My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

[SabbathFan0220]

This thread is a pretty wordy...I apologize in advance. Some background on this guitar:

I have another guitar body (not pictured) that I shaped myself from a body blank. I've had it finished at two different shops and have yet to be satisfied with the quality of the work. I ordered this Strat body from Warmoth about a year ago and decided to have them ship it to me unfinished so I could use it as a guinea pig at a new finishing shop (to avoid gambling with the custom one again).

This Strat body was finished in flat black nitro and arrived a few months ago with cracks, as described in THIS thread. The shop agreed to take care of the issues and the body just came back to me on Thursday. I gave it 36 hours to get acclimated before I opened the box.

I think it looks okay. Just okay. The finish is obviously very brittle (more so than any Gibson). I don't know if I'm just being picky, but I can't believe these finishing shops aren't doing better work for the price and the waiting time. It generally costs upwards of $250 to finish a body and takes at least a few months. The bottom line is, I'm not thrilled with the work and I'm not sure how I feel about sending them my custom body. I have yet to find a shop I can trust to finish my guitars.

Here are some of the issues:

The neck pocket was a little gummed up with finish. I guess it wasn't taped off. I test fitted the neck before sending out, and now the same neck doesn't fit. When I carefully sanded the sides of the pocket, two little pieces of finish flaked of the edge. I touched them up with a black pen but you can see the divots. I'm telling you guys...this stuff is brittle.

Notice the "cloudy" area above the bridge mounting holes in this picture (it's not the photo, those are really there).

Hairline cracks even though it had 36 hours to acclimate (24 in my garage and then 12 more in my house).

Not as big a deal, but the control cavity also had a heavy coat of paint (I've already sanded some of it down in this photo).

 

[SabbathFan0220]

Re: My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

The finish is so brittle that I'm scared to install the ferrules or screw the hardware in.

 

[bluesbend]

Re: My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

I gotta be honest. I could have the same job with a rattle can of flat black. I'd be pissed if I had payed good money and gotten that result.

 

[dme5500]

Re: My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

I agree with you. I would be upset, and I certainly would not entrust these guys with a one-of-a-kind.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

Nitro is brittle period and takes a lot of practice to get right.

May I ask who you are using??

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

Obvious question. Was the Warmoth body delivered to you with any sort of clear base and/or sanding sealer coat or was it absolutely au naturel?

 

[Jessie's ghost]

Is this a shop specializing in guitar finishing?

 

[saladin]

Re: My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

I gotta be honest. I could have the same job with a rattle can of flat black. I'd be pissed if I had payed good money and gotten that result.

exactly what I was thinking

 

[SabbathFan0220]

Re: My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

Obvious question. Was the Warmoth body delivered to you with any sort of clear base and/or sanding sealer coat or was it absolutely au naturel?

I believe it was bare wood. I spent a week with the body prepping it (drilling holes for harware, etc.) before it went out to the finishing shop and it didn't seem to be coated in anything.

 

[SabbathFan0220]

Re: My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I appreciate the honesty.

I'm actually more upset about the wait than the money. I've had this Strat and my custom build to and from finishers so many times now, it's been nearly two years of trying to find a decent shop. I'm ready to turn these piles of parts into guitars.

I wasn't planning on sharing the names of these shops but I guess it doesn't matter. I've tried these four:

Guitar Mill applied the finish to the Strat in the pics. Like I said...they tried twice. They only use nitro and apparently apply it very thin. Turnaround time is around six months.

Marty Bell finished a body for me about two years ago. He's done the best work for me so far. It wasn't quite on par with a factory finish, but pretty close. He only uses poly though and for this Strat I wanted to try nitro. Turnaround time is only one month.

Cara Guitars finished a body for me about a year ago. They did they worst work of the four. They also made a mistake and finished the back of the neck (I only wanted the headstock finished). Turnaround time was around six months. In the end, he refunded my money, so I'm not too bitter about it.

