In the book, The Stratocaster Chronicles, it talks about the "shortcuts" that were taken on the first '62 Vintage Reissue Stratocasters from 1982-1984 due to time constraints, tooling limitations, etc.

Here's a short list of the things that they didn't get quite right the first time around:

Neck Profiles
No "Green" Pickguard
Dot Position Markers
Tremolo Unit
Finish Undercoat

My question is this: What is it about the undercoat that they got wrong on these early reissues in comparison to the original early '60s finishes? Did it affect the way they look? Or were they just referring to the sunburst guitars?

Now, I don't know if this is normal or not but first off, my '83 Reissue looks like it has a very heavy lacquer coat and the dings in the lacquer don't really look the same as what you would see on an original '62 Strat (see closeup below).

They were nitro-over-poly, just like the current AV reissues. They finish the guitar with clear urethane, and then apply some nitro on top, just so the finish of the guitar looks aged a little faster.

In 63 Fender started to use a produt called "Fullerplast" under the nitro coats, that was.. guess what? A plastic finish. That helped to seal the wood and would leave the body sleek and ready to be finished much faster. And sometimes not even nitro was used for the top coat... all depended on how busy they were in that specific day.

You can read in depth about it here:
http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fenderc.html

Net Info on Fullerplast;
Fullerplast is a clear, sprayed chemically curing sealer, unaffected by solvents after it dries. It is made by Fuller O'Brien (hence the name "Fullerplast" (and all this time you though it was named after the city of Fullerton, the home of Fender). Fullerplast soaks into the wood and creates a seal that prevents following coats from soaking into the wood like a sponge. This means spraying the color coats is easier and the coats can be applied thinner (saving material, money and dry time). Even though alder is a "closed pore" wood, the first few coats of lacquer will soak in like a sponge without some type of sealer coat. Fullerplast dries in 15 minutes, and is paintable in one hour. It is also applied very thin.
Most experts agree the actual product "Fullerplast" (as made by Fuller O'Brien) actually started to be used around 1963 at Fender. Prior to that, Fender used other products as their sealer coat, but they did the same thing. The sealer allowed any color coat (be it sunburst or a custom color) to not soak into the wood. Since the sealer is essentially a clear inexpensive primer, less color would be needed (and color costs a lot more money than a cheap sealer).

Another misconception about Fullerplast is it's color. The sealers Fender used including Fullerplast was clear, not yellow. The yellow seen in the unpainted portions of a 1956 and later Alder body is actually a stain or dye applied under the sealer coat. This was used to simplify the sunbursting process. The Alder bodies are dipped in a vat of yellow stain/dye. Next the Alder body is sealed with a very thin coat of clear sealer (i.e. "Fullerplast"). After drying, the sunburst procedure is continued by spraying the translucent red (starting in 1958) and dark blackish-brown on the edges of the body, which completes the sunburst look. Finally a clear coat is sprayed over the entire body to seal the colors. By dipping the alder bodies in a yellow stain first, instead of spraying yellow lacquer, there is one less step of lacquer to mix, spray, and dry.

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Thomas Jefferson

Hi cvilleira: good post!

Cheers - C

Well I dont wanna sound brash but, all Cvilliera pasted there is exactly from exactly the link I posted previously. Just wanna give credits to the "Provide" guy, cos' I think he made a great work. That site is like a bible to me.

So the originals had a plasic undercoast and the reissues had a poly undercoat - is that the main reason why the finishes wear so differently? Look at the difference between the wear on my '62 Reissue and '63 Jaguar:

No. The reason they age differently is because the nitro Fender uses today is very different from the nitro of the 50's - 60's. Not only that, they just spray a layer or two on the top to make it yellow a bit, the rest is the the plastic finish, that's why you see your finish cracked like an eggshell, like all regular poly-finished guitars. If you have any furniture around finished in "pure" nitro, try to make a little ding on it with any object or nicking it with your fingernails - you'll see it's a totally different effect from poly.

Take in consideration that in the 50's and 60's, sometimes, they would not even apply nitro on top, for solid colors like Olympic White (as the Jaguar in the picture), or primer or fullerplast, making the finish even thinner (and more prone to wearing quickly with forearm rubbing, belt buckles etc). All depended if they were in a hurry or not.

The Fullerplast is probably not so different from poly, both are plastic.

I see. So it's the nitro coat that makes the most difference, not the undercoat. I think this is kind of ironic because Fender makes such a big deal about having "NITRO" finishes on the '62 reissues to show that they're made just like the original vintage models!