As I understand it, doesn't a nitro finish take weeks to be properly done? Therefore costing more than applying a poly finish? Would a guitar finished in nitro be the same price as the same model guitar with a poly finish? I am confused! More than I normally am!

Chris

Hi Chris: first thing - you are using the word "poly" as if that is one thing. But polyester (found on the bodies of Mexican Strats) is a whole different material to polyurethane (found on most American Strats and the necks of MIMs).

Polyester in particular is applied quickly and usually though not inevitably rather thickly. It dries fast, so production time is kept to the minimum - so it costs less.

Polyurethane as used by guitar makers is usually a two-pack product which catalyses when the two elements come together - similar to an epoxy. It used to dry more slowly than polyester and so add costs in the form of guitars waiting on hangers for days or weeks. These days there are forms of urethane that can be cured quickly by drenching with UV - though that of course adds cost in a different form.

Polyurethane can be applied as thick or thin as you like and is especially hard, which is why it is used on all Fender necks apart from Reissues and some Artist Sigs.

Nitrocellulose cures very slowly. It is two or three weeks before it can be buffed so a manufacturer has to pay for facilities to store those guitars during that time. It is also typically applied in a greater number of thin layers, so that also adds costs in the form of time and operator skill. And it's fumes are particularly noxious so these days manufacturers must have expensive facilities for spraying it. A while ago Fender invested a reported $5m in new spraying facilities at the Corona plant - so that's a considerable extra cost built in to those guitars.

Nitro also continues hardening for many months after manufacturer. Which is why you need to take particular care of it on a new guitar.

It is a temperamental, old-fashioned finish which would have disappeared entirely from the instrument making world were it not for the preference for it many players have, based on how it look, how it ages and probably a big dollop of superstition.

PRS for example, as a younger company, tried to resist the fad for nitro completely and didn't offer it for many years. But even they have recently felt it necessary to give in to customer demand and have reluctantly introduced it on some more top-end models. They'd rather not, but in business you gotta give the customer what they want, apparently...

Cheers - C

Thank you Ceri. As said many times before, you are the man!!
Thank you for the simple explanation. I understand finishes a bit more now. Sorry for the sort of confusion on my part. I was talking about the American Vintage Series so the "poly" I was talking about would be polyurethane(I think).

So the bottom line is, a nitro finish could be slightly more expensive than a polyurethane finish?(Factoring in the waiting time, storage time and the megabuck filtration system.) But maybe negligible in the final price of the same guitar finished in polyurethane?

I am just trying to understand my strat "problem".

Thank you
Chris

Whats the problem Bofuf?

All nitrocellulose fender guitars have a polyurethane undercoat, or something very similar. According to common internet talk. For what thats worth

Personaly I wouldnt know the difference if it bit me. Ok ones gloss ones matt, thats not a hard fast rule though. It's very easy to matt down a mexican urethane gloss finish. I'm sure I've seen more than a few glossy cellulose guitars too.

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No no and no

The guitar I am talking about is the one discussed in the Limited Run 59 of '59s thread a few pages back. Sorry to keep beating a dead horse. There is no problem with the strat itself. It sounds and feels good to play using my limited playing skills(about two years). I am just wondering why this guitar which was advertised as having a nitro finish but actually was given a polyurethane finish is priced higher than the AVRI '57 and '62 which are finished in nitro. I do not know enough about guitar parts to know if the price is higher for my guitar because it has "better" stuff than the AVRI '57 and '62. Anyone care to enlighten me?

Thanks
Chris

Limited run is the key phrase.

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

Whoops!! Sometimes the obvious slips right past me! I have never been one of the brighter bulbs in the box!!
I do like the guitar and that is all that matters!

Thanks
Chris