Thin Nitro Finish...

[Beauhooligan]

I took this from the end of another thread, but it feels fresh.

Thin nitro finish. Jesus Christ, when will I hear the end of the importance of thin nitro finish on sound? When you hear David Gilmour play his red guitar with its poly finish (I have seen his guitars up close and all of the red ones are poly finished, the rest are a mix of poly and nitro finished) Are any of the Eric Clapton guitars sold ny Fender being done so as thin nitro finished? How about the Jeff Beck signature models, are they being pimpied as being thin nitro finished? Have the Stevie Ray Vaughn Signature models are they being been pimped as being being with thin nitro finish? The only one I can find of the artist series guitars that has a thin nitro finish is the Eric Johnson, which at a WSRP of $3140, and a street price of $2509, may well be worth it. But for the rest oif us mortals, thin nitro finish may, or may not, be an advantage on a stage and recording guitar. But. I contend, it should not be the first thing a guitarrist takes to mind. I always think that the neck of the guitar is building block number one, and how the guitar sounds to me acoustically, before plugging it into anything is second, then how it sounds when amplified (and what kind of ampifier is used) is a question. Do we judge a guitar by the latest 15 watt Fender, or by my Vox AC30? These are the foundations of if; if can build a relationship with that guitar, or not. You know guys, you don't have to love the first guitar you come along, even if the sturdy bastards at your local music store tell you that it is so. Listen. Compare. Try it in your own hands. Listen to a lot of guitars, both plugged and unplugged, before you get near spending your hard earned dollars. Then, when you have tried them aLL, Buy. It's your well earned f*cking money. I'm just trying to be "that guy" who has wasted his money on trash guitars, and would like to dave you the trouble.

 

[Southern ILL]

I could care less which artists guitars are finshed in or how thick......the only guy that should be playing a Gilmour strat is that guy from Pink Floyd.....

But I do know what I want and what I think sounds best and feels best......For me...its a thinner Nitro finish......a thicker neck with a a 10" fret board radius.....body weight under 7.5 pounds......I prefer a sanded-stained-cleared body.....bone or graphite nut......quality pots and caps.....on my tele....let me message the bridge some before I screw it on.....some good pickups.......then let me spray that finish and bolt those parts on myself and I'll bet ya I'll be pleased.

I've owned and compared alot of guitars.....the above formula works best for me.

 

[rhinocaster]

OK, I'll post here too.

Nitro is important to me. I prefer the feel and almost all of my favorite guitar tones have come from nitro finished guitars. David Gilmour has a VERY processed sound. It's absolutely perfect for what he does, but electronics and processing have more to do with his sound than anything else. Clapton's best tones (to me) came from "Blackie" and other nitro finished guitars early in his career. I've never been a fan of Beck's tone.

Yes, nitro is important to me. It's not the only thing by a long stretch, but it is important to me.

 

[airwarrior]

Nitro wears and ages well over time. Poly doesn't age as well or as fast.

 

[rhinocaster]

Another thing to remember is that each time finishes have changed (And this includes nitro), it has been a result of making production cheaper, easier or more eco friendly. The decisions were not based on making a more toneful instrument.

 

[Polynitro]

forget about the thin part nitro looks better especally solid color like black theres a depth to it, and it wears nice and natural...Nitro necks feel better and they are easy to rub out as thin as you want to bare even.

I loved the finish on my Jag: When this thing was polished and with all that chrome it was BADASS looking.

 

[gtrs]

Yup, nitro for me too.
Some will call me a liar, but I can hear and feel the difference between a good nitro finished guitar (my groshs') and a thick or poorly done poly instrument.

Nitro just has "the vibe".

 

[buddastrat]

You totally missed it Beau. There's also the feel, look, and how it will wear and grow with the player/owner. That's very cool and something modern poly guitars won't do. That's the #1 reason I hate the thick poly guitars. sure lots of them sound good, but I want it the other qualities too.

 

[dharmafool]

Nitro wears and ages well over time. Poly doesn't age as well or as fast.

+1. To me, aged poly looks like scuzzy porcelain.

 

[Snail]

Hmm, nitro-lover here, too. Oh well! :AOK

 

[paintguy]

Couldn't care a less what finish it is as long as it's thin and done right.

 

[Gas-man]

I never believed the thin nitro thing, but I do now

 

[JUSTJOB]

I love the feel and look of nitro myself. I am not sure about the sonic improvement on a Nitro finished solid body electric over a poly finished one so I cannot for certainly state whether or not Nitro sounds better in general than poly.

