Fender’s Switch from Nitrocellulose Lacquer to Polyurethane in 1968 - Ask Zac 163 

I bought a used '68 Tele in 1974. The maple neck was poly, and it was hell. The stuff welled up against the frets, so the fretboard profile was almost scalloped. It was like they dipped the neck in polyurethane. Massive friction on the poly made bending a chore. I stripped it off with Strip-Eze, which melted the plastic fretboard marker dots. I replaced them with white pearloid. I refinished the neck with Watco Danish Oil and Johnson's paste wax. The neck plays like a dream since then, and has aged beautifully.

I have a blond 67 bigsby tele that bought at a little music store in Oak Hill, WV. It had been languishing in the upper floor of the building for a year or so after being on display in the front window and failing to sell. That was in June 1970. I had stopped there looking for a Tele since I loved the sound of Luther Perkins on those old Johnny Cash songs. The owner said he thought he had one upstairs and climbed the stairs to bring it down. When he pulled it out of the case, my eyes lit up and I told him I wanted it. We noticed some dark places in the paint where it had set on the stand. He told me they were because the paint reacted to the rubber. I ask what kind of paint was on it and he said acrylic lacquer. He had some tooth powder (I don’t think they make it anymore) and rubbed some on the stains and removed most of it. I still have the guitar and it has yellowed and checked a little but not as much as the neck. It has a date stamp of Sep 67.

that old blonde nitro teles look so darn good when they age like that. I love it! great stuff Zac!

Fullerplast! It was/is a rather thick white-ish plasticized acrylic undercoating used on old Fender bodies. It is NOT named for Fullerton. Fullerplast is still sold but it is now a thick clear poly acrylic coating, most often used on bows (hunting) and gun stocks. Fuller made surfacants, dryers, and other additives for paints. Now they also make expanding spray insulation. I owned stock in Fuller for a while. I made a little money from it too.

What a great education and what a treat to see all the vintage Teles back to back. The Nitro ages so beautifully. To my taste anyway. I work in a vintage guitar store so I'm prejudiced. Here's a video I'd like to see Zac (or someone) do, and that's a comparison of Tele and/or Strat pickups over the decades. It's obvious from the reissue pickups offered by Fender and boutique pickup makers, that they must think they know how pickups from each era tend to sound. But it would be cool to hear original pickups in original vintage instruments and compare the sound. I imagine much of what we'd hear as differences would be corroborated by design elements and components of the pickups that changed over the years. I'd love to see that video.

I’ve got a mid-seventies strat, 76’ I think, with very heavy play wear similar to the 72’ you showed. 3 color sunburst; the arm wear shows red through the black then down to wood. It also appears to have the dark headstock like the one in this video; the front of the headstock is also super checked while the back is pretty clean. Excellent video! This is premium information for the vintage guitar nerds out there!

My gripe with Fender and the use of poly is that it is usually put on way to thick and gloppy on the necks and fretboards.I bought a beautiful American Standard Tele from Sweetwater in 2016 when they were blowing them out. Opened the box, opened the case, picked it up, sent it back. the fretboard had a thick coating of poly that I never should have tolerated. I now have a 2017 or so Classic Player Baja Tele that is still poly, but it was applied with some restraint. looks and feels great.

Zac i just want to say after finding your channel it has been a big inspiration to make me want to start playing again. Thank you

I have painted a lot of Maple necks Warmoth, Allparts etc. I just painted Warmoth neck with Nitro and then clear coated the finger board with clear Poly so I don’t get those nasty wear marks. I also repainted the first three frets on a 2007 52 AVRI Tele. The only real vintage guitar I own is a ‘63 DuoSonic and it has a. Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard. I got it at a pawnshop and I I think it might be one of the first Candy Apple Red Fender guitars.

The headstocks were darker because they had to use lacquer with the old style water dipped decals. The poly dried too slow and the decals would wrinkle up. When they went to silk screen logos, they started shooting the entire neck with poly paints. They still do it that way.

That’s a good starting point for the evolution of CBS era Telecasters. Lots of changes from ‘67 to about ‘75. A cool AZ episode would be to go more in depth on CBS era Teles.

BEAUTIFUL Telecaster! Been playing since 1960-61, and if I remember correctly, the harder finishes were done because the NITRO was wearing out and pitting the board and wearing off the back of the neck.

Thanks Zac. Became a patron yesterday. I owe my newest Tele selection to you and Brent Mason. Thanks for the review! I got a used Brent Mason signature from 2020 and I love it! Thanks for all your Telecaster archeology!!!

