Re: poly vs. nitro clear coat - age

In article <130h74ik2hi4877@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Jim <askme@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Squier wrote:

In article <1174962449.279049.218010@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Guncho <cgunter@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


On Mar 26, 7:02 pm, "Keith Adams" <keithad...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Squier why didnt you tell the stupid *** that the *** he reads about
guitar finishes is coming from people who want other peoples money? A nitro
finish is no harder to apply than a poly. It just takes longer between
coats. Guitar builders charge up the ass for it though and the only way they
can do this is to spread BS to stupid gullible pieces of *** like Guncho .

Squier, would you please tell Keith that I am not speaking to him.

Chris




Chris - first of all Keith knows exactly what he saying and doing.
I would not disrespect someone and tell who to talk to or anything like that.
That's between you and Keith.


anyways -

Honestly - in the early 1990's from 1990-1993 Fender made
their Amercian Standard (USA) Strats and teles using alder and ash veneers.
Not all the guitars - but a large amount were veneer over various ply
and pine and other really cheap woods. And you know what - there was
absolutley no tonal difference. Many people didn't even realize what
Fender was doing. In fact it took nearly a year before people in large numbers began
to realize that it was only a veneer and the finish was being applied on top of just a veneer.
It didn't stop them from buying USA teles or strats. It all sounded the same.
The strat still sounded exactly like a strat and the tele still sounded
exactly like a tele. I doubt you or I or anyone else would know the
difference. In 1994 Fender started to go back to making all their
USA Strats and Teles out of solid alder and ash once again.
And you know what - they still sounded the same. no better or worse.
Because all the hardware of 1990-1995 was always the same on Amer. standards - that didn't change.
Wood might make up such a small portion of what a guitar sounds like
that it is off the radar for what people can actually hear.
Anyways - if you would pick up a 1993 Strat that was alder veneer
and a 1996 Strat that was solid alder - you would not know which is which
and both these 1993 and 1996 guitars have exact same hardware and pups.
That's the constant that really counts.

I've NEVER heard that Fender used plywood on their USA guitars. Veneer
is different than plywood. I've read that SQUIER guitars were sometimes
plywood, but not USA Fender (or MIM, or MIJ, for that matter). Do you
have an independent source for this?


My bad - I stand corrected - it was Squiers with the ply -
USA Strats from 1990-1993 were poplar with alder or ash veneer.
There are MANY accurate sources for this information.

In any case - poplar is not alder or ash and my original comment still stands.
There is virtually NO difference in the sound of the 1990-1993 Strat or Tele
versus the solid Alder or Ash of 1994 and newer. The wood made NO difference
in the sound. The hardware and pups however remained the same during the
1990-1995 years and THIS is why they sound the same. The wood changed but
did not make any difference in the "tone". You can attribute this non-changing
tone of a Strat or Tele to the same hardware and pups throughout the years.
If wood was a major factor it would have completely changed the sound
of the Strat or Tele from 1990-1993. And this simply did not happen.

You are basically nit-picking. I may have erred on the exact different
wood but the fact is the wood was far different than solid alder or ash.

There are at least 2o different sources with this information but
perhaps using the information provided in an interview directly
from the Fender men themselves is best (below from Dan Smith and Blanda)



Here is just one of them (excerpt included below):
http://www.stratcollector.com/newsdesk/archives/000204.html


Since 1956, most Strats had been made of alder, except for the ash-body
transparent finishes.

Dan Smith: ³For a while, the environmentalists didn¹t want us cutting alder.
There was an endangered species controversy, with some logging restrictions up
in Oregon, so we had to use poplar. Leo had used it on many guitars ? Musicmasters
and others ? and we later used it for the Bullet guitars. It¹s a good wood.
We used it on some American Standards in the early ¹90s. From the beginning,
poplar was spec¹d to be used on the American Standard as a substitute.²

George Blanda: ³All the Strat bodies were alder up until about 1990.
When it got so hard to get alder, we were faced with either using poplar
or not making guitars. There¹s a misconception that poplar is not a good
tone wood. Actually, it¹s fine. James Burton actually specified it for his
signature Tele in the late ¹80s, after trying a lot of different bodies.
We never regarded poplar as a second-rate wood, but a lot of people preferred
alder so when the restrictions eased, we were able to go back to alder in ¹93 or ¹94.²
.