Nitro vs "poly"

Fuengi · May 2019

Nitro

Poly

Nitro

EricTheWeary · May 2019

Fuengi said:

Nitro

Poly

Nitro

This as well, the marks on the middle one look a lot like those on my 1989( I think ) MIJ Strat.

Kittyfrisk · May 2019

Hmmm, it's no good. I'm pretty sure I know the answers, but without a sound clip, I can't be absolutely certain.

meltedbuzzbox · May 2019

mburekenge said:

My Avri57 'relicd' the natural way.

I don't think anyone would confuse it for nitro lol

AVRI fenders are nitro?

Trude · May 2019

terada said:

poly
nitro
poly

Ditto

ToneControl · May 2019

nitro
poly
nitro?

thegummy · May 2019

When's the answer coming?

If the last one isn't nitro then I know even less about it than I thought

Maynehead · May 2019

Nitro
Nitro
Poly

Obviously, because it’s the least obvious answer.

SlopeSoarer · May 2019

I'd have said that the last one is definitely nitro and probably the second but I'll stick my neck out and say.... all nitro!?

Danielsguitars · May 2019

the difference is one is as tough as a tank and smells shitty if removing it with a heat gun, the other one is nicer softer and easier to repair

ICBM · May 2019

Well, since I think we’ve had all the possible combinations now...!

There are two separate points here

.

First - despite the common belief that nitro is thin, natural-looking, and checks and wears gently, and "poly" is thick, brittle plastic that chips, cracks and looks damaged rather than worn... you really can't tell much difference when both of them are thin.

Second - there is no such thing as "poly". It's just a guitarist term, basically nonsense. There are several different types of finish that begin with the letters p-o-l-y, but they are not the same thing and they don't age in the same way. If any of these were the typical far-east ‘dipped in glass’ polyester, it would be obvious.

Answer:

All of them are polyurethane.

Red - 1967 Rickenbacker 450
Sunburst - 1984 Matsumoku Aria RS
Blue - 1972 Fender Mustang Bass

Sorry for the slightly trick question

.

But @thermionic and @EricTheWeary gave some good reasons for their correct identification of the Aria and the Fender. I’m surprised no-one got the Rick, the Fireglo is quite distinctive.

Kittyfrisk · May 2019

I'm calling a foul on this one.
"Blue - 1972 Fender Mustang Bass"
This is clearly in the wrong discussion area and dilutes the purity of the guitar thread.

Other than that, brilliantly done @ICBM for making everyone rethink their 'tablets of stone' guitar knowledge

EricTheWeary · May 2019

Ahh, well done me ( kinda), I obviously have the special power to spot 1980s Japanese poly finishes. Britain’s Got Talent beckons...

Kittyfrisk · May 2019

EricTheWeary said:

Ahh, well done me ( kinda), I obviously have the special power to spot 1980s Japanese poly finishes. Britain’s Got Talent beckons...

Stay away from Britain’s Got Talent, it's an oxymoron (as are all the participants)

thermionic · May 2019

Great thread @ICBM. I thought early Ricks were nitro and that the switch to poly was made much later, but then 1967 is roughly equivalent to CBS Fender.

Incidentally, my two thin-poly guitars were an early 2000s Epiphone Dot and a The Loar acoustic. Both put the average MIM Fender, Squier, or Epi Les Paul to shame. My ‘99 Rickenbacker is also on the acceptably thin side.

OilCityPickups · May 2019

GoldenEraGuitars said:

thegummy said:

GoldenEraGuitars said:

I’m staying out of it @ICBM

Tbh, there are so many variables on older finishes that make it difficult to assume a cracked finish is “nitro”. I’ve just stripped a 63 strat that was craze checked to buggery... but it wasn’t nitro!

I do wonder when the myth that nitro allows dead wood to “breathe” will fade.

I'm shocked to learn that there are people who believe that.

Suppose I shouldn't be given the things people believe in the worlds of religion/alternative medicine/superstition etc. but it just seems weird that it's brought in to the guitar world. I wonder if it enters the world of any other instruments? I don't remember any of it from the keyboard world I was in for years before getting in to the guitar.

I get asked a lot... poly vs nitro? Alder vs ash? Etc etc etc

By the time you strap a pound of metal and plastic to the body I doubt whether the paint makes a difference.

I can imagine my thoughts would turn most guitarists stomachs

Not this guitarist's stomach ... when I get customers asking me what solder I use on my pickups ... because of course you can hear the difference between lead and lead free!!!
I too live in a world where the customers believe more bullshit than I could ever dream up ... even if I was into soaking my products in snake oil!

GoldenEraGuitars · May 2019

@OilCityPickups surely all the tone in your strat pickups would be located in the covers.... parchment sounds better than white... no?

ICBM · May 2019

thermionic said:

I thought early Ricks were nitro and that the switch to poly was made much later, but then 1967 is roughly equivalent to CBS Fender.

Really early ones were, but they switched to ‘conversion varnish’ - 2-part polyurethane - in the late 50s apparently, so they must have been one of the first.

JerkMoans · May 2019

OilCityPickups said:
Not this guitarist's stomach ... when I get customers asking me what solder I use on my pickups ... because of course you can hear the difference between lead and lead free!!!
I too live in a world where the customers believe more bullshit than I could ever dream up ... even if I was into soaking my products in snake oil!

Gotta get those vintage mojo toanz any way a dude can.

OilCityPickups · May 2019

JerkMoans said:

OilCityPickups said:
Not this guitarist's stomach ... when I get customers asking me what solder I use on my pickups ... because of course you can hear the difference between lead and lead free!!!
I too live in a world where the customers believe more bullshit than I could ever dream up ... even if I was into soaking my products in snake oil!

Gotta get those vintage mojo toanz any way a dude can.

Apparently folks can hear if a PAF cover has copper plating under the nickel plate too ... as real PAFs omitted that stage ... a few microns of copper clearly stop a pickup breathing too!

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Nitro vs "poly"

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