Who though this was a great idea?

[Ronkirn]

what's wrong with a thick skin? Elephants and Rhinos don't seem to mind...

 

[Wrighty]

Our feelings for each other are well-known and documented. She also knows that my wife (the way we are related) would cut her off at the path…emphasis on the word cut.

The woman has done everything she can to damage my marriage, my reputation and my family. Thankfully my wife finally agreed to remove her from the family…but I can still make my little quips if I see fit.

As far as the Tele surviving bashing me on the head:
My guitars won’t allow her to touch them…they don’t like her either

There’s one in most families, sad but almost inevitable.

 

[Bass Butcher]

Was it somwehere here that someone said that guitarists are the only people who want their guitar to look worn? Most products are designed to look as new as possible for as long as possible.

'Relicing' is the stupidest fad marketing ever to hit the musical instrument manufacturing industry. For guitars it began with one hobbiest 'restorer' doing amateur hour restorations on beat up Squier Teles and Strats mostly, because he didn't have the skills or space to do finish restorations. His solution was to sand the existing scars into the finish and call it a 'relic' and jack the price up by 100% based on that. His post restoration instruments weren't worth anymore as players then what he paid for them originally. He was basically trying to milk a couple of hundred out of used guitars he paid 200 - 300 for, initially asking around 500 for his guitars. I live in the same area and remember when his instruments began hitting the online buy and sell site I use. No one has been using his name for 'brand recognition' for relics for a few years now though.

 

[archetype]

5 MPH bumpers were becoming cool.

I guess thick poly was to protect your investment from the elements, negligence, and wear. I don't know why Fender continued supplying cases.

They should skip the case and spray the guitar with truck bed liner.

 

[Michael Smith]

They should skip the case and spray the guitar with truck bed liner.

Maybe Weathertech could do a laser measurement and create a perfect skin.

 

[Michael Smith]

Earlier it was suggested that I should use a Scotch Brite pad to take some of the finish off of the neck of my thinline Tele. I looked at their website and they have many different "grits" available, from ultra fine to coarse. Any idea which one I should look for?

 

[pbenn]

View attachment 1103025
This guitar had a busy life, before I acquired it, in 2007. It was gigged extensively, in Texas, then Alaska, then Texas and finally, in Scotland. Working players are going to value durability and a stable instrument, in such extreme conditions, so I don't imagine much fetish anxiety, about the finish of this one, in 1976, or subsequently.
I like the look and feel of a pretty guitar, as much as the next guy- but that's secondary, to it's functional qualities.

Off topic, Flaneur, but do you have 500K pots for the humbucker?
A Custom I heard here in town does, and I found the bridge a little shrill with it.

 

[papa32203]

My '68 - Stolen in 1984 - entrusted to a 'friend' to take to his View attachment 1103580
studio, for a session in San Marcos, Ca., he later told me ' studio was burglerized, your guitar is gone'. He got a bit of ins. $, I , however got nothing. Still bitter? Yep. That guitar had the best neck ever. The past is the past, but ya this still makes my gut hurt.

That guy is a dick.

 

[papa32203]

It is possible for the finish to wear on the '70s era Teles . Check out videos of Tab Benoit , he plays '72 Thinlines , and they definitely show wear . Honest wear .

But, he lives in the swamp, sweats like a Mofo, and plays 3 hour sets about 800 nights a year....

 

[ratdoc]

Earlier it was suggested that I should use a Scotch Brite pad to take some of the finish off of the neck of my thinline Tele. I looked at their website and they have many different "grits" available, from ultra fine to coarse. Any idea which one I should look for?

I've used the Green Light Duty Hand Pad (6448) or Light Grey Ultra Fine Hand Pad (7448 - similar to 00 steel wool) to simply scuff polyurethane necks. I've also used a series of Maroon General Purpose Hand Pad (7447 - similar to 0 steel wool), Light Grey, and White Light Duty Cleansing Pad (7445 - similar to 0000 steel wool) to take laquer finished necks down to smooth bare wood. None are too aggressive and are great for this type of work.

 

[Flaneur]

Off topic, Flaneur, but do you have 500K pots for the humbucker?
A Custom I heard here in town does, and I found the bridge a little shrill with it.

All the pots are the original, 1 meg type.

 

[Michael Smith]

I've used the Green Light Duty Hand Pad (6448) or Light Grey Ultra Fine Hand Pad (7448 - similar to 00 steel wool) to simply scuff polyurethane necks. I've also used a series of Maroon General Purpose Hand Pad (7447 - similar to 0 steel wool), Light Grey, and White Light Duty Cleansing Pad (7445 - similar to 0000 steel wool) to take laquer finished necks down to smooth bare wood. None are too aggressive and are great for this type of work.

Thanks ratdoc. So any light duty pad should do the job of cutting down on the glossiness of the poly finish on the neck.

 

[Matthias]

In my view, Fender only got their non-nitro finishing perfected in the 00s. The 70s thick skin was too thick, the 1980ish water-based stuff aged horrendously and from what I’ve read there’s a common problem with the neck finish lifting and chipping on 80s/90s US models. I really like the US PU finishes. It’s a good time to be buying guitars!

 

[Michael Smith]

In my view, Fender only got their non-nitro finishing perfected in the 00s. The 70s thick skin was too thick, the 1980ish water-based stuff aged horrendously and from what I’ve read there’s a common problem with the neck finish lifting and chipping on 80s/90s US models. I really like the US PU finishes. It’s a good time to be buying guitars!

My 1996 US Strat doesn't seem to have that problem, and it's been played a lot. Maybe I just got lucky.

 

[Matthias]

My 1996 US Strat doesn't seem to have that problem, and it's been played a lot. Maybe I just got lucky.

From what I gather it’s not universal but seems to crop up in a certain number of them, so it’s probable it’s more an issue some people got unlucky... It’s been covered more on Strat-Talk Than here I think. The ones that experienced the issue I think did so quite early in their life with little encouragement so I would expect yours is safe! To be fair, there‘s other things in the process that could cause issues other than the finish itself.

 

[sloppychops]

I was browsing the old Fender product catalogs online to find when the Fender thinline tele was first introduced (looks like 1972, the same year the Telecaster Deluxe was introduced), and kind of chuckled when I read about the finish on the guitar. My Squire Classic Vibe 70's thinline tele has the same finish, and I am not a big fan of it.

View attachment 1102551

Same era as bell bottoms and platform shoes, so no surprise there.

 

[ratdoc]

Thanks ratdoc. So any light duty pad should do the job of cutting down on the glossiness of the poly finish on the neck.

Yup - the finer ones just take a little more elbow grease. You'll have to touch them up once in awhile too since they'll get a little glossy again from playing...good luck.