haze on my headstock

[ctkarslake]

Anyone else notice a difficult to remove haze forming on their older Taylors?  I tried to polish my 12 string's headstock (satin finish) but success was very limited.

Anyone know what causes this?  Is it just getting old (1993 guitar) or is it from humidifying maybe?  The body of this guitar also gets a strange haze on the gloss finish too, but it's easily wiped away from time to time.  Here are some before and after photos of my attempt.

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[dbf909]

I have not yet experienced this on any of my Taylors but my 1979 Martin HD-28 started doing this about 10-15 years ago.  I thought that it was reacting somehow to it's case (original) so I began storing it in a different case.  The hazy film still appears after a month or two but is not nearly as bad.  But it is exactly like your pics and is pretty much all over the guitar.

I also thought that it might be the finish reacting to a type of polish that I had used at some time.  I have pretty much ruled out most of the causes that I can think of though.

I spoke to a couple of well-respected luthiers who see lots and lots of guitars and they have told me that it is not uncommon on guitars (Martins at least) from that era.  They say that Martin's finish supplier's at that time were somewhat inconsistent and some just haze up like that.

I wipe it down with a dry microfiber cloth as often as I can and use a liquid polish (Gibson or Martin) occasionally if the haze gets togher to remove.  The headstock is a real PITA though...

[ctkarslake]

Thanks db.  I thought by taking it all apart I could really get a handle on eliminating the haze but had limited success, if you could call it that.  I did not try the liquid polish though.  I should give that a go.  Tinkering around with these guitars is a great way to pass the time.  Glad (sorry...) to hear I'm not the only one concerned about this.  It is definitely worse on the "satin" finished parts than the "gloss" top.  Maybe the "satin" finish has more tooth for such films to manifest themselves.  The gloss top of this guitar cleaned up perfectly, hmmm.

[dbf909]

Sure, I'm not sure what the finish is on your guitar but it is probably not the UV-Cure Poly that they use today.  I've not heard of or experienced any of this on those.

Be careful with the liquid polishes on the satin finish though.  I would test the one that you plan to use in an inconspicuous location first...  My Martin is all gloss so the liquid polish is no problem.  I don't use it very often but sometimes it's the only thing that will take off the hazy film if I leave the guitar in it's case for a long time.

It's interesting that not many folks talk or complain about it - I've done a number of searches over the years and not turned up very much.