But I do like the feel, look, and tone of this one!

 

[Totally Bored]

+1. To me, aged poly looks like scuzzy porcelain.

Meet scuzzy porcelain

The Nitro sounds better than Poly thing is stupid IMO. YMMV

Come to my house, we'll crack open some beers and blind test a bunch of Nitro and Poly Strats that I own and you may think differant.

 

[Gas-man]

Meet scuzzy porcelain


The Nitro sounds better than Poly thing is stupid IMO. YMMV

Come to my house, we'll crack open some beers and blind test a bunch of Nitro and Poly Strats that I own and you may think differant.

Do you have old poly as well as new poly? Your mid-seventies Strat would obviously be the older poly recipe they don't use any more.

Apparently, the old poly ages much better (and sounds better) than the modern goop (or so I've read).

 

[uberpict]

My dos centos, if you have a dull sounding neck and body nitro isn't going to help. Vice-versa, if you have a great sounding chunk of wood poly is probably not going to kill the tone. Now, if you have a great sounding piece of wood with a thin nitro finish it may add that extra 5% to the tone. Similar to an engine and that last bit of horsepower you can wring out of it, you can't take a four-cylinder 1800cc engine and get the same horsepower as a V-8 5L by adding nitrous and/or a turbo.

I'll have to say I do like the feel of a well worn nitro finished neck but not to the point of that's all I would have. Some nitro necks fell sticky years after they were shot and poly can be slick as glass. I think, to me, what it all boils down to is how does that individual guitar sound and feel rather than the specifications.

 

[Polynitro]

I have 2 guitars, one is poly and the other is nitro and the better sounding one is the poly. Can't say its the finish, but I've used the same pickups and he same neck even and the poly body just sounded better.

 

[Seakayak]

Welcome to The Gear Page, the Home of Nitpickery. I mean that in a positive sense:AOK

 

[Totally Bored]

Do you have old poly as well as new poly? Your mid-seventies Strat would obviously be the older poly recipe they don't use any more.

Apparently, the old poly ages much better (and sounds better) than the modern goop (or so I've read).

So now it's Nitro sounds better than Poly and Old Poly sounds better than new Poly ? "Scratching Head"


I have way to many Strats to answer your question. The New Poly may last longer I quess. Only time will tell. I have a 06 MIA anniverasary Strat that just sounds killer with any pup combination I throw at it. Really has that old school woody Nitro sound if thats what that sound is called. I have a 66 Strat to compare to.

FWIW I really hated the way my 78 Strat aged. At one time I was thinking of spraying some clear coat over it just to stop the process. I even hate the way my 1994 Nitro 62 AV RI chips and ages. But then the whole relicing thing came about and I just didn't care anymore. Let them look ugly I quess.

I just don't buy into the whole Nitro sounds better tha Poly and PTP is better than PCB wierdness . Whenever I read these type of posts or threads I think that the person(s) must be an old fart. Nothing wrong with being old fart BTW. Cranky Old farts can be smelly but plain ole old fart is okay.

 

[Member 1963]

That's the #1 reason I hate the thick poly guitars.

Just realize one thing...not all poly is THICK. I don't know which models are or aren't or whether some models have changed in that regard in time. But i assure you my MIM 50's poly is as thin as i've seen. So thin in fact that like as it cured it sunk into the grain and the grain and is now embossed into the finish as you see with nitro. Now thats thin ! And i seriously doubt anyone is going to hear the diff. By the way, i think the only true way to be sure that what you are hearing is not to compare nitro and poly guitars, but to compare the SAME guitar with and without nitro/poly. I have done that when refinishing so to me theres not a notable difference, tho i'm talking about poly vs no finish at all, which should have been even more obvious than nitro vs poly.

Also realize this guys....new guitars take time to open up, and nitro guitars will likely open up faster. So some of those polys you played may have been too new to sound great. It's only because of laziness i still have my mim 50's because when new i wanted to sell it because of the tone. I kept putting it off and after about 4-5 years it began sounding much better, and at this point it's a very good sounding strat. The difference was really huge. It went from not good to excellent tone in those 5 years or so. Now i realize thats a benefit of nitro, but the point is it's not necassarily alway the poly finish thats hindering the tone.

Then theres the other things, and those are totally subjective and i understand fully. It should just be realized that it's not poly itself thats bad, it's those that were finished much too thick or that they have yet to mature because they take longer. It's also subjective as to what degree the things i mentioned are in affect, but i am quite confident in what i said about poly from my experience.