I know all about the different layers on the highways... Nitro clear, acrylic paint, poly undercoat. my sunburst '06 (I think) was buffed out when I bought it to a gloss all over. It's pretty beat up now but I've noticed something odd. All that chips off is the nitro and not the paint underneath. The spot where my arm rests is wearing off but only the nitro and not the paint. I've seen lots of pictures of naturally worn blonde hwy strats but never the sunburst. Did they use a tougher/different paint on the bursts?

Do you mean just the clear coat is chipping? or do you mean that the colour coats are, but not the polyester sealer? (The sealer is hard as all heck.)

If it is just the clear coat I am not sure why it would be flaking off, but not the colour. Usually the untinted lacquer would be harder(slightly,) than the lacquer that has pigment. Could you post a picture?

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Just the nitro is flaking off. I dropped the guitar once and that took a big chunk out where you actually see gradual layers (bare wood, sealed wood, color, then nitro). That's the only place paint chipped off, but I have tons of places where just the nitro is worn or flaked

Well, if the colour coats are acrylic, there is a good chance they are harder than the Nitro clear coat. I admit to not knowing a ton about how the HW1 is painted, I thought they used nitrocellulose lacquer for both the clear coats and as the base for the colour coats. can you post any pictures that show what you are talking about?I am very curious to see it.

Nitrocellulose lacquer isn't the most durable coating. That is why it fell from favour back in the 60's or so. Auto paints, and furniture finishers moved away from it by and large due to the advent of acrylic lacquers, which were much harder, now various plastics (urethanes,) are favoured as they are much harder and more durable, while also having signi9ficantly shorter dry/cure times.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

I'll try and post pictures soon... It does seem as though the paint underneath is just more durable and will also eventually flake away. It's just odd the paint doesn't go with the Nitro! And i'm not positive it's acrylic but I've read something like that before. It could be all nitro of course with the acception of the poly sealer
I do hope the arm wear would follow through because the nitro is gone but the flat black is still there!

If the colour coats are a different medium than the clear coats that could explain why it flakes away separately. Nitrocellulose will burn in( melt into,) prior layers , even if they are old and have hardened, so it would seem pretty odd to me that only the clear coat would flake off, and leave the colour coat unharmed. An acrylic lacquer will still wear down, but it will take longer. My 15 year old urethane covered Strat looks virtually new (one ding when it fell, but it is on the side, and only I know it's there.)

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Yeah it's been my reasoning that the nitro won't melt into acrylic so that's why they're wearing separatley

Here's some pics of what I mean...

By levisrcheaper, shot with Canon PowerShot SD750 at 2009-08-06

By levisrcheaper, shot with Canon PowerShot SD750 at 2009-08-06
It's also like this where my arm has worn the edge away

What part of the guitar is this? Is the part where your right forearm rests? It looks like the thin layer nitro is gone, but the acrylic layer would make it tough for the wood to show. Perhaps, in twenty years the wood may show?

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http://www.youtube.com/user/gmlasam

this is the bottom edge... I don't know about 20 years but I do think this must be the acrylic which is known to be a little harder than nitro. I've seen non-sunburst Hwy guitars wearing right down to the wood and don't understand why I've never seen another worn burst (with the exception of one texas hwy tele). Anyone any thoughts??