Zac, you never cease to amaze me! You have found so many interesting topics that nobody else would ever have thought of! Thanks for these GREAT video's and thanks for bringing out the guitar nerd that I always knew was in me! GREAT JOB!!!

I recieved my Blungeon masterbuild tele. It feels like it's made of styrofoam. The lightest guitar I have ever held. Sounds incredible. This is my lifer, my new best friend.

I own a few 1970s Fenders with insane amounts of checking. My assumption was always that certain colors were more likely to check, and they experienced climates with more drastic temperature changes. Before I owned these guitars, I always thought poly finishes didn't check, and they don't as easily as nitro ones, but it does happen. For instance, I owned an early Custom Shop Fender Nocaster from the 1990s, and it was nitro finished, and the pain off wore just like the 50s Telecaster in this video, but had no checking because I kept it in a stable environment. I also own a modern classic player Stratocaster in poly, and that things finish is bullet proof. There metal parts are rusted and beat to hell, but the finish is like the day I bought it. I think a lot boils down to the individual finish, how it was applied, and the beating the guitar took there after. There is also the complication of different types of finish being layered on top of each other. They were using nitro on headstocks pretty much all the way the Fullerton production runs, so pretty much all my vintage Fender headstocks are checked even when the rest of the guitar is not.

Thanks Zac, every little bit of info & perspective helps in understanding all that goes into guitars and music. And, Dan's dog adds a bit of warmth to your presentation

According to Fender's own website, tje headstocks continued to be nitrocellulosed after the fender logo was applied up until 1980.

Great demo, Zac. Thank you for having such an informative and entertaining channel.

Well, that was fascinating! And seeing videos like this always remind me of my very first decent electric: it was a '69 Tele Thinline, mahogany body, maple neck. I had it for many years, but never really got on with it. The neck was a pronounced "D", and the frets were quite low which (with my limited skill) made for uncomfortable playing up the neck with single note things. But it did have that poly finish. I gigged with that guitar a fair bit in Toronto region: one weekend we were out somewhere, in winter, and didn't unload the gear from the trailer overnight. Next day ... of course, that poly was seriously cracked! (You would never call it "checked"!) Not pretty, but it still played the same. (It was eventually bumped for an '83 Strat Elite, which I loved, though sadly both instruments now long gone.). Thanks for the walk down memory lane!

Super as always Zac. Your channel is Nirvana for fellow Tele nuts. Have a great weekend. Thanks.

Cool stuff. I have had a 83 jazz bass. Which has been olympic white and it has turned more like yellow butter over the years. Close to the color of your guitars. I love this look. When you remove the pickguard you can see the original color. Cool to compare. I loved the look. The exposition to uv can change the color. Especially with red / yellow colors they can change quite a bit.

Thanks Zac, much appreciated. Love your comment about no preference between poly and lacquer, its either a good guitar or its not. My very first Stratocaster was a 25th Anniversary I purchased new in 1979, sadly, it was one of the worst Stratocasters I've ever owned. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you there was a half pound of poly on that guitar. Great Content, Thank You Sir.

Here's a suggestion for new episodes: How guitar cables affect tone and an episode about caps Fender put in their guitars over the years and the differences between them

Thanks for the video Zac. This is a comparison that most of us will never be able to make first hand. Hope you're having a great holiday weekend!

Excellent run through of this topic, Zac. I have Tele 73 with poly maple neck. It’s been played really hard. But neck finish is really good condition, some years they obviously used some super quality poly. Keep the vids coming!

Cool , thanks for this , the more i learn about old teles the more respect i have for leo fender, yep

You thought right, Zac! Definitely enjoyed this. I love those darker headstocks.

Fascinating video, Zac! That ‘69 neck!! Reminds me of my long gone Bigsby Tele….I love the clubby feel on those.

Thank you for stating you have no problem with poly. For those of us who can't afford the nitro variety.

Fascinating and illuminating... as usual! ;)

Good episode Zac. I had read some years ago that Fender used lacquer on the headstock when they were using poly on the necks because they had issues with the headstock logo when using poly. Don’t know how much truth is in that statement. I know that later on they used the term Fender “thick skin” finish on their necks too. Seems so weird these days because we want the necks on our guitars to be an ultra thin lacquer or no lacquer at all. I used to own a hard tail Strat with the headstock serial number dating it a 1979 whereas the body was dated in 1983. The headstock was lacquer and yellower than the neck the same as the video. It had a super small neck too. Very narrow and thin. However I did like the guitar and especially the neck pickup. I sold it to a good friend as a trade to have a handmade Strat built to my specs so I don’t regret it.

