Gibson 1947 ES 150 Help!

[rareheir]

I was just given this beautiful guitar. When I went to clean it up using a damp rag that spots on the guitar clouded up. I tried buffing with a clean cloth but it is not any better. Any tips would greatly be appreciated.
Thanks,
David

[viking]

check on internet find out what finish was used on it originally . l would never use a damp cloth on a guitar that old . it could be a french polish or some were done with tung oil . you may have to redo it. either way you need to know what the originsl finish was / if it was nitro cellulose you way have to have some one resquirt a clear coat . if you could post a pic to see what it looks like would be helpfull

[rareheir]

Thanks Viking. I had a friend call and tell me he got some cleaner from Martin that cleaned his old martin right up. He called what I have blooming. Said you can get it out just takes alot of effort. I'll let you know .

[viking]

hope you have good luck when l was still working we did things the old way . l still suggest find out what finished was used on the old gibson . as a once gibson dealer we did a lot of them and depending on the finish can make a difference .

[viking]

l found out the finish on your guitar its nitro cellulose whats happened what you cleaned with got under the old finish probably if its not been a long time hang it and it should come out.

[rareheir]

Thanks Viking I took your advice and got in touch with Gibson.
Here is the reply:

"On a vintage instrument, it is best to not use anything abrasive, so I would just stick with a regular instrument polish, like the Gibson polish. Being that it has 50+ years of gunk on there, it might take some elbow grease, but don’t get too crazy with it. You can also look up some articles on websites such as frets.com for suggestions as to how to best approach the situation. "

[viking]

your very welcome l have been doing this for decades and have guitars that l had to deal that were 1815 . they have to be handled as works of art.

[rareheir]

Viking . I looked inside the guitar a saw the numbers 4097 stamped in blue. Could that be the serial #?

[viking]

no they really didnt use serial numbers some are batch numbers. the best way to tell date and so on is by using books to compare colors hdw. they did make some changes in the middle of a run. l have had probably more than a hundred over the years.

[viking]

oops l thought l was talking about the kay on the gibson it probably is the serial number l have a list l will take a look

[viking]

if that is the serial number it should have a in front of it . look on the back of the headstock. they ink stamped 1932 to 1947 it should have a a before the number.

[Spud1950]

Here's very good info on Gibson serial and factory order numbers. You need to read it carefully. It can be very confusing as there were many different systems used over the long Gibson history.

[viking]

l use gruhns book l find it less confusing. its late here but l went back to read that site . l found it just added more confusion than gruhn did . when we got them in for repair when they were from the early days . we also paid attention to the type of script used as it changed .

[rareheir]