Let's see some photos of your Vintage Poly finish guitar.

[FenderLover]

I’ll post some pics later but the thing I’ve been surprised by is how reasonably thin poly sinks into the grain.

Looking forward to that. I have an Asian Tele that looks like it has a plastic coating, while the rest seem pretty uniformly medium-ish.

 

[Masmus]

My arm wore through the mocha finish on my 78 strat to what looks like a clear poly underneath. Always wondered what they were doing if it is in fact mocha lacquer over poly. Also I find it curious that the Tandey leather factory was also in Fullerton and they had a leather dye called mocha that is extremely close to Fender's mocha.
Although Fender seems to have a little red and silver flake in theirs.

 

[Tommy Biggs]

Tommy Biggs,

I can't tell from the picture what brand/model the bass guitar is.

Also, are you the original owner of the bass guitar?

1973 Fender Tele bass. I traded for it in about 1980, on 48th st.

 

[jvin248]

.

Twenty year old guitars. Both had several prior owners. The Tele looks show-room NOS condition. The Strat was beat up with several chips, dished frets. It got a full fret level along with the cleaning.

A PRS SE that looked like this when I got it, at around twenty years on it. It had been gigged for five or six years previous to the neck joint breaking at the body and then stored for a decade before selling. Such high action is shown in this picture.

After steaming off the neck/repairing/regluing plus fixing body finish.

A sixteen year old guitar when I got it, stored in a damp basement apparently. This is a different but similar guitar to the one in the first picture.

After repairs and clean up

If you shop enough used guitars you will find a whole range of things done to them:
-dings nicks and chips as you'd expect.
-sharpie scribbles on the paint and pickguards
-paint pen scribbles on the paint and pickguards
-garish crude statements in nail polish
-rude stickers that have water, alcohol, and oil-based adhesives
-attempted relic activities
-burns
-rusty screws
-broken pickguards, missing knobs, and more.

.

 

[alnicopu]

I have a 94 mij pink paisley strat (say that ten times fast!)
That I posted not to long ago that the general consensus was that it’s wear seems legit and I believe it to be also

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I wasn’t quite sure but the fingerboard is rolled in a way that only playing would do

Nice. My old guitar teacher has both Strat and tele in pink paisley and MIJ.

 

[Fretting out]

Nice. My old guitar teacher has both Strat and tele in pink paisley and MIJ.

I got the strat first and had to get a tele next



The tele is currently sporting a white guard



I’d like to get one of those paisley Princeton’s

Edit: for what it’s worth the tele is an 88 and the strat a 94

 

[Bangdapoontwang]

My 99 MIM Strat that had massive cracks that I filled and wet sanded. All the time the cracks were open moisture and dirt seeped in darkening the wood...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Stanford Guitar]

Since the vintage parameter was set at 20 years by the OP, I have two that qualify;

• 1988 Fender American Standard Strat (Sunburst)
• 1998 Fender American Deluxe Strat (Teal)

Neither have any dents or dings in them, just natural wear from many hours of playing.

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Nice!

 

[Fretting out]

This is my first real fender it’s a 79 or 80 lead II
Surprisingly I guess it was early enough that the finish didn’t turn white/blue like most of the blacks



It’s got some buckle rash and chips

On the back it looks like it reacted to a coil cable or maybe someone tried to cook it on a hot plate



On the front it appears to be a name where a sticker used to be, it’s weird because it almost appears to be under the finish
It’s hard to see, it appears as a white line in the shadow here

 

[Masmus]

Here is my 78 with the weird wear to a clear poly. The finish is worn off but not down to the wood. I bought this new so it's absolutely a factory finish.

 

[felis]

A 1984 showing 'crazing lines'

 

[KevinB]

'95 American Standard. The lipstick red finish has darkened a little but it hasn't shown much signs of wear...

'73 Tele Custom. A few dings but mostly from before I bought it in '76...

 

[Matthias]

‘79 case queen Strat. The only one on here that can even make a tenuous argument for truly being ‘vintage’. Looks like new.


‘94 slightly abused MiJ Tele. Lots of chips but it doesn’t flake off like Nitro... More just craters. Some shrinkage into the grain.


This is what a satin poly neck looks like after a hard 25 years!


‘97 CIJ Thinline. Deeply yellowed and shrunk into the grain somewhat. It’s hard to pick that up on camera but you can see it from a distance in the reflections. It looks surprisingly vintage considering it’s not a true vintage guitar.



This stuff does not chip nor haze over like nitro. That sheen is on there forever I think.

 

[Jared Purdy]

Hi Fretting out, great question!


Sometimes the definition of vintage depends on whether one is seliing or buying a guitar


But for this Thread, let's say 20 years minimum.


Thanks!
Jerry


PS
Please apply!


PPS
A GREAT application I see you have

I have a 2011 Custom Shop Deluxe. So, I won't post any pics of it. However, I will say that it's a gorgeous guitar in the classic three colour sunburst finish, beautiful grain, two piece ash body with a bird's eye maple neck in a deep C profile. Looks like it just came out of the box, mind you, it stays in my house. Not sure what it would take to mar the finish? In the winter months when the furnace is on, it's in a case with humidifiers.

 

[Jared Purdy]

As SPECTRUM001 brought up on another Thread, when the ‘natural relic’ argument is pitched, it is often with a nitro finish body.


So..................................................................................


Let's see some photos of your Vintage Poly Finish Tele/Guitar!!

I've long wondered why Fender would chosoe to use poly at all, given the seeming controversial nature of it as a guitar finish? It can't be any cheaper, so, why do they choose to use it on some models, and sporadically?

 

[KevinB]

I've long wondered why Fender would chose to use poly at all, given the seeming controversial nature of it as a guitar finish? It can't be any cheaper, so, why do they choose to use it on some models, and sporadically?

Because poly is a more protective finish and is easier to apply, and nitro takes longer to harden and is highly toxic (and their factory was/is in California).

 

[g-Paul]

I always wondered if my 73 bass was poly or not. I guess the finish looks like the 60s teles that in my mind we’re not poly. I accept your statement that they did switch in 67/68.

The finish on your '73 bass looks almost identical to the finish on my '74 Tele. I don't have a great up-close pic of it, maybe I'll take a couple later.

 

[CX Hunter]

This is the MIJ Tele I bought in '88. Fretboard was re-radiused by Roger Sadowski who also put in jumbo frets. Just recently replaced the plate and pots with one from Fralin. I like the pots and push-pull function for pure tone, but not crazy for how close the three-way is to the volume knob. Got Cavaliers in it now also. Never had anything but a gig-bag for this axe and it still hardly has a scratch. Personally - I don't have the whole fetish over vintage-afying stuff. Got a 50 year-old Dobro that looks like the original owner dragged it up and down a gravel driveway. To me, it has real character, something you can't fake.

 

[40flash]

I had a friend who is a retired car painter but has access to the shop he used to work at spray my last buld with an automotive clear coat. It's just like the top coat on a high quality car finish. Durable, not subject to UV issues, beautiful. I would post a picture if I could figure out how to do that. I have never been able to post pictures on this site as I can on nearly every other site for some reason. ??? I clik on the icon between the happy face and the film icon and it asks for a URL. That's where I get lost. When I go to my picture gallery file I click on a pic and select properties. The number that shows up apparently isn't a URL because it isn't accepted. Can anyone help with this?

 

[P Thought]