Cracks in my guitars poly finish...whats caused it?

adampeter

Pictures are of my 80's strat plus in Razzberry.
Got her out of her case for the first time in a year or so and.....


Whats caused these cracks to appear?
Guessing the wood has moved under the finish, but none of my other guitars have got this

FelineGuitars

Looks like it's a stress fracture emanating from the screw that holds the pickguard down

Like you said poss wood shrinkage but it met something metal that wouldn't shrink (the screw) and tried to work around it - causing the grain to crack 

adampeter

Thanks @FelineGuitars ;
Its strange because i have another 3 strat plus's of the same age, all kept together yet only this one has done it
Can it be repaired?

Funkfingers

Are the Strat Plus guitars from Fender's spreads and veneers body construction period? 

FelineGuitars said:

Looks like it's a stress fracture emanating from the screw that holds the pickguard down

Like you said poss wood shrinkage but it met something metal that wouldn't shrink (the screw) and tried to work around it - causing the grain to crack 

I agree that this explains the crack from the corner of the scratchplate. 

It cannot explain the parallel cracks from the vibrato cavity to the strap button.

GoldenEraGuitars

Was it kept a loft? Somewhere with extreme heat?

A friend of mine has a surf green Strat (poly) that was left in a hot car for the day while he played at a blues festival. Took the guitar out that night and the finish had badly cracked all over. 

Octafish

Would a small/short pickguard screw really have caused a crack that long? If you follow the crack it looks like it passes to one side of the screw anyway. Besides there are other cracks in it that do not eminate from screw positions.

Looks to me (as Funkfingers says) to be one of the multi piece/veneer bodies that has been left in the sun/heat too long. I picked up an 80s Squier Strat with the same construction that had an identical looking crack in it.

adampeter

Not kept in extreme heat, kept in my music room with another 4-5 guitars on a rack, sometimes cold but never super warm

impmann

That looks like a super-thick finish in the pics... has it been oversprayed?

adampeter

impmann said:

That looks like a super-thick finish in the pics... has it been oversprayed?

No mate, not over sprayed, original 30 year old finish