does anyone know how thick a nitrocellulose finish is applied. and how long does it usually take to start showing wear. thanks alot

Hi 01FREEDOM10: both of those questions fall into the "how long is a piece of string" category.

You can spray nitro as thick or thin as you like. There is a company called Wildwood that really set the ball rolling on the "thin skin" vogue, promoting the idea (which many here don't believe) that the thinner the lacquer the better the tone. So guitars they offer have the thinnest nitro the maker can get away with.

Also, when you sand and buff lacquer to a shine you are taking some of it off, so how thick the paint is partly depends on who did the polishing and how heavy his/her hand was.

Far as how fast it'll wear: well, that depends how you treat it. I've seen decades old guitars in mint condition; I've seen year old guitars with the lacquer bashed to peices.

Cheers - C

+1

This post should be a "sticky".

Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

As far as Fender Strats, the "thin skin" that is often referred to, is the thinner undercoat on the body, which is of course poly-something (plastic). So, on modern Strats (after 1963) the body is first coated in plastic, THEN a nitro finish is applied. The term "Fullerplast" comes to mind. The way the Strat specs read, many people believe that the body is coated only with a "thinner" nitro, not true. The thinner under-coating on the body will allow more resonance through the body, but does not allow the wood to breathe as a true all nitro finish would. To be fair, the specs should say which "skin" is thinner, but they don't always. Sometimes Fender will refer to a thinner undercoat, but they don't tell what that "coat" is.

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.