Nitro finishes and guitar stands

[uOpt]

So far I have not been putting my known nitro finish guitars into my 5-stand Warwick stand, in fear of discoloration on the foam. It isn't much of a sacrifice since the instruments dust up and in any case there are also 6 guitars and basses in there without nitro anyway. Still, I'd like to poll people on what they think will happen.

So the first question is, what kind of foam do you need to cause discoloration? How do I tell?

Second, as we all know the really big differences between poly and nitro are there before you spray. After you spray and they dry for years the resulting paint might not be as different as people think. Various plasticizes, UV protection and other things might be more common in poly labeled paint and less in nitro labeled paint but that doesn't always have to be that way.

What do you guys do?

 

[Powdered Toast Man]

Re: Nitro finishes and guitar stands

If it's one of those side stands with the thick black foam then you probably have nothing to worry about. The only ones I've seen that melt a nitro finish are the stands with the rubber surgical tubing. I've got a 3 guitar "Rockstand" and I've never seen it react with my nitro guitars. My Hercules wall hangers are also fine.

I did have one of those vintage braided instrument cables give me problems with my nitro guitar. Those cables sometimes have a rubber boot around the jack end - well that rubber was touching the guitar body when I had the cable wrapped through my strap and it started to cause the body finish to react. The paint got all gooey and sticky around where it had been in contact with the rubber. I left it alone for a while and the finish eventually firmed back up. Thankfully it was on a black guitar.

Poly is indestructible (unless you physically hit the guitar against something).

 

[Bludave]

Re: Nitro finishes and guitar stands

The only time I leave a guitar on a stand is at a gig. If I bring more then one then the guitar I am obviously not playing is on a stand or in between sets. On very rare occasions when I am practicing at home I may set one on a stand. But I really don't like to. The safest places for your guitar is in the case or in your hand s period

 

[Demina]

Re: Nitro finishes and guitar stands

This is a subject I've wondered and worried about for some time. Don't know much that's definitive, but I'll share what I've found and thought about.

I don't know about the surgical tubing and in fact thought that it was safe? I may just be mis-remembering.

Several years ago I bought some el-cheapo stands from MF. They had black foam on them and had tags attached that said they should NOT be used with lacquer finishes. I do not remember if Nitro was specified or if it was simply lacquer.

I have looked at some of the rubber mesh that's sold at Wal-Mart for kitchen drawers. It appears to be a solid type of rubber rather than foam, and it has a warning that it could damage lacquer and urethane finished items. What looks like the same stuff is also sold for toolbox drawers and I've seen no warnings on any of that. (If urethane isn't safe, is Polyurethane enough different that it would be safe?)

I have read one story in a guitar forum, where a guy said that he'd laid his acoustic on top of it's closed gig bag (Outside was vinyl), and it damaged the nitro finish on the guitar.

I've also read that covering the offending rubber with cloth may not help because what actually does the damage is gasses coming out of the rubber, much like the outgassing lacquer does as it cures.

So all of that probably doesn't help much except to maybe make you paranoid about it like I am. Basically I don't use any rubber stuff that contacts the finish on a guitar. I'm only using one stand atm, and on it I have replaced the rubber tubing with some of the fiber stuff that is sold for pillow and quilt stuffing these days, and wrapped it with cotton tape. Seems to work great for padding purposes, but not very good for slippage prevention with guitars that have an angular bottom like a Jaguar or Firebird. I'm planning to build me a multi-guitar rack and I figured on using the same padding with felt stapled over it. That's how I covered the board I use on my bench or desk when working on finished guitars.

If you have some rubber covered item that you want to use, I'd recommend getting a can of nitro from Re-ranch or somewhere, paint a board with it and test the material.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Nitro finishes and guitar stands

Only one solution. I need to buy a nitro-finished beater guitar to test it out!

 

[scottish]

Re: Nitro finishes and guitar stands

+1 on this. ive never had a problem with the black foam on any of the guitars ive finished in nitro

If it's one of those side stands with the thick black foam then you probably have nothing to worry about. The only ones I've seen that melt a nitro finish are the stands with the rubber surgical tubing. I've got a 3 guitar "Rockstand" and I've never seen it react with my nitro guitars. My Hercules wall hangers are also fine.

I did have one of those vintage braided instrument cables give me problems with my nitro guitar. Those cables sometimes have a rubber boot around the jack end - well that rubber was touching the guitar body when I had the cable wrapped through my strap and it started to cause the body finish to react. The paint got all gooey and sticky around where it had been in contact with the rubber. I left it alone for a while and the finish eventually firmed back up. Thankfully it was on a black guitar.

Poly is indestructible (unless you physically hit the guitar against something).