Who makes the most authentic vintage style nitro finish?

[LooseCannon]

I've ordered a couple of Musikraft necks and I want them to be finished with vintage style nitro.

I have MJT bodies and they're great, but looking at their necks online I'm not sure if they're on the same level.
For example here the finish seems too thin (and somewhat satin instead of gloss) and too yellow:

Can someone recommend a company which does a good vintage style nitro finish? If you do recommend MJT, please include some pics

Thanks

 

[Wyatt]

Are you asking for vintage-tinted nitro that mimics the effects of yellowing over time? The problem with that is everyone has a very subjective opinion what is an "authentic" hue and shade. Brown, yellow, or amber, ... dark, medium, or light, ... etc.; real guitars all yellowed uniquely, depending on their environment. It is a very personal choice and it's hard for most finishers to satisfy how picky these buyers can get. It's very much the same with the varying opinions of what is a "correct" shade of colors like Fiesta Red, Seafoam Green, etc. Mark has two entire galleries of neck finishes on his website, and they vary in color a lot, but it is true that he does not offer new, showroom finishes, they all have a degree of wear.

MJT is one of the few nitro-spraying finishers left that does it on an aftermarket basis. Other full-time finishers that I know of are urethane/2K only these days, and many more have retired or closed their doors entirely.

Some people ask a similarly worded question looking for a vintage "recipe" of nitro, which really doesn't exist, despite the marketing claims of some retailers online.

 

[loopfinding]

The MJT body finishes can be real thin and sometimes flake if you look at them wrong. But this is kind of my my experience with vintage Fenders too, though maybe it’s laid on just a bit thicker.

But like with new and vintage Gibsons I can’t tell much difference, and between poly guitars and nitro Gibsons it feels like there’s less of a difference as well. They seem to lay it on much thicker overall than Fender ever did.

I’ve had the chance to play a lot of vintage Fenders and Gibsons in the last few years. While Gibson gets so much crap for their QC on fit and finish, the old ones and the new ones are pretty consistent in feel and quality. With Fender, despite the mythology, the pre-poly ones often just kind of feel like partscasters.

 

[Boreas]

Although impossible without a time-machine, it would be really interesting to see high-res pix of 50s-60s era guitars on the day they left the factory! I would like to know how light the necks were when young. Did Fender add any tint or stain the necks? Were they that ghastly pale white that can be seen on Bullet Squiers and such that seem to have no tint/stain? Looking at old pix and Kinescope TV recordings, they looked pretty light to me. But I don't know if "white balance" was a thing back then.

We have to clarify what we mean by "vintage style" nitro. Do we mean the actual chemical composition and application procedures, or do we really mean "vintage look" nitro?

 

[LooseCannon]

To clarify, I'm not looking for a new out of the factory look, I do want a vintage aged look.

I agree that the neck tint on vintage fenders also varies greatly, and the thickness of the nitro can also vary I guess according to how worn out the guitar is.

I have two nitro finished allparts necks that I've bought off a seller on ebay and the finish is a bit too orange/yelllowish and very thin (other people who've bought these necks think the same, there's a thread about these necks in this forum).
So I would like the tint to be less yellowish and the finish to be a bit thicker/glossier, if MJT can do that then that would be great as well.

 

[Bangdapoontwang]

Do you have a link to said thread about the necks or a keyword to search?

To clarify, I'm not looking for a new out of the factory look, I do want a vintage aged look.

I agree that the neck tint on vintage fenders also varies greatly, and the thickness of the nitro can also vary I guess according to how worn out the guitar is.

I have two nitro finished allparts necks that I've bought off a seller on ebay and the finish is a bit too orange/yelllowish and very thin (other people who've bought these necks think the same, there's a thread about these necks in this forum).
So I would like the tint to be less yellowish and the finish to be a bit thicker/glossier, if MJT can do that then that would be great as well.

 

[LooseCannon]

Do you have a link to said thread about the necks or a keyword to search?

Anyone ever buy a neck from this guy on ebay...

(link removed) They're called Aurora Custom Shop. He's on Reverb as well. Lots of great reviews. Sounds like Allparts necks that he finishes for you, etc. Seems like such a great price and I'm very tempted. Wouldn't mind a Strat neck as well. Would love to hear some feedback from the forum. Thanks!

www.tdpri.com

"1950s Finishes" Nitro Necks on Reverb

Has anyone bought a neck from "1950s Finishes" from Reverb? I am looking into getting a maple Tele neck (NOS not a relic) and was looking for opinions on this seller before I made any commitment. Link for reference only...

www.thegearpage.net

 

[Peegoo]

There really is no "best vintage style" finish, because even Fender occasionally changed their procedures.

