plastic coating on my tele

I've had a tele thinline 72 reissue for about 8 years. The plastic coating (polyurethane?) has started cracking and coming off in chunks. It doesn't look great, but it doesn't particularly bother me except that I'm just a little worried that my guitar might die or something. If the coating completely comes off and the bare wood is exposed, will it be in any danger of anything like wood rot or something? Or will it most likely not make any real difference? Should I get it recoated or suffer the consequences? Could I just leave it and not worry? Any advice for this truly stupid person is much appreciated.

Let's see a picture of this.

no, the wood will not rot,
unless you store your guitar outside.
the poly is comming off in chuncks on the neck?
or on the body?
i have had poly bodies that got hit so hard that the poly chucked off but never had them just fall off out of no where.
if it bothers you to look at it, then get it touched up, if it does't then don't work about it, it just proves that yopu have been playing it for 8 years!

Here are a couple of photos. I figured it's merely cosmetic, but it's more than a little worrying when your guitar appears to have leprosy. :lol:

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb129/geelezee/DSC00257.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb129/geelezee/DSC00256.jpg

Wow ............ never seen anything like that. Is the guitar Japanese or Mexican? Sooner or later that thing is going to be due for a start from scratch refinish. You'll need to remove the rest of the poly coating. That could probably be done with a heat gun and a scraper.

On my 99 Am Std. It got a good knock when I slipped on some ice when it was in a gig bag. I was going to touch it up, however the stuff just started peeling off in sheets. I left it as it ended up with about 90% of the finish gone...
One day I may remove the rest with a heat gun and shoot some lacquer on it.

Don't feel bad, my Martin Guitar is doing the same thing. Its a 1992 D-16 H

Guess this disproves once and for all the belief that those poly finishes are inches thick! :lol:

I think it is the Mexican Polyester finishes that are real thick.

I will speculate that this guitar was dropped when the guitar was pretty cold.

Yeah, you actually may be able to get rid of that poly and have a piece of wood you can finish nicely.

Don't worry about rot. Why the insides of the hollow portions of your guitar have been unfinished from day one.

Along with that poly, there's probably a grain sealer/filler used on the wood anyways. I'm guessing that would be pretty effective at keeping moisture out too.

cheers guys, laid some of my fears to rest. thinking about it, I recently set up my studio in my loft, where temperatures go from very hot in summer to very cold in winter, which probably didn't help, though it has inevitably been dropped a few times over the years as well. It's a mexican, by the way - the cheaper version of the american made one that was available at the same time. I reckon it'll all just come off over a period of time and if it still plays well, I'm happy! Think I might not keep it in my loft any more though...

Just a thought - since the finish is relatively old maybe the batch of poly used was incorrectly mixed, making it prone to stiffening as it ages. I know this doesn't help your problem but it might be interesting to contact some of the finish manufacturers and ask if that's possible.

I'd take it to a luthier and have him remove the coating and do a good paint job on the guitar. I have the same guitar and have a luthier build a 3-ply-black pickguard right now. Maybe in two or three years I'll have him repaint it.

From what you can see in the pics, it looks like a nice looking body. I think at some point I'd finish the job (peeling it off), just oil it & call it done.

From what you can see in the pics, it looks like a nice looking body. I think at some point I'd finish the job (peeling it off), just oil it & call it done.

i did that with a Fender poly finish once and ended up much happier with the looks.