Custom Shop Relic and Thin Skin Owners, does your guitar have a clear coat?

[Chunkocaster]

For the custom shop relic owners does your relic have a clear coat on it?
Do you think the tele in the video below has a clear coat on it? Notice the arm rest area is darker at the 1.33 min mark. Thanks.

 

[Woollymonster]

The paint on the relics from the Wildwood 10's is very thin. John Cruz Master Built? Probably the same thing. There is probably a thin coat of clear on the top. I can't really tell. They look and feel great. I can see and feel the wood grain. Especially on my Strat. I have these:

'51 Nocaster

'55 Strat

 

[EsquireBoy]

Mine is a journeyman relic, so no wear pattern on it, only checking and a few little dings. How do you tell wether or not there is a clear coat in that case?

 

[Chunkocaster]

The paint on the relics from the Wildwood 10's is very thin. John Cruz Master Built? Probably the same thing. There is probably a thin coat of clear on the top. I can't really tell. They look and feel great. I can see and feel the wood grain. Especially on my Strat. I have these:

'51 Nocaster

'55 Strat

Thanks, they look great. The finish on that red tele looks like skin oils are darkening that arm area so I thought it might have no clear coat. I'm tossing up whether to clear a thin nitro finish I want to relic by itself or just leave the clear coat off. If some custom shop finishes aren't cleared it will give me a better idea of what to expect will happen to my finish over the next few years and make me feel more confident about not applying a clear coat.

 

[Chunkocaster]

Mine is a journeyman relic, so no wear pattern on it, only checking and a few little dings. How do you tell wether or not there is a clear coat in that case?

I don't know, I think it would be hard to tell with a thin finish. They may even use satin clear in some cases? I think there would be signs of a clear coat after some wear through the finish. I think the finishes with heavier checking more than likely all have clear coats.
I'm guessing though so hoping someone knows for sure their guitar doesn't have a clear coat so I can get an idea of what to expect if I don't apply one.
At the moment i'm in limbo not sure whether I should commit to polishing or apply a clear coat first.

 

[EsquireBoy]

For what it’s worth, here is a link to the thread with pictures of my CS. There is definitely a clear coat on my rosewood fingerboard:
https://www.tdpri.com/threads/ngd-fender-cs-57-esquire-with-an-all-rosewood-neck.959544/

 

[Chunkocaster]

For what it’s worth, here is a link to the thread with pictures of my CS. There is definitely a clear coat on my rosewood fingerboard:
https://www.tdpri.com/threads/ngd-fender-cs-57-esquire-with-an-all-rosewood-neck.959544/

Yes that's got a nice clear with a great looking burst and neck. I haven't seen a rosewood neck like that before on a fender esquire. Very cool. The deep gloss clear suits that guitar.
Sounds nice in the recording too.

 

[EsquireBoy]

Yes that's got a nice clear with a great looking burst and neck. I haven't seen a rosewood neck like that before on a fender esquire. Very cool. The deep gloss clear suits that guitar.
Sounds nice in the recording too.

Oh thanks! Cheers mate

 

[Chunkocaster]

Oh thanks! Cheers mate

Your welcome, you guys are supposed to me helping me feel more confident in no clear coat. Not show me pics of killer looking guitars with nice clear coats.

 

[EsquireBoy]

Your welcome, you guys are supposed to me helping me feel more confident in no clear coat. Not show me pics of killer looking guitars with nice clear coats.

You know what’s left to do
More seriously, I took a closer look to mine, where there are some deep dings through the paint: the edges of the dings seem to have one dimension, so not sure if there’s really a clear coat.
The body looks definitely less glossy than the clear coated neck, and you can feel the wood texture in addition to the checking lines.
But it may have to do with a thinner coating.

 

[G-52]

Yes, in the video you can see the reflection of the clear on the corners of the body when the light hits it. I have several and they all have a thin coat of clear over the wear areas. Otherwise you would have bare wood and I believe the paint would flake at

the edges; just my opinion, Happy Thanksgiving

 

[Skydog1010]

I have two Road Worn's (TM), one does and one does not.

