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Well after years of telling people never la\eave a giuitar in the car on a hot day I did it last week. It was a cold rainy day and I left it in in the morning. Well the sun came out and we hit record setting highs with the temperature hitting 31 celsius (don't know what that is farenheigt but around here that is as hot as it gets in July) When I got back to the guitar that evening I didn't even think about it but brought the guitar in the house. A few days latter I oppened the case and siscovered that the Case was sticking closed as the lineing of the case was sticking to the Finish. Everything is OK structurally on it but the finish is now all bubled and rough. This is also a good testimony for hide glue as it was hot enough in that case to buble the french Polish finish but the hide glue held just fine.

At least it FP finish and not lacqure. It will be easier to repair. well sorta

Ouch!!!!

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Sorry to hear that Richard but thanks for the reminder, i hope you can fix it without too much problems.

SergeSerge Poirier38873.5233564815

Bummer, Richard. I remember doing that to a Les Paul I had just bought, back when I was an idiot teenager. Got lucky on that one, only a tiny bit of damage to the finish.

My apologies in advance for stating the obvious, but the reason why a car's interior gets so hot is because glass is a one way system when it comes to IR radiation. It gets in easily, but can't get out. I'm not really recommending that you do so, but if your car has a trunk and you have to leave an instrument in your car, it will be much safer in the trunk, especially if the car is painted a light color.

Best,

MichaelMichael McBroom38873.5282986111

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Live to Play, Play to Live

Richard,

That's really too bad. I guess it could have been worse, but that might not be much consolation.

I had an insulated compartment under the bed of my old van in days of yore. It worked well, though I don't know if I'd take the chance again now that I'm old and wise.

Friend of mine was giving a talk on solar energy on a cloudy day. She had a small solar collector dish in the back of her hatchback. It happened to be situated in such a way that that when the sun came out, it caught her headliner -- and subsequently the rest of her car -- on fire.

I guess we can consider ourselves lucky.

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

a trunk gets hotter than the interior....

Sorry to hear about your misshap. Solar heating can be powerful. Thanks for shareing your openness may save someone elses guitar.

Al

[QUOTE=Mario] a trunk gets hotter than the interior....[/QUOTE]

Okay. I knew I would get some disagreement over my statement, and like I wrote before, I can't recommend storing a fragile musical instrument in a trunk. But still . . .

So I conducted an experiment this afternoon. I took two thermometers -- one digital and one analog -- and placed them in the shade outside to record ambient air temperature. I wanted to make sure that they agreed with each other. They did. Then I moved my car into the sun. It is white in color. I placed one thermometer on the back seat, but where the sun wouldn't reach it, and I placed the other in the trunk. After an hour, I retrieved the thermometers. Here were the results:

Ambient air temp: 88 deg.
Temp inside the car: 115 deg.
Temp inside the trunk: 97 deg.

Almost 20 degrees cooler in the trunk. Now on a really hot day down here in Houston, the interior temp of a car can approach 150 degrees. If there is a linear relationship between the trunk temp and interior temp, then obviously the trunk temp, at around 130 degrees, would be above any safe margin, at least for the finish of the instrument.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

Yes in the white car with the layer of fine dust, but try that trick in anything but...

The trunk also stays that temperature on the road(often going higher) while the interior will be cool(er).

Normally I would never do this and if forced to I leave the windows open. Because it is so early in the year (less than a week since the last snow fall) and it was raining I didn't even think about it. But the hide glue held great. As was pointed out, since it is french polish it will be easy to fix. It is my main playing guitar so the finish isn't that important but at the same time, people see it and will wonder why the finish is so rough.

Thats 90 degrees to us americans, so add the solar especially if its a dark car and I bet 140 to 150 easy. Had a freind who left a fire extinquisher in a dark blue car in the summer sun. I heard a small pop and then noticed the interior was all white. I laughed,, he din't. It stated not to leave it in heat over 120 degrees.Ooops.. Man that stuff was everywhere
I wonder with the FP if you'll have to sand clear to the wood. Hope not..
Mike

And it was a black car with dark grey interior. As far as the french polish goes nothing stuck to it and it should only need a light sanding to level it and then refinish. At first glance you can't even tell anything is wrong with it.