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Lacquer vs poly

S

stringent

Sep 29, 2018
59
144
#1
I was in the market for a p-bass recently and I tried two '50s Classic Series Fenders, one polyurethane and one nitrocellulose, in a local music store. Given that the only stated difference between them was the body paint, I expected to hear no difference at all.

Boy, was I wrong. Both were well set-up, looked and felt good, but that is all they had in common. The 2-tone sunburst polyurethane was good all ‘round. It had a punchy bottom end, growly mids and clear highs. The white blonde nitro had a weak bottom, uninspiring mids and tinny, twangy highs.

A few days later I had an opportunity to make the same comparison at another music store, a sonic red poly against a black nitro. Same result.

Why such a difference? Different pickups, different strings or something else? I'm not yet willing to believe a thin coating of paint does it, but what else is there?

And why would the more expensive model sound downright crappy? I'm thinking the lacquer model is designed for some seriously thumpy flats, because those are the only strings that could tame the twangy beast.

Any thoughts?
 
#2
Entirely different experience myself. Two mid-90s MIM P Basses. My white nitro and my daughter's purple poly. The white nitro is my #1. While plenty thumpy, it can get fairly twangy if you twang on it. It has a lot of life. Then there's her purple poly guitar. Really don't like it at all. It feels deader than a mackerel and sounds blah. Always felt like the paint was smothering the guitar. Played it for a few minutes a week ago. Yup, it's still dead.

I'm now telling a bunch of people about this who might not think I'm crazy for actually saying it.
 
#9
I can’t say I’ve compared exactly identical spec’d instruments, but the very best sounding electric and acoustic guitars I’ve ever played have all been nitro. But, I owned a PRS McCarty (poly) that sounded terrific in its own way too, plus i currently own a poly Strat that is quite nice sounding and have recently played some poly-finished acoustic guitars that sound good (though not my absolute favorites ever).

Electric bass, my least favorite sounding bass is actually the only nitro one I own, but I chalk that up almost entirely to the pickup. My poly MIM P (after swapping in a new pickup) is my favorite sounding bass. Acoustic bass, the best one I’ve ever played was a recent Martin, which I assume had a nitro finish?

I dunno, it would be an interesting experiment if one could change finishes as easily as pickups! My guess is that with electric instruments, the effect is probably somewhat subtle, and perhaps more dependent on the thickness of the finish than the material. All I can say is that in general my best experiences have been with nitro instruments, but those were all either more expensive instruments or vintage, so there certainly could have been much bigger factors going on.

My basses and guitars are split almost exactly 50-50 between nitro and poly. I’m really happy with the sound of most of them, but the three I’m least thrilled about the sound of are actually nitro. But then again, my very favorite sounding ones (except for electric bass) are nitro too...
 
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#11
Wood lumber is dead. It doesn't breathe, unless you want to call normal expansion or contraction due to temperature and humidity "breathing". Unless you control for all other variables influencing tone, the finish is about last on the list of likely suspects. Leo Fender used Nitro because it was a commonly available auto paint that buffed easily. Other than that, its a lousy finish from the perspective of resistance to wear, sweat, or chemicals, which is why it was abandoned as an auto finish decades ago. If you like a relic look, Nitro is great, it self destructs pleasingly. I like my guitars to stay shiny!
 
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#13
Gilmourisgod said:
Wood lumber is dead. It doesn't breathe, unless you want to call normal expansion or contraction due to temperature and humidity "breathing". Unless you control for all other variables influencing tone, the finish is about last on the list of likely suspects. Leo Fender used Nitro because it was a commonly available auto paint that buffed easily. Other than that, its a lousy finish from the perspective of resistance to wear, sweat, or chemicals, which is why it was abandoned as an auto finish decades ago. If you like a relic look, Nitro is great, it self destructs pleasingly. I like my guitars to stay shiny!
Click to expand...

Tell that to vendors selling toasted "preaged" wood.
 
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