Candy Apple Red (CAR) - NO Clear coat (checking in red top coat) has a silver undercoat.

Black- Does have a Satin/Dull Clear coat that is Lacquer based (yes there is such a thing), this coming summer I am stripping the factory mucky finish and shooting Black Lacquer (the real stuff), it will not get a clear coat. This black guitar is my number 1, the CAR Telecaster is my Number 2, both are fine examples of what the folks in Mexico can build. I could go on for hours describing each guitar, but I will spare you.

 

[EsquireOK]

I have seven guitars with the Flash Coat, which is what Fender calls the Wildwood Thin Skin finish process when they use it on a non-Wildwood instrument. The Flash Coat/Thin Skin finishes are quite thin (they use a mixture with more thinner than normal, and a lacquer sealer underneath everything), but they definitely have clear coats.

 

[EsquireOK]

Yes, in the video you can see the reflection of the clear on the corners of the body when the light hits it. I have several and they all have a thin coat of clear over the wear areas. Otherwise you would have bare wood and I believe the paint would flake at View attachment 659382 the edges; just my opinion, Happy Thanksgiving

If there’s any clear over the bare wood, it’s the sealer coat, not a topcoat. They definitely do not clearcoat their bare wood areas at the end of the process.

 

[Chunkocaster]

Yes, in the video you can see the reflection of the clear on the corners of the body when the light hits it. I have several and they all have a thin coat of clear over the wear areas. Otherwise you would have bare wood and I believe the paint would flake at View attachment 659382 the edges; just my opinion, Happy Thanksgiving

Thanks, nice looking Sparkle you have there. I think the wood is covered by a sealer before the paint is applied.

 

[Chunkocaster]

I have two Road Worn's (TM), one does and one does not.

Candy Apple Red (CAR) - NO Clear coat (checking in red top coat) has a silver undercoat.

Black- Does have a Satin/Dull Clear coat that is Lacquer based (yes there is such a thing), this coming summer I am stripping the factory mucky finish and shooting Black Lacquer (the real stuff), it will not get a clear coat. This black guitar is my number 1, the CAR Telecaster is my Number 2, both are fine examples of what the folks in Mexico can build. I could go on for hours describing each guitar, but I will spare you.

Thanks, I did think of the roadworns and wonder if they were cleared. I had a Road Worn Olympic white 60s strat for 8 or 9 years and it didn't appear to have a clear coat but hard to tell because it wasn't high gloss. Your candy would be closer to my fiesta as the tinted clear candy red is similar to my fiesta as in they are pigments added to gloss clear.

My rw strat had more of a satin look to it than high gloss. Your black would show a clear better than my white so maybe my white did have a satin clear. I did some more googling and found a few posts by guys that had not cleared their nitro finishes and one said that his was holding up well, much like it had been cleared.

 

[Skydog1010]

Thanks, I did think of the roadworns and wonder if they were cleared. I had a Road Worn Olympic white 60s strat for 8 or 9 years and it didn't appear to have a clear coat but hard to tell because it wasn't high gloss. Your candy would be closer to my fiesta as the tinted clear candy red is similar to my fiesta as in they are pigments added to gloss clear.

My rw strat had more of a satin look to it than high gloss. Your black would show a clear better than my white so maybe my white did have a satin clear. I did some more googling and found a few posts by guys that had not cleared their nitro finishes and one said that his was holding up well, much like it had been cleared.

Photos

 

[Chunkocaster]

PhotosView attachment 659555 View attachment 659556

Cool looking guitars, The 50's RW strat looks like a similar year to my 60's White one I had, 2010-2011. The finish looks the same only black. What happened to the finish on the arm contour? Mine turned peach color from my arm resting on it but didn't wear off much.

 

[Buckaroo]

The paint on the relics from the Wildwood 10's is very thin. John Cruz Master Built? Probably the same thing. There is probably a thin coat of clear on the top. I can't really tell. They look and feel great. I can see and feel the wood grain. Especially on my Strat. I have these:

'51 Nocaster

'55 Strat

Those are beautiful guitars! The classic look in spades!!

Buck