1968 Strat Neck Finish?

[theactor19]

Hey guys, I'm in the process of ordering a neck from musikraft. Wanting it to be like either one of Jimi's two strats that he used in the last two years of his life. You know, the black or vintage white, both with maple boards.

I'm wondering what the finish should be on the neck to be the most correct of these guitars. I emailed musikraft and they offer these kinds of nitro finish:

Clear Satin Laquer
Light Tint Satin Laquer
Dark Tint Satin Laquer
Clear Gloss Laquer
Light Tint Gloss Laquer
Dark Tint Gloss Laquer

Which would be best? In terms of tint, musikraft was saying the light tint be right for a 68 strat. So what should the right one be?

thanks

[stef]

Clear Gloss Laquer

[Brandon]

+1

Can't go wrong with clear gloss. Jimi's necks had no unnatural tints IMO.

Over time it will yellow and darken naturally anyway, or just let it get some sunlight to accelerate the process.

[yngwie308]

The necks themselves were laquer, the headstocks polyurethane, hence the discolorization between the neck and headstocks, the headtocks yellowing more dramatically at first.


yngwie308

[stef]

the neck was poly (AUC) and the headstock was nitro, hence the headstock yellowing more

What Did Fender Use after Lacquer in 1968?
Bob Gowan ran the Fender finish shop for Leo Fender and for CBS until he got sick of CBS and quit in the early 1970s. It was the decision of Bob and another gentlemen at Fender in 1968 to change to Aliphatic Urethane Coatings (aka "Poly") on the guitars. Fender immediately went from numerous coat application of clearcoat lacquer to *two* coats of Aliphatic Urethane. The decision was strictly a labor thing, but in the process, the decision essentially ruined Fender instruments!

Also it should be noted that 1968 and later Fenders are not entirely AUC (Aliphatic Urethane Coating). What Fender did was seal the body (as always), and then spray the sunburst colors with lacquer. Now instead of using lacquer as the clear coat over the sunburst, they just sprayed two coats of AUC. Also the face of the peghead stayed entirely lacquer, even though the rest of the neck was spray with AUC. This happened because the peghead "Fender" decal reacted with AUC. The problem occured because in 1968 Fender now clearcoated *over* the peghead decal for the first time.

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[MacGaden]

The necks themselves were laquer, the headstocks polyurethane, hence the discolorization between the neck and headstocks, the headtocks yellowing more dramatically at first.

It´s the other way around.

[yngwie308]

Yes I thought I had it wrong, the headstock is the lacquer thus the discoloration, ply will not yellow in a hundred years,
yngwie308

[yngwie308]

On my recently received custom built Hamer SS-3 clone, it has a flamed maple cap fingerboard with lacquer and the back of the neck is unfinished, which I find to be superb.
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yngwie308

[ToneBone]

Like this:

[Tone Slinger]

TBone, thats a early '71 isnt it ? You got the walnut plug instead of the bullet rod right ? One piece too huh ?

[ToneBone]

TBone, thats a early '71 isnt it ? You got the walnut plug instead of the bullet rod right ? One piece too huh ?

All true. It's from May '71 if I recall correctly - it's been decades since I've had the neck off.

[Tone Slinger]

You have the rarest 'CBS' era Fender of all. The neck on your strat is SUPER RARE. Basically a '50's style One piece with a skunk strip, EXCEPT,,,,, NO BULLET ROD. Fender did a small run like this as they were getting ready to LAUNCH the 'New' Bullet Rod .

The machinery changed yet again to yield the one piece maple neck, and to ONLY produce SMALL amounts of the (still vaneer) rosewood boards. 85 to 90 percent of '70's strats had a maple board. Yours was a limited run of only a few months.

Very Rare indeed.

[ToneBone]

Yessir, I'm aware of the rarity of the early '71's. Its a sweet player too. I paid $450 for it in 1977. The previous owner was in a band called "Muskrat" (stenciled on the case) but quit music and the guitar was stored in a closet for about 5 years before I got it. It's been a good friend ever since.

[Xplorer]

yes, well i don't know as much as you guys, on fender historical, in details, about the lacquer they used. But something that could be possible, would be that they used some polyurethan as a base, you know, this hard layer of lacquer, and then applied some cellulosic. I say this because professional told me that for my polyurethan neck, it could be possible to sand it a little, and use it as a thin layer before to apply some cellulosic lacquer on it. he told me that it can be a very good base for that, when used as thin layers.
from what i know, polyurethan never change, or yellow over time.
the really bad stuff is polyester.

Yes I thought I had it wrong, the headstock is the lacquer thus the discoloration, ply will not yellow in a hundred years,
yngwie308

[Xplorer]

i think that fender used some tinted lacquer sometimes. here it is one of my jeff beck strat, the other one, from the same era is way lighter. i don't know why, on the same production, it varys like that.