Official Luthiers Forum!

I own a Fender Custom Shop Nocaster, as well as a Fender Custom Shop 50th Anniversary Strat. The nocaster neck finish is hard and is not sticky to my hand, yet the strat neck finish is softer and stickier. After a lot of searching I found that Fender, on the nocaster, puts on what is called a "hard nitro finish", whereas on the strat, they put on the regular nitro finish (which is sitcky to guys like me).

I am getting a new neck for the guitar and would like my luthier to use a similar "hard nitro finish". Any suggestions as to how he gets such a hard finish?

thanks
Don

Don...I just had Joe White finish an electric guitar for me. He used Catalyzed Polyester finish and it's the hardest, dryest and fastest neck I've ever played. And this is after 1 week following finishing! Unbelievable in my experience.

_________________
JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Hey thanks JJ. I was hoping that there was some additive or mixture technique for nitrocellulose that would harden it - similar to what fender is using on the nocaster.

How do you know that what Fender is referring to is not just some marketing/advertising flack's statement? You don't...
I think ""hard" nitro neck finish" is probably a meaningless a phrase as "lasts longer"...
Unless you can find out exactly what the finish is from a Fender finisher or other employee who actually knows something, you'll certainly not find out what it is describing it that way. It's almost like asking what "varnish" is...

There are all manner of pre-catalyzed lacquers that might qualify as "hard"...

Don,
I think it's just Fender's way to cash in on the "vintage" re-issue craze. Big company's like Fender and Gibson are well aware of all of the people that are drooling over a more vintage "correct" guitar. You should hear all of the talk on certain Gibson related forums. Owners are constantly going on about how the nitro on their reissue has too many plasticizers! It gets pretty intense. So yeah, I'd say a lot of it is marketing hype.

Hi guys, thanks for the replies. As far as whether it is hype or not does not really matter. I own two guitars, both say they are a nitro finish. One is sticky, the other is not. I have "heard" that the unsticky one is harder nitro. All I am looking for is a solution to help my luthier create a hard nitro so that it is less sticky.

Any suggestions on how to create a harder, less sticky nitro?

thanks
Don

For your luthier's sake, I only hope he bills you accordingly for all of the good information and advice you're bringing him.

My advice...listen to guys like Rick Turner. If he says it's hype then look for a finish that will meet your performance requirements. In order to do that, your finisher needs to be speaking with the chemists who are intimately familiar with guitar finishes.

_________________
JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Neither you nor your luthier is going to create a "hard" nitro lacquer unless one or the both of you are chemists.

Unless you're really hung up on the concept of nitro lacquer, I'd go with McFadden's polyester. It's harder than any nitro lacquer I know of. Or else just go with McFadden's normal nitro top coat lacquer. It's the standard of the industry, and rightly so.

You're very unlikely to find any of us here who know exactly what Fender was shooting on this or that date. Try a Fender forum or call the factory. Just don't tell them that it's for a Fender knock-off guitar!