Poly Paint Thinkness!!

Barnezy

I saw this on eBay and couldn’t believe how thick the paint is. This is on a Clapton Strat that claims to have a thin finish. How is the wood meant to vibrate when it’s been coated in a thick layer of plactic. 

GoldenEraGuitars

I’d have thunk the finish would vibrate with the wood. The same as all the hardware that’s drilled into it.

rossi

I still vibrate when I have thick clothing on so I suspect wood will too .After all its still got holes to let out the vibrations ...just like me .

JDE

I didn’t think any of the Clapton sig Strats (ie the ones with the boost circuit, not the Brownie or Blackie type models) claimed any kind of thin skin. I thought they were pretty much poly and proud?
That actually doesn’t look too bad - the finish on my old MIM STD (which I know is much cheaper than a 7Up Clapton) was about 3mm thick. After the first few dings I was worried there wasn’t any wood under the finish at all...

Kittyfrisk

The paint looks fine, quite thin 
https://homerecording.com/bbs/equipment-forums/guitars-and-basses/would-great-god-fender-really-do-us-267023/

Just look up 'Fullerplast' 

Having said that, the lower layer looks to not have adhered at all? 
Was this a genuine Fender Clapton Strat??

HAL9000

Serious question - The finish seems to have come away very cleanly from the body. Does it really not adhere or key to the wood particularly well? Or is this unusual?

GoldenEraGuitars

HAL9000 said:

Serious question - The finish seems to have come away very cleanly from the body. Does it really not adhere or key to the wood particularly well? Or is this unusual?

I’ve seen this with bodies that have come in for refinishing. The last one was left in a car which in effect loosened the poly from the body enough for me to snap it off cleanly using a scraper. 

Barnezy

I wonder if in 50 years, Fender Custom Shop will be making reliced poly finishes. 

Here s preview of their 2069 model.

Kittyfrisk

Why not, they have been doing it for years 
 Reliced, unreliced, custom shop, it's all the same basic materials. Wood, paint, man hours & marketing pixie dust.

Simon_M

My JM is covered in dings and knocks and the paint is thick all over. It seems to come away from the wood quite cleanly too.

stephen.wood125

My 1992 (89 S/N) SRV Signature appears to have been toffee appled instead of painted. I hate it. I also have a P-Bass which really takes the piss. The upper horn essentially has a cup holder at this stage. 

Lewy

I stripped a MIM Muddy Waters Tele once that had been finished twice - one full set of base coat and poly on top of the other. No wonder it was so heavy. 

JDE

HAL9000 said:

Serious question - The finish seems to have come away very cleanly from the body. Does it really not adhere or key to the wood particularly well? Or is this unusual?

Not an expert but that looks like a ding which has either been picked at (my son used to do this a lot and it’s very irritating when you’re trying to keep your guitar from looking like an eBay relic job), or has been caught on something and pulled off that section. It’s not particularly unusual to flake like that, Fender poly finishes are more like a “shell” than paint in a lot of ways and the top coat adheres better to the underlay than to the body. I know that part of the reason Fender changed to Poly because it was more protective than Nitro (and cheaper and safer and faster), so I suppose a by-product of being protective is that it’s hard. 

Barnezy

Protective of what? It's harder wearing, but who wants a 20 year old guitar that look brand new. Also it lifts from the body after a while and cracks. 

I suspect the real reason is it's much cheaper. No buffing or sanding. Fills in gaps on rough bodies. Less skilled people/robots can apply it. Less drying time. 

Hate the stuff. Fells horrible. 

Can you imagine the outrage if Gibson started painting LP's it this stuff! 

TINMAN82

Same old chestnut comes round again. I don’t have a single poly finished guitar because I don't like nice instruments encased in a plastic shell.

I agree that the general switch to poly from Fender et al must be more about production costs and labour than any real world benefit from its physical properties. Poly guitars still dent, they just dent like plastic rather than varnish.

JDE

Barnezy said:

Protective of what? It's harder wearing, but who wants a 20 year old guitar that look brand new. 

In the late 60’s and 70’s, they were new guitars and I would imagine people didn’t want a guitar that looked aged. I remember when relic’d guitars first came out and a lot of the older guys n girls just didn’t understand it at all. 
I’m sure costs and safety compliance were the main driving force behind the change, but it wouldn’t surprise me if CBS Fender didn’t genuinely think poly was better. From a manufacturing perspective it clearly is. But that’s what happens when you engage in very large scale production of anything - time is money. 

Edit - fwiw I don’t particularly like poly finishes. But that doesn’t matter

robgilmo

Surely as the wood shrinks the poly will unattach itself?

springhead

Bass in a band I was in years ago had a black 70's Precision.  Lots of poly finish missing.  He left it in my house for a few months and it just gradully shed big chunks of the stuff, down to bare wood.