioning you should be able to block it off anyway.

Gradual temp changes are not so bad, electrics are also far less susceptible than acoustics.

Had the same thing happen to my 95 Roadhouse, due to water leaking into the case and not being opened in a couple years (don't ask...I used to live on a boat).

Anyway, I was sure the whole guitar was effed...looked like the Crypt-Keeper's guitar with green stuff on the frets and mold growing all over it. The finish on the neck was badly checked and there was a 1/8" gap running about 6" in the length of the skunk stripe.

I almost pitched the whole thing into a dumpster.

Instead, I just left it on a stand for about 3 months and it gradually dried out and the gap in the stripe closed up (I just wish I had thought to re-glue it when I had the chance) and the checking, while still evident, smoothed out a lot.

The guitar is fine to play now, after taking it completely apart, cleaning it up, cleaning and waxing the board and polishing the frets, although the checking on the neck is still quite apparent, especially near the heel.

The point being that this was entirely due to water causing the wood to swell under the finish. I would think that any large inclusion of water, or extreme humidity exposure would be your culprit. Dry it out...that's about all you can do now. Beyond that, you would have to strip the entire neck and apply a sealer and refinish it...hey! a good opportunity to do a nitrocellulose laquer finish!