74 Custom Tele finish

Hi, I have a 74 Custom tele that has the SL HB on the neck and typical bridge single coil on the bridge. Its that Keith Richards type. It's a nice guitar and plays well. For a while now I have been thinking about the finish on this guitar. I do believe that its not Nitro and that the poly finish is quite thick. Might I gain anything from carefully sanding back the finish either to wood and then re-coating lightly with Nitro or sanding back to ease the finish thickness. My hope is to get a bit more resonance from the body by getting some of those layers off. The body without any hardware is right at 4 lbs. This body is not a single piece, it laminated in two pieces. Its a clear finish type guitar. I am less concerned about vintage value as these guitars are not in the pre-cbs league, rather in am interested in loosening up the tone a bit.

thanks Ange

I wouldn't bother, there are more "tone gains" to be made elsewhere in the chain - pups, amp etc.

As for weight .......... Poly ain't that heavy! :wink:

Don't do it!! Give it to me.......

Don't bother. You can sell the guitar for decent money as is and buy what you want. Or do a parts build and have what you want for cheaper than buying it all in one piece.

My plan is to only subtly ease back the finish so that once done it looks the same but has a thinner level of finish. I would not ever sell any guitar as there are a line of grand-kids and kids to hand them down to.

My plan is to only subtly ease back the finish so that once done it looks the same but has a thinner level of finish. I would not ever sell any guitar as there are a line of grand-kids and kids to hand them down to.

This line of kids and grand-kids will be greatly dissapointed when they found out that they have a guitar that has lost 50% of its value because somebody messed around with its finish.

DON'T do it,the guitar will not gain any kind of ...resonance because you will strip the finish...

This line of kids and grand-kids will be greatly dissapointed when they found out that they have a guitar that has lost 50% of its value because somebody messed around with its finish.

DON'T do it,the guitar will not gain any kind of ...resonance because you will strip the finish...

+1

All you'll gain by doing this is a scuffed up finish and you may burn through, causing it to look like crap.

You'll also gain a large amount of lost value.

Yes, don't alter the finish of a vintage guitar.

I suppose you could buy a replacement body and try that?

I truly believe the Poly Vs Nitro is a crock of bull,mostly to up sales prices... The sound comes from the pickups,strings,your fingers,and the amp...if you can't make it sound good,its you. Listen to this guy's Concrete Block guitar link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFyQXy74xz4

You are lucky to have such a nice vintage instrument. Now, step away from your vintage collector's instrument. You don't own it, it owns you. Find a partscaster or something else to do your finish work on. You don't want to devalue it.

I personally prefer the "softer" less "plastic" look and the feel of nitro. Whether it sounds better than poly or not...I'm not going to touch that one except to say that I can't imagine a really thick coat of poly would HELP the sound of a guitar.

For what it's worth, I have a Larrivee D-03R finished in (thin) poly that sounds wonderful. Would it sound better if it was finished in nitro? Who knows? Well, maybe Jean Larrivee did the comparisons way back when.

I agree - do not change it. You will not improve its sound that way and will just devalue it.