Metropoulos Forum

NY Chief wrote:Fender started using that Fullerplast around '61 I understand.

The "internet" (in fact just one web sight) says around '63, but no proof whatsoever about the whole pre CBS Fender sealing process

stef wrote:

NY Chief wrote:Fender started using that Fullerplast around '61 I understand.

The "internet" (in fact just one web sight) says around '63, but no proof whatsoever about the whole pre CBS Fender sealing process

Yeah, '63 does sound more correct but I have seen it discussed a number of places.

Sealer and black. I my phone puts pic in sideways for some reason.

Brushed on a light coat of acrylic white. Seemed to work well. Looks better than some of the air brushed ones I've seen. Leaves a lot of the black grooves a holes underneath for contrast. Few more light coats and I'll add a light amber clear coat. Did the headstock as well.

Pretty cool, '50!

Oh... looky there, he finally seen the Orthodontist.

Bridge ? er yeah, I'd definitely would put brass balls on that...


(... looking good)

Intermission time: Sequel to Mr. Scary

I have a black Floyd I bought years ago for this. Had I known at the time I probably would have gotten a Gotoh.

I have a brass block somewhere as well.

Chief is spot on with the fullerplast . Its a rock solid when dry . It wouldn't matter how much sweat and junk was around with SRV or any body for that matter , this stuff can submerge in water and like I said , I swirled that body . It was dunked in water with the holes sealed with an acrylic caulk to keep it honest , but some bodies were dunked in the vat of fullerplast or resin entirely . Those were the ones that screamed . Put out cigs on them leave em outside in the rain. It was the bomb . I am just saying , without an agent to speed drying time , brush it on , its self smoothing and fills all the grain . Just be mindfull with drips and stuff . They will be hard to address . But very worth while . Its fun to dispute the nitro battle . I have been their and Chief was all over that . Nice . Funny thing is one of the few distributers for Fullerplast was near me after an absolute EXHAUSTING search , with my nasa engineer friend and all , it was so funny to be like , yeah we are right down the road , We were like really ??

wow the thread moved quick ! I guess don't be afraid for the acrylic on the outside too ! its the solid that makes it resonate . Much stronger than anything . It screams yoyo . That pic is out in the mail in a day or two . You may need a 12" drill bit to get to point B . Order that 500k and the 1 meg for sinister shreds !

Actually for the sealer I had a friend do at an auto body shop. Some type of gel coat that is super thin. Cant really tell its on there but the paint and primer didn't sink into the wood at all. You can still see the grain as I didn't grain fill on the back. The acrylic paint is nitro friendly, so I sprayed a few coats over.

quick hijack----

So plex, you're saying that the fullerplast increases the sustain as opposed to those who argue that the wood needs to breath?

BTW, Rory Gallaghers and SRV's battered strats are pre fullerplast which makes sense.

I was thinking the Fullerast was only used on the solid color bodies. It was a yellow solid color? So it wouldn't be on a sunburst though?

Good question but I would think they all needed to be sealed. I do know that early on they painted the yellow first coat of the sunburst then went to dipping in yellow dye to eliminate a paint step.

We ad a lot of testing going on over the years and the final Kramer finish was basically an acoustic Resin . John Hengy used to do all the ordering and sourcing and was stone cold secretive , even to this day about exactly what it was . We had old Woodstock and that was sourced from different areas and trees and experimented with finishes . Sealer , and nitro . Nitro no sealer . Oils , stains and wax . I think the sealer for fender was clear and tuned color . we tried to source the same and it was clear . We tried thinning down paints , just about everything . What I discovered was it starts with the wood . Some had the it factor , some did not . So many things were discovered . One thing is that the Fullerplast made each piece more consistant and our version was to bottomcoat or color coat and then the resin was on the outside encapsulating the entire body . It was virtually waterproof when done , still maintaining the same general tone as raw , but added sustain and a kind of tone amplification . It was very cool . We used to fix dings for instance with a filler of crazy glue , wet sand and buff right on a wheel . Red to white . it was like glass . They used maguires mirror glaze on the bodies because the oils would not absorb and it was pretty sick . I Personally prefer a light coat of nitro on a light body . I play very loud and I find like Korina which when very light just sings in way that is very unique . I also prefer carnuba wax and lemon oil on my necks . Sweat and all she always cleans up well with a rag and the wood seems to age a certain way that is very pretty sounding . It also feels good and you can control the amount of bite the feel has with the grade sandpaper on the neck . If you want it fast make it fine and the wax buffs nicely feels great and really holds up , 25 years on one neck for instance . Hope that helps .

Great stuff.

The neck for this is really wide, very thin. Almost Ibanez thin. Big wide frets. Downside is the heel truss rod. I should have made an access route. Perhaps later.

That secret stuff Plexified is talking about is pretty interesting.