My old Strats all have dark lacquer over the decals. Fender wasn’t very precise with the lacquer. My Black Strat has that dark amber tint on the headstock and the first three frets. Thanks for the video. I just assumed it was because poly damaged the old decals. Thanks again.

What a brilliant video Zac! Thank you!!!

I've been waiting for a long time for that kind of video, so thank you Zac. As a long term owner of a 1981 International Color Series (Orange Capri) Telecaster, I would have appreciated to see some late 70's and early 80's in that vid. Cheers from France

...was based on economical factors not concern for guitar players and our never-ending hunt for 'that tone'. Cheers.

Thanks Zac. I just recently got interested in the difference between historical tele necks,

I cannot imagine the kind of finish on solid body guitar making any difference in sound. Certainly on hollowbody or even a chambered guitar its possible it could effect sound. I worked at a Music Store when Gibson first started making custom shop guitars. I was turned off to nitro laquer from that experience. Gibson was shipping us guitars with uncured finishes. and Nitro will react to many materials that guitar stands and wall mounts are made of. surgical tubing, plastics, etc cause rashes on new gibsons.

Great video, Zac. Thank you.

There’s also confusion around their lacquer finishes. As the auto industry changed CAB lacquer instead of nitro lacquer, Fender started using it too. Fender also used both CAB and nitro (Duco and Lucite were DuPonts trade names). Fender would sometimes clear over the CAB with nitro and sometimes not. This would affect the color over time. CAB stands for cellulose acetate butyrate. These refer to the binder and main film forming component of the lacquer.

My 70s mustang has that same combo of poly neck with nitro headstock face. Supposedly there was some kind of compatability issue with poly and the decals they were using at the time

Great video, thanks Zac! And now we know the secret to Dan's relic process: take a couple of bricks to it! 😄

Interesting info here !! Thanks for the video !!

Thank.s Zac Have two Telacasters one of each finish. love them both.

such a cool video man. thanks zac!

Interesting video Zac. I have never been a fan of the beat up look. I remember about 45 years ago a guitar shop owner tried to convince me that a 12 string Gibson acoustic he was selling was worth more because the finished all cracked. I think the phrase “”cool checking” was dreamed up by shop owners trying to unload abused instruments. Honest wear is one thing but neglect or fake aging, - no thanks.

Thanks for sticking your neck out there Zac.

Great vid!! Thank you!

I love this! ❤ thanks Zac 😊

Beautiful patinas! Love the info

I like the color on that Tele with the Bigsby, reminds one of TV yellow.

March ,looks like August to me . Am I that blind ? Lol. Great video Zac . I love that checking on the old nitrocellulose finished git fiddles.🇺🇸👍

Thanks for the video.

I have a MIM nitro finish neck and noticed that during some really hot days in the house, the back of the guitar that was resting up against the guitar stand, the nitro finish 'peeled' off in the spot that it was leaning on the rubber piece on the stand...I do notice that the nitro finish is 'softer' than the poly finish on my 1980's American Standard Tele as it has aged nicely and no peeling of the finish from it leaning on the guitar stand !

Love this video, seeing them together. It would be interesting to talk to someone in the finish room from the era. I’m thinking exposure to light is the biggest factor on yellowing. Do we know which lacquer and poly product Fender used?

My 1970 Telecaster certainly has poly on the fretboard and neck back but clearly lacquer on the headstock. The blonde body has tons of checking like the Strat in this video.

my 95 tele neck and headstock started peeling first signs maybe 14 years ago

That was informative, thx!

Nothing feels like how my 1960s Strat neck feels. Custom shops are great but can’t perfectly replicate the awsome feel of that old warn nitro

great vid! Thanks!

I have a ‘77 Musicmaster bass that has an all nitro neck (lots of wear down to the wood on the back, same coloring as headstock face) . I recently also had a ‘78 MM bass that had a poly neck with the nitro headstock face. According to a Retrofret listing for one of those basses, Fender kept using nitro for cheaper models into the ‘70s because poly was considered a sort of upgrade for the higher end models. Also, I wonder if the rosewood board made a difference in choosing to still use nitro as late as 77.

Thanks for the cool closeup Zac! I hope you are doing well.

The Strat May have been played in Smokey bars to obtain that darker headstock that rest of the neck doesn’t have, because of the left hand constantly going up and down on it ???

