I was just wondering, how long does it usually take before the finish begins to wear off of a maple neck strat? Assuming one plays the guitar for around 2 hours every day.
How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
my start with a maple neck is twenty years old. I am justy now starting to see string wear between the frets. the back is smooth as can be, but no bare wood yet.
this ax has seen heavy wear. two years of twenty hours a week.
I wonder how those really worn necks got that way?
The ultra cool wore out maple fretboards are finished with Nitro Lac.
It's thin and wears easily.
(And in some cases, is sticky and traps the dirt where it's played most)
The whole reason that Leo Fender switched to Rosewood fretboards in the early 60's
was because of the easy wearing maple boards.
Dogbite - Your Strat is from the 80's, right?
My '88 MIA Strat has a maple board as well.... and after 20 years is finally showing some wear.
Only in the first four frets where I play open pos. chords....
And it's really from having my finger nails 'chop' into the THICK polyurethane finish.
If you want a cool wore out maple board, you have to get one finished in Nitro Lac.
Ken
"The man who has begun to live more seriously within
begins to live more simply without"
-Ernest Hemingway
"A genuine individual is an outright nuisance in a factory"
-Orson Welles
yeah. I have a very early Strat Plus. I assumed it was nitro finished. I have lots of dents and beginnings of wear between the frets. I grind my vibratos so the string is getting down to wood.
I heard that the wear around the first three to four frets is called 'cowboy' wear. it is because the country western players did most of there work down there.
Fender switched to urethane undercoat/lac top coats in the late 60's I believe ('68????)
Which, if you've ever seen 60's white Strats that have a lac top coat/urethane bottom, the lac yellows, cracks,
and wears off.... while the urethane stays white underneath.
They have a 'dirty' look to them.... it's really just the two paints reacting differently to aging.
New Fenders (like our late 80's Strats) are finished in all urethane.
New MIM Fenders are generally finished in polyester.
Fender still makes guitars finished in Nitro lac.... though they are vintage, or like the EJ sig Strat.
Yeah, open chords are often jokingly refered to as 'Cowboy Chords'....
The reason mine has 'wear marks' there is because of the WAY I play open chords.... more with the finger tips than the pads
of the fingers.
So - my fingernails have, over time, 'chopped' into the finish.... much like when you chop down a tree....
The result is not quite the same as Lac wear; which is more from the fingerpads.
If my fretboard would have been lac finished.... it would be pretty wore out overall now.
Oh well.
Ken
"The man who has begun to live more seriously within
begins to live more simply without"
-Ernest Hemingway
"A genuine individual is an outright nuisance in a factory"
-Orson Welles
hey, ken. I use my fingers the same way you do.
I had a polyester finished guitar. just hated it. I set it down too hard once and a chuink of the finish came off. it was thick.
awful stuff.
LOL!
No kidding!....?
A lot of that is improper prep work too.
Still.... the less paint, the better!
Ken
"The man who has begun to live more seriously within
begins to live more simply without"
-Ernest Hemingway
"A genuine individual is an outright nuisance in a factory"
-Orson Welles
Here's a nice 50's Fender Esquire.... Lac finish; LOTS of wear!!!!
Here's a pic of my first three frets.... Urethane; not quite the same kind of wear :(
The ones off the edges, started as the finish flaked off the sharp edge - especially under the E & A strings on the 3rd fret.
They probably don't have that problem anymore with the rolled edge (that Twist is quite fond of :) )
(Sorry for the poor quality - my 5 yr old sons camera.... any attempt to correct it, made it grainier)
Ken
"The man who has begun to live more seriously within
begins to live more simply without"
-Ernest Hemingway
"A genuine individual is an outright nuisance in a factory"
-Orson Welles
How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?
Licks? Guitar licks? Does anyone here have a sense of humor? Humor? Aaaak Aaaak Aaaak...... anyhow, my only maple board guitar has marks from wear, but it's not a glossy finish on the neck, so different. Oh, and yes, it is cowboy wear, but funny cause I am a habitual noodler. :? Maybe it's dirt?
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Maybe it's dirt?
Only if you've been playing Grunge :lol:
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?
Not much. As long it is takes me to play Blitzkrieg Bop. 8)
Ive got a Fender Strat, Mexican plays really good reasoni got it is because i prefer the bridge and the neck cut to the american strat, but one thing is ive noticed that there is no wear on my frets, is theyre a reason for this and is theyre a way i can speed up the process :)
