Weird paint/finishing anomalies

Discussion of newer designs, copies and reissue offset-waist instruments.
Post Reply
User avatar
tune_link
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 503
Joined: Wed Aug 09, 2017 7:24 am
Location: Chattanooga, TN
Contact:

Weird paint/finishing anomalies

Post by tune_link » Sun Jul 21, 2019 6:36 pm

I have a 2012 Classic Player MIM Jaguar that has been one of my favorite live and studio guitars for a few years now. It’s a candy apple red one with the adjustomatic bridge and the trem is closer in on the body.

From everything I’ve read, the finish on this line is a poly paint. When mine arrived from the previous owner (I bought it used in 2017), it smelled like a nitro guitar does when I opened the case. The finish on it looks a lot more like the one on another guitar I have that I know has lacquer paint than any of my other poly finish guitars. Recently, it’s started to show what I believe to be the first signs of checking. The previous owner mentioned nothing in the way of having it refinished when I bought it. Is it possible that a guitar could come from any of the Fender factories with a different finish than what that line typically has or am I looking at something where it’s more likely that the previous owner had it refinished and didn’t say so? It was listed as candy apple red when I bought it but the color is a lot closer to the Troy Van Leuwen Oxblood color Jazzmaster.

User avatar
Debaser
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 417
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 2:12 pm
Location: Phoenix AZ

Re: Weird paint/finishing anomalies

Post by Debaser » Mon Jul 22, 2019 7:38 am

Pics would help, including some neck pocket pics and the possible checking.

The case could of held a nitro guitar for sometime. If you want to be destructive, you could put some lacquer thinner on a white rag and try to remove paint under the pickguard. Does it matter that it's nitro or poly to you? I would just play the hell out of it ;D
50,000 watts out of Mexico, this is the BorderRadio...

User avatar
timiscott
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 422
Joined: Thu Jan 25, 2018 12:38 am
Location: London

Re: Weird paint/finishing anomalies

Post by timiscott » Mon Jul 22, 2019 9:07 am

Glad to have read that. Bought a CP Jag like that two years ago and it has definitely gone more into Dakota Red type territory that CAR. Thought I was losing my mind.., or eyesight.

User avatar
Embenny
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 10363
Joined: Tue May 24, 2016 5:07 am

Re: Weird paint/finishing anomalies

Post by Embenny » Mon Jul 22, 2019 9:55 am

Well, it's possible he overpsrayed a nitro clearcoat over the guitar. I'd rank that as higher odds than Fender accidentally putting nitro on a CP Jag. Is the trem spacing the shorter CP spacing? Just thinking out loud, but a body mixup would seem more likely to me than a mis-finish. The roadworn Jags were a darker shade of CAR and were nitro, so I suppose it would be possible that a Roadworn body ended up on the CP, and just never got the relic treatment as a result. The roadworn has the longer vintage spacing between the bridge and trem, and the CP has the modified, shorter one.

Both were MIM, so they'd be in the same factory. Then again, since they were in the same factory, I suppose a barcode could have gotten mixed up and they sprayed the dark CAR nitro of the roadworn onto a CP body, too.

These bodies all have barcodes as far as I know. I forget whether they're in the neck pocket or under the pickguard. If you find it, you might have your answer (but also look at the trem spacing).

Ok. I think I just convinced myself that this is possible after all :whistle:
The artist formerly known as mbene085.

User avatar
tune_link
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 503
Joined: Wed Aug 09, 2017 7:24 am
Location: Chattanooga, TN
Contact:

Re: Weird paint/finishing anomalies

Post by tune_link » Mon Jul 22, 2019 1:41 pm

Thanks for the replies everyone! It sounds like I might have something strange on hand in this case. I guess I need to remove the neck or something at some point and see what’s in there. I don’t really have a preference for nitro or poly over the other. They both have their upsides and down to me. Mostly asking cause I care for them differently just as a precaution, and if it’s nitro I don’t wanna see the kind of weird wear patterns I’ve witnessed on a few guitars I’ve seen or sale over the years. Wear is fine, checking is fine, accidentally using a stand that has some kind of material that eats away at the paint or causes it to wear quickly in an awkward place I would be less cool with.

To answer the trem spacing question - it is the shorter spacing typical of a CP Jag from what I can tell.

User avatar
øøøøøøø
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 5984
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2008 8:26 pm
Location: Los Angeles
Contact:

Re: Weird paint/finishing anomalies

Post by øøøøøøø » Tue Jul 23, 2019 6:18 am

There's a conclusive way to answer this question.

Get some acetone or lacquer thinner. If you don't want to buy something, see if anyone in your home has some fingernail polish remover (which won't work quite AS well, but might work just enough).

Find an inconspicuous spot on the guitar-- under the pickguard, under a control plate, inside a pickup route, etc.

Put a small amount of lacquer thinner or acetone on a cotton swab and see if you can disturb the finish. If it's a catalyzed ("poly") finish, no amount of rubbing or immersion will damage the finish. If it's a lacquer finish, the solvent will begin to soften and eventually dissolve the finish, such that it will get sticky and then you can eventually rub it off.

User avatar
Danley
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 2103
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2012 11:46 am
Location: California Republic

Re: Weird paint/finishing anomalies

Post by Danley » Tue Jul 23, 2019 7:24 am

You can strip a nitro body with ease using nail polish remover - just look for ‘maximum strength’ or whichever brand has the most acetone on the ingredient list (and mind the fumes & flammability.)
King Buzzo: I love when people come up to me and say “Your guitar sound was better on Stoner Witch, when you used a Les Paul. “...I used a Fender Mustang reissue on that, dumbass!

Post Reply