Woof !! Thx Zac

I have no opinion on the finishes, but, I DEFINITELY recommend against finishing that bowl of oatmeal.

Thanks for taking us on a field trip, Zac. The face of the headstock on my 1975 Precision bass is one of the darkest I have ever seen. It is for sale right now, wink wink.

Great video

That strat looks really cool

I love this fiddly shit. My '68 has flush body ferrules like a '67, originally had a nitro body (that someone stripped, as they were wont to do. I've since returned it to nitro), and a poly poly neck with the thin application; it's worn through on most of the first and second positions. It's also go a heap of flame on the back. Maple Caps are my absolutely favorite.

I've had a nitro AVRI '52 Tele and Player Tele. I traded the AVRI and kept the Player. The Player sounds really good to my ear and through my amps. I don't care about nitro vs. poly anymore. I used to when I heard so much about nitro and wanted a nitro guitar as they must be better/more original. Have owned many Fenders and Gibsons at this point, either is fine. The best Les Paul I ever owned was a Epiphone Les Paul Standard (and yes, I've owned proper Gibson Les Pauls including a Standard). Some guitars just have mojo and make you want to play. I think it's a combination of the feel of the guitar and the sound it makes. Yeah, the Epiphone Les Paul had mojo and was kind of beat up and came from a teenage kid who had just joined the Navy. His dad traded me it because he was a working musician who need an amp and I'd never owned a Les Paul or maybe even an Epiphone and wanted to see what they were all about.

Thank you for not making those guitars reliced by dragging them behind your car!

Man says to pet bird, "Poly wanna laquer?"

My 82’ Dan Smith aged just like that 73’ darker headstock, same on the body, like it’s younger brother .

I've had two 70's Fenders that were definitely Nitro...they were both sunbursts - a 1972 Jazzmaster and a 1973/4 Mustang. Both had checking like nitro and, on inspection with some acetone in an inconspicuous area under the guard, confirmed it as such. Neck was nitro too. Both the clearcoat and the black/red of the burst melted with the thinners. I can only assume they were using up old paint stock as was common with Fender's 'waste nothing if possible' policy

Great content for us spec freaks!

Call me crazy but I’m a bit of a sucker for CBS Fenders. Even the thick poly finishes are growing on me… especially when there’s some honest wear.

This lends credence to the forum people who say that my 2022 Tele (advertised as "gloss lacquer") was probably finished in poly with 5% nitrocellulose at most, because its neck looks pretty much identical the '69 one. Either way it feels fantastic. Good to know

I have a ‘68 Tele that was bequeathed to me. It has a rosewood board on a maple neck, no skunk stripe. Somewhere along the line the finish was stripped and a light oil sealer applied, revealing a beautiful swamp ash body. We think the original finish was “see through” blond. Beautiful piece of wood, highly grained and extremely lightweight. The headstock has minimal wear or checking. I’m not sure if the finish on the neck itself is poly or lacquer, but likely poly. Any hints on what the body finish may have been would be appreciated. It has a vintage-styled black pick guard in good condition. I doubt it’s the original guard but it is a Fender guard. The ash body seems fairly rare for a ‘68. From what I gather, Fender only used ash for the “see through” blond finished bodies by 1968. I’ve seen that particular finish and it does allow the deep ash grain to show through beautifully. As I said, any info would be appreciated!

? Didn’t that neck have 3 AUG on it 🤔

Love it!!!!

I would query the 1957 date for the first Tele, as it has an 8-hole pickguard which came in late 1958.

Yes, they made great improvments in finishes. The poly was a lot more durable (finish didn't wear out nearly as easily.) Poly finished guitars stay nicer looking, longer. Love me a shiny guitar. I show enough age, myself. I don't need any help from a worn down guitar. The whole museum thing with guitars, makes no sense to me. I wouldn't be driving a Model A Ford, either. I'd like to see a demographic breakdown of how many old guys are buying new guitars, and are made to look "distressed." In light of the fact that they, themselves look distressed, I wonder how many of these old guys are interested in compounding the distressed look with a new guitar, that is made to look old.

Much appreciated! (but that first Tele - the ’57 - what’s with the weird stringing at the tuners? Did Dan do that!?)

