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Fender lists MOST of the Highway 1's as having a nitro finish. The exception is the texas tele, which does have an acrylic lacquer finish. But both are different from the thin skins. For one, only the bodys on Hwy 1s are nitro. The necks are poly. I think thin skins are all nitro. And the nitro on the Hwy 1s is flat, vs gossy on thin skins. Also, some say that the Hwy 1 bodies are thin nitro over a thick poly. I've never seen pictures proving or disproving it, and I've heard conflicting reports from owners. I don't know the answer to this, so I'm not going to pretend like I do.The highway 1's were something different - I believe an Acrylic lacquer and not the same as the nitrocellulose thin skins.
I have a Highway-1 body (honey blond transparent) that I am using for a partsocaster project. Having sanded it down in areas and attempting weather checking on it, I believe 100% that there is a poly sealer under the satin nitro. The nitro EVER SO SLIGHTLY checked, but you could see the cracks floating on top of a sealer coat that was completely unaffected by the severe temp changes.
The poly didn't seem to be too thick, though. It sanded off pretty easily.
From what I have read on similar threads, it sounds like only the Thin Skins are actually poly-free. By most reports, Nitro takes a lot longer and apparently Fender doesn't have time in their production schedule to even do any Thin Skins this year. Sorry I don't have the links accessible to reference all of this info at the moment.
I know it's an old post, but I just picked up an AVRI 1959 Strat with the thin skin. There is a poly grain seal applied to all instruments to protect from humidity. Otherwise the thin skin will act just as it would on unsealed grain. Just like they use modern flame retardant treated material when making movie set furniture and clothing? It's safer. Pardon the analogy - I work around that industry.OK so MOST Nitro finishes have a Poly undercoat, right?
My Hwy1 has Poly underneath and a thin coat of Nitro. ??