It's like saying 1959 Gibson PAF pickups sound like [fill in the blank]. The fact is, those pickups all sound a little different from one another. Which specific 1959 pickup do you mean?

 

[stratisfied]

The MJT body finishes can be real thin and sometimes flake if you look at them wrong. But this is kind of my my experience with vintage Fenders too, though maybe it’s laid on just a bit thicker.

But like with new and vintage Gibsons I can’t tell much difference, and between poly guitars and nitro Gibsons it feels like there’s less of a difference as well. They seem to lay it on much thicker overall than Fender ever did.

I’ve had the chance to play a lot of vintage Fenders and Gibsons in the last few years. While Gibson gets so much crap for their QC on fit and finish, the old ones and the new ones are pretty consistent in feel and quality. With Fender, despite the mythology, the pre-poly ones often just kind of feel like partscasters.

My ex’s brother has a ‘66 Strat he bought brand new as a teen. He is meticulous with everything and the guitar rarely sees the light of day sitting in a case under the bed. It remains in mint, like new condition. It is CAR w rosewood. The finish on the neck was slightly straw colored and very thin. It was more like a semigloss than the hard gloss of today’s guitars. Plastics were still white with only the knobs and pickup covers slightly yellowed.

He asked me to do a setup on it as he didn’t trust a shop with it. I did that and put new strings on and played it a bit. I was pretty unimpressed compared to my own guitars. It did not have the feel I get from my ‘57 AVRI or perhaps I expected too much from a vintage guitar. It just didn’t have that sleek smooth feel I was expecting and like the other poster said, it felt more like a partscaster than a finished guitar. Both the neck and body finish were not slick and smooth feeling.

 

[Boreas]

To clarify, I'm not looking for a new out of the factory look, I do want a vintage aged look.

I agree that the neck tint on vintage fenders also varies greatly, and the thickness of the nitro can also vary I guess according to how worn out the guitar is.

I have two nitro finished allparts necks that I've bought off a seller on ebay and the finish is a bit too orange/yelllowish and very thin (other people who've bought these necks think the same, there's a thread about these necks in this forum).
So I would like the tint to be less yellowish and the finish to be a bit thicker/glossier, if MJT can do that then that would be great as well.

The appearance of a true vintage Fender neck likely has more to do with age, UV exposure, cigarette smoke staining, and dirt/sweat than the type, depth, and application of the nitro itself. It is a hard thing to replicate because vintage necks are often very different. Which one to replicate? This is one reason I like a shade of spray nitro that StewMac sells - "Aged Clear". It almost looks like sprayed-on dirt! Not the yellow/amber look of many modern colors.

 

[Sea Devil]

I thought this was going to be about the chemical composition, and I was looking forward to that. I've always suspected that the one ingredient that really differentiates vintage finishes from their modern iterations is lead. Its properties are well known: it's a great vehicle for color, and has a certain elasticity that makes it age very well. Artists love the intensity of Flake White, which is lead-based. The paint out of the tube is often described as "ropey," as opposed to the the more creamy consistency of Titanium White (true across many formulations from many brands, although fineness of grind and oil additives vary widely).

 

[stratisfied]

It’s all speculation. If you’re speaking actual lacquer, the new formulations are all very similar to each other. Unless you have a time machine, you can’t make a valid comparison to vintage formulations. If you’re speaking about vintage neck lacquer color, there is no standard. Guitar neck colors are the product of the conditions under which they were stored.

 

[Beebe]

I remember reading somewhere that nitrocellulose lacquer used to have a tea like color in the can.

My current favorite is using Propolis dissolved in alcohol and sealed with shellac. It has a really nice honey brown color.

 

[LuxInterior]

I’ve heard the Tea resemblance also. I’ve had excellent results with Oxford supply vintage blend lacquer - it dries thin and the crazing is exactly what I was looking for

Clear Guitar Lacquer | Oxford Guitar Supply

Explore our selection of relic-ready Clear Nitrocellulose Lacquers both in Gloss and Satin options.

oxfordguitarsupply.com