Quote:
Originally Posted by Freedbaby
guitar is a 1998 but was only first played last year, so with the exception of one small ding that my kids put in it, its in mint condition. suggest stripping it or going over the factory finish?
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This may help, poached from another forum. But it seems to me you should strip the nitro layer off and keeping the poly/plastic base. I just refinished a strat taken down to wood, wish I would have left the poly on as a sealer in hindsight, as Howard mentioned.
By 1968, virtually all Fender guitar products used polyester as an undercoat, including necks. It's a two part product using Methyl Ethyl Ketone(MEK) as a catalyst. The reason the face of the pegheads were not sealed with polyester, is because type 'C' decals (under the finish) would not adhere to the product. While it is true a few guitars may have squeaked by with homoclad, when homoclad wasn't available, they used a Fuller O'Brian product called Ful-O-Plast. PLASTIC!!! It's obvious to me that those necks or bodies were stragglers, having to be reworked for some reason or another and not shipped after the change.
I'd like to make one thing clear... ALL FENDER GUITARS PRODUCED AFTER 1968 HAD A POLYESTER UNDERCOAT WITH A LACQUER TOPCOAT!!! There is no specific ratio. Enough poly was, and is sprayed to properly fill the grain while preventig a burn through while sanding.
In 1983, Fender began using polyuerthane as a topcoat. It cured quicker. It had better clarity. It had more depth and gloss, and didn't melt when you accidently spilled 151 on it. Fender then discontinued the use of polyester on the necks. Polyurethane is a 2 part product using a catalyst.
Fender has continued to use polyester, polyurethane, nitro, homoclad, and Ful-O-Plast.
Nitro is not a superior finish. An electric guitar doesn't 'breathe' at 120 db.