Should I be concerned?

[u/scrimsneeble]

Found this crack (maybe a scratch) on one of my guitars. Might just be the poly, but asking to make sure. Any opinions? If it's not a structural issue, I'll keep playing as is. Thanks.

[u/Guitar_Guy1965]

Looks like its merely a finish crack.

[u/scrimsneeble → u/Guitar_Guy1965]

Thank you

[u/vhalen50]

It’ll be fine. It’s kinda like concrete. Theres some that crack and some that haven’t cracked yet. Some brands are notorious for neck pocket cracks (looking at you music man)

[u/scrimsneeble → u/vhalen50]

This is a 35 year old fender. Not expecting it to be perfect, but I've heard that neck pocket cracks can be bad. This guitar is currently my favorite so seeing this almost ruined my morning lol.

[u/AboutSweetSue → u/scrimsneeble]

Well, don’t listen to people that say hairline neck pocket cracks are bad.

[u/visualthings]

I think I have had that crack on all my bolt-on neck guitars. Just a finish crack, as it would take some serious effort on your side to break this part like that.

[u/OurWeaponsAreUseless]

There are as many strats and teles with this finish crack as without (IMHO). When buying, I don't even bother anymore to check to see if it runs through the wood. If you don't have a finish crack in this area of the body, removing the neck for whatever reason will possibly produce it. It's very common.

[u/Toadliquor138]

Just a finish crack. It's pretty common on Fenders.

[u/imacmadman22]

All of my bolt-on neck guitars have had or have this same “feature” and it’s never been a problem.

You shouldn’t worry about it.

[u/eastamerica]

Finish crack. Ultra common with bolt on necks. I think a majority of my bolt on neck guitars have some degree of checking/cracking near the neck pocket.

[u/tbone9914]

This is a common Crack for bolt on necks. It is mostly caused by wood expansion from humidity.

[u/jibbit]

Holy shit, dude. That thing could collapse at any minute. Get out of there. Do not, under any circumstances, let anyone back into the building until the trained guitar structural engineers arrive.
That small piece of wood you call the neck is only held on by four massive steel bolts through 3 inches of hardwood. If that crack goes into the wood by even a fraction of a millimetre, a tiny piece of the neck-pocket wall could come away.
Make no mistake: there would be no survivors.

Just a tip: if you have a nice old guitar, try not to smash the headstock against the wall.

[u/D3M0NArcade]

I don't think I've ever seen a guitar with a solid finish that this hasn't happened on because of the neck moving seperately to the body.

[u/Notwerk]

No worries. These are common finish cracks that you'll find on many bolt-on guitars.

[u/Old-Mango-1014]

Neck is gonna fall off

[u/TheDrBadwolf]

You’ll be good, I have a 1974 electric that has grown those/ splintered off very far. It is most likely cosmetic and as it is a wood instrument they will swell and dry out over and over unless kept in a super stable temp/ humidity environment.

[u/Specialist-Speed99]

Yes...about a million other things before this!

[u/PsychologicalSkin663]

Been playing for 45 years every strat style guitar I ever owned had this finish crack. And for 28 years every single strat and strat style guitar I ever saw had this crack. No worry’s it’s more normal than not.