Leo Fender didn't like seeing his guitars getting worn-down (the "relic" we now like), part of the reason he went from all maple necks to rosewood fretboards, although the warping problem causing him to replace necks for free contributed too. Contrary to popular opinion, like Everett Hull at Ampeg - Leo Fender also didn't like distortion, the reason his amps kept getting louder and louder, but I digress. The old nitrocellulouse lacquer was different from what Fender and Gibson use on production guitars now, although their custom shop guitars MAY use a different formula (I'm no expert on finishes). I remember reading that telecasters went from poly to nitro after strats, and some guitars used a combo of poly bodies with nitro necks, sometimes just the face of the headstock would be poly? I may have that wrong, plus everything I know comes from "sources", so whatever. I love my Shijie telecasters and strats way more than Fender versions - even their models costing twice as much or more. Shijie uses poly, but a thin coat on the body, and thinner on the neck with a satin finish - smooth as a woman's boobs (I never felt a babies butt)!

Is it possible the 72 strat body is some type of acrylic lacquer? Fender was known to use acrylic in the mid to late 60s which can still wear pretty nicely. I’ve always been interested obsessed with 70s Strats. This was a great video.

Great video, Zac! That 57 looks amazing, but why is it strung like that? 😂

Really informative. I was wondering if an Ultra-violet lamp would make the Nitrocellulose darker if it was aimed at the Guitar for a few hours? Thanks.

Leo experimented with duco and dulon he went with the common automotive paint of the day in the US .Being the fanatic he was he’d probably hate the checking of nitro

I've two newer Teles. Both, after the first ding, began chipping, convincing me that the bodies were dipped in plastic. The '52 reissue weighed way too much. I replaced the body with white pine, coated in nitro after putting binding on it. I am reconstructing the other, an '05 Deluxe Nashville Power Tele. One reason is to remove the poly. The other, I don't like the Nashville pickup setup. It doesn't do Tele or Strat well... also, the pickups are way too hot Tex Specials... great for an SRV sound, driven hard.... but I'm an old man, outgrew that sound. This will be my solo performance guitar. The Fishman bridge is "acoustic like." It can be made to sound good, but it won't fool anyone that it is acoustic. It is a decent, well made guitar. My beef is the finish chipping, and the pickup setup and type. I'm a fan of the early 50's Tele sound, clean, twangy... The blended pickup and piezo sound is heavenly... and I'd bet even more so with 50's Tele magnetics. Where's that heat gun?

Thanks Zac. Those bridge pieces on the 57 look angled?

Any reasons why a Polyurethane Lacquer would have a darker tint compared to Nitrocellulose lacquer? I would think lacquer is a Clean Coat so it shouldn't have any tint to it

The fender black logo happened within a few weeks after Leo sold the company

i like the rust on that first oldest one

I’ve been waiting for 35 years for something like this, but now I have more questions. My ‘67 sunburst Tele has a pretty brittle top coat over that Fullerplast. The nitro seems to be flaking off the undercoat leaving a smooth undercoat surface. I didn’t think Strats switched to the zinc alloy saddles until later. Would love to know more about the different finish formulations over the years. I’m about to build a black guard Tele-Gib and I’m thinking about just doing a thin brush on finish like Rick Kelley does. Thoughts?

Regarding the '67 tele. I think you called the white layer under the body color "fillercast"? If so, the name implies that it is a filler which might hint that the body wood is swamp ash as it is a more pitted wood. And in order to use a solid color such as the blonde would require a filler to cover the pits inherent to swamp ash. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Fender begin to use Alder bodies so that they could avoid the need to use a filler before placing the body color? I have an Anderson telecaster which is swamp ash but has a translucent color. My Fender tele has an alder body and is solid color. Acoustically the sound of alder is much more percussive sounding when playing it without an amp. I'd love to hear your take on my comments if you have time. I feel like I have learned so much from your videos!

I just want the old finish back.

I recently played a new American Vintage II Tele Thinline in a natural finish, and it was more orange than I expected. Would a poly finish on natural wood affect the colour like that?

Nice video! So, the rosewood necks aren't coated, right?

I have an 1988 tele that i had refretted. He messed up the maple fretboard finish and he sprayed nitro on the neck. Sadly i do not like the "aged" nitro as its too orange. Not at all like my pre cbs bass neck. I want to strip it and put poly back on it. Any sugestions on what product to use. I think laquare thinner should work to take off the nitro. Leaving the what original finish thats left behind. Just going to be carefull with the decal.

Used to have a late 70s Tele bass with the humbucker pup. Sadly I sold it in 1984. It was a whitish blonde I think. I sold it in S. America since they had a hard time getting quality stuff down there and I was moving back to the states. This was before the whole vintage market appeared I think. At that time it was just an older used guitar. It was probably poly. I know my 81 Tele is poly.