How well do the newer (2004ish) Fender American Standards age or is the polyurethane finish basically indestructible?
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Stupid question
- Thread starter dangerkirk
- Start date
I had my '01 MIA P Bass refinished as Escalade white a while back and that car paint has yellowed nicely in some light and looks eggshellish but other's it blaring white.... Refinishing has it's quirks I guess... as for regular poly, I'm not too sure... maybe age a gig more. 
Interesting, isn't it? It has always seemed to me that the thicker finish you put on an instrument - whether it's hard like poly or an oil finish - the less it seems to respond to vibration, and therefore, has less "wood" in the tone. Isn't that the concept behind Stradivarius' special finish that's supposed to be a huge mystery?
Is this the prevailing notion, or am I mistaken?
Is this the prevailing notion, or am I mistaken?
uhh, stupid question as well. How much aging could anyone comment on when we are talking about a 5 year old finish? Does that count as aging? Aging to me means the color changes over time. Like a while. If your talking about durability, hit it with a hammer and see what happens. Poly, oil, natural wood, aluminum whatever, beating on it will screw it up.
If not mistaken youre at least a little wrong. The finish if you think about it has prety much a protective function to avoid the wood getting rotten, moisturized and other weather effects.
Some kind of finishes, specially resin based ones, like epoxy or acrilic (both mostly used to finish fingerboards to make them harder and less prone to wear) can change the mechanical response of wood, but up to a certain extent. But if you ask me whatever you coat the body wood with is going to have very little effect on the overall tone.
Stradivarius violins for example arent so good because of their finish, byt because of their wood, we can get wood that has the same average density as the wood in a stradi and build a violin, like some other ppl has done, but none of us would be able to get the same results as stradi, because even though the wood is practically the same there is still one big difference wich is the gradient of wood density, in a stradi the density variation of the wood from one spot to another is lesser than the variation in those modern violins being the average density of both the same.
THANK YOU FOR STATING THIS. IT SHOULD BE CHISSELED WITH A RAZOR ON THE BEHIND OF EVERY POLY FENDER OUT THERE! (I agree with this assumption.)
[ The finish if you think about it has prety much a protective function to avoid the wood getting rotten, moisturized and other weather effects.]
Correction. Fender hardly dries their wood when it goes into production, as do many companies. Gibson also has also reduced drying time.
Correction. Fender hardly dries their wood when it goes into production, as do many companies. Gibson also has also reduced drying time.
THANK YOU FOR STATING THIS. IT SHOULD BE CHISSELED WITH A RAZOR ON THE BEHIND OF EVERY POLY FENDER OUT THERE! (I agree with this assumption.)
Weird, because the two posts above yours don't agree with this assessment at all. But I'd think that the finish would make a great difference in the dryness of the wood inside, depending on how good of a seal is on it...
...and I'm PRETTY sure that people have been trying for centuries to replicate the varnish used on Stradis for this very reason. Guess I'm going to have to do some research on this.
Once the wood is finished is it able to absorb more moisture, or does it stay the same, or does it tend to dry?
Poly will never age like Nitro. If you're hoping for that finish-half-rubbed-off look that a 60's bass gets, too bad. It'll never happen. You can get chips and dings but that's about it.
How unfortunate.
I love the look of aged nitro. If I ever got my hands on a MIA Fender I would probably just strip it and put a nice oil finish on it.
How easily does that poly finish strip? Or am I going to have to get out the DA and some 220?
How unfortunate.
I love the look of aged nitro. If I ever got my hands on a MIA Fender I would probably just strip it and put a nice oil finish on it.
How easily does that poly finish strip? Or am I going to have to get out the DA and some 220?
Heat gun is usualy needed
Stripping poly is a huge pain, and very time consuming. I would buy a new body and finish it before taking the hours and hours and hours it will take to remove a poly finish.
Really? Buy a whole new body? I don't think I've ever had to strip poly, but I am very experienced at stripping furniture. I can do a large armoire in a day, so there is no way that little guitar body would take hours. I don't care how tough the finish is, I will get it off.
But atm I don't even own a MIA Fender. I've seen a few go cheap lately on CL though, and I've been highly tempted.