Sims Custom Shop finished two bodies for me about four years ago. While they had my bodies in the shop, I couldn't get in touch with them. They wouldn't answer emails or calls. After over a year, I called the police station in their town and asked them to step in, fearing I would never see my guitars again. The bodies came back to me a few weeks later (I guess the police knocking on their door made them work quickly). They looked decent, but the poly was a mile thick.

So that's the story so far. The search continues. I'm going to try and get my money back from this most recent shop, but it won't be easy. I guess I'm looking (again) for a reliable finishing shop who does quality work. Any suggestions?

 

[bluesbend]

Re: My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

So how much do think this body is eventually going to cost you?
Is it worth it?

 

[DankStar]

Re: My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

This is painful to read. Dumb Question - why not just have warmoth finish? Their guitars always look sick with their paint.

This would seem to be getting to the point of "if you want something done right, do it yourself," Maybe with a stew Mac video and an air gun in your garage. Then you can laugh at shops charging money for what you may end up mastering.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

That paint job was expensive for what you got IMO. If you are paying that much, you are basically paying for perfection. It's too bad you didn't complain when you had the chance, as most of us suggested in that other thread.

I'd try MJT, RS Guitar Works, or B. Hefner next time.

On the Marty Bell thing, if you wanted nitro, why on Earth did you send it to him, of all people? He is one of the most adamantly anti-nitro refinishers I've ever spoken with. You've got no right to complain about that one.

 

[CTN]

Re: My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

Wow.

Sounds like you should just get some lacquer rattle cans and do it yourself. At least that way you have 100% control and can oversee the entire process.

 

[SabbathFan0220]

Re: My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

So how much do think this body is eventually going to cost you?
Is it worth it?

No...definitely not worth it. I'm going to try to get a refund on this last one though. Obviously I'm hoping I can find a decent shop and never have to deal with do-overs.

This is painful to read. Dumb Question - why not just have warmoth finish? Their guitars always look sick with their paint.

Warmoth does a great job, but they won't finish a guitar once it's left their factory. In other words, they won't touch my custom made body (I asked).

That paint job was expensive for what you got IMO. If you are paying that much, you are basically paying for perfection. It's too bad you didn't complain when you had the chance, as most of us suggested in that other thread.

I'd try MJT, RS Guitar Works, or B. Hefner next time.

On the Marty Bell thing, if you wanted nitro, why on Earth did you send it to him, of all people? He is one of the most adamantly anti-nitro refinishers I've ever spoken with. You've got no right to complain about that one.

I did complain about this finish job initially. Like I said, they had me send it back and they redid it (free of charge). It's better this time around...but still not very good.

I'm not complaining about Marty Bell using poly, he did a good job with the other body he finished for me a couple of years ago. I was just saying that's the reason I didn't send him this body. I wanted to go with nitro on this one.

Thanks for the recommendations though, I'll try one of them next. Have you used them yourself?

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

Got it.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

Have you considered auto shops? They should be better at applying coats, I would think. Granted you probably can't get nitro (unless they spray it with NO2 :lol: ).

And isn't nitro historically brittle?

 

[AlexR]

Re: My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

I'd second MJT aged finishes.

They have done some work for one of our forum bros IIRC (can't remember who though), but his work was an un-aged finish in nitro....looked good from the pictures in the thread.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

I'd second MJT aged finishes.

They have done some work for one of our forum bros IIRC (can't remember who though), but his work was an un-aged finish in nitro....looked good from the pictures in the thread.

That's odd. I spent a fair amount of time trying to convince MJT to do a guitar with absolutely no relic work, and in the end, he flat-out would not do it. He said he was not "set up" to do it. I am still trying to figure out exactly what that means, since every relic job should start as a factory fresh paint job. There is nothing to be "set up" for if you simply omit the steps following the creation of that factory-fresh-style finish.

I have seen his work, and it is great. I just wish he would do a normal paint job. Most people will be fine with his mild "closet classic" job, but when I get a paint job, I want it factory-fresh looking. That's why you pay a professional painter, IMO – to paint...not to age his paint.

 

[AlexR]

Re: My Strat Is Back from the Finishing Shop...Can I Get Your Opinion?

Maybe he's had a bad experience since. Closet clean would be a nice finish regardless, just not super glossy.