Nitro tele for cheap?

[AustinS]

I really like that beat-up look that guitars get when their finishes wear off but I'm left handed (which limits my options even further) so so far the cheapest option for a tele with a nitro finish I've found is a used American 52 reissue for over a grand. I've considered refinishing a MIM telecaster but I'm not sure how complicated it will be to refinish it and I've heard nitro takes months to dry, what do you guys think is my best option? Also I'd prefer it to be that butterscotch blonde color and I'm not a fan of relicing

 

[Taz Rules]

Re: Nitro tele for cheap?

I've always found nitro lacquers to be quite fast-drying.

You could always do a Jimi, and flip a RH guitar upside-down! (Might look a little weird on a tele, though. :boggled: And cause some upper fret access issues.)

The easiest way to "relic" it is to play the hell out of it for a few years, and voila! The finish wears off!

 

[AniML]

Re: Nitro tele for cheap?

You can build a quality Tele for about $500-$600 . Use Reranch nitro color and either use their clear or I've found Minwax acrylic lacquer to be a great clear. But a build that you are also finishing is a lot of detail work

 

[Cdwillis]

Re: Nitro tele for cheap?

I've been eying up some unfinished tele bodies on eBay by a seller named Tone Bomb. You might want to look those up. Not sure if he has lefties or not. Some guys on TDPRI have used his stuff, but I can't vouch personally.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Nitro tele for cheap?

The problem is getting the old paint off a MIM Tele.

I'd get a random unpainted body and a classic 50s neck or somesuch.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Nitro tele for cheap?

Buy a nice body (and neck) from warmoth or your manufacturer of choice.
Sand it down real nice and clean it with metho (i think its called rubbing alcohol in the USA).
The just use reranch or whatever other nitro you can get in a can and spray it. Don't worry about primer, don't worry about clear over the top. You'll get a real thin skin that you can still make out the woodgrain on. If you want a perfect flat finish with no grain marks, use primer first. Personally tho, the less paint on the wood the better.
Give it a few days to dry (up to a week), then polish it (i just use car wax and polish like meguiars) and put it together.
Nitro actually takes weeks and sometimes months to fully cure.
In the meantime, the fresh nitro stays a little soft and will wear naturally on all the regular wear areas simply by playing it a lot.
In a few months you will have an axe that has legitimate play wear (no angle grinder or sandpaper marks) that looks like it has been played for years. After those first couple of months the nitro will have set pretty well and won't wear as fast.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: Nitro tele for cheap?

Warmoth insists their Poly bodies are extemely thin, and that there is no differnce in tone from Nitro. I myself question this.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: Nitro tele for cheap?

I've been eying up some unfinished tele bodies on eBay by a seller named Tone Bomb. You might want to look those up. Not sure if he has lefties or not. Some guys on TDPRI have used his stuff, but I can't vouch personally.

With run of the mill substandard 4,5, even 6 piece bodies of pretty bad grade wood, on MIM body , you'd be a fool to even want to try anything of the kind.

 

[Will S-T]

Re: Nitro tele for cheap?

I much prefer the sweat of 40 virgins borne from the toil as they feverishly knit my silken undergarments, strand by strand.

The knitting Takes about as long as nitro to dry though!

Seriously though, clear auto acrylic over grain filler and stain is the easiest tone transparent finish out there.

 

[AustinS]

Re: Nitro tele for cheap?

Buy a nice body (and neck) from warmoth or your manufacturer of choice.
Sand it down real nice and clean it with metho (i think its called rubbing alcohol in the USA).
The just use reranch or whatever other nitro you can get in a can and spray it. Don't worry about primer, don't worry about clear over the top. You'll get a real thin skin that you can still make out the woodgrain on. If you want a perfect flat finish with no grain marks, use primer first. Personally tho, the less paint on the wood the better.
Give it a few days to dry (up to a week), then polish it (i just use car wax and polish like meguiars) and put it together.
Nitro actually takes weeks and sometimes months to fully cure.
In the meantime, the fresh nitro stays a little soft and will wear naturally on all the regular wear areas simply by playing it a lot.
In a few months you will have an axe that has legitimate play wear (no angle grinder or sandpaper marks) that looks like it has been played for years. After those first couple of months the nitro will have set pretty well and won't wear as fast.

Thank you for the detailed response,
I'd like the finish to be flat and even but I'd like to be able to see the grain through the finish, is that possible? I think the vintage blonde looks great with the grain showing through

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Nitro tele for cheap?

then get either butterscotch or blonde. You can see the grain through both. Use some grain filler first to get a smooth finish. If you want, you can spray on some vintage tint gloss too. The main thing is that you start playing it after only a few days while the nitro is dry but not at its final hardness.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Nitro tele for cheap?

Thank you for the detailed response,
I'd like the finish to be flat and even but I'd like to be able to see the grain through the finish, is that possible? I think the vintage blonde looks great with the grain showing through

Seeing the grain is simply a matter of not spraying an opaque finish.....or in the case of butterscotch spraying the opaque white in a thin enough intensity to still see grain.

The issue is that level and flat will require a LOT more coats, and waiting for the nitro to fully cure and sanding and buffing. Of course then you have a pristine new looking guitar that will take 20 years to achieve the look you want unless you abuse it.

MJT aged finishes is another possibility. There is a closet classic variant that just looks like you've had the guitar and played it carefully for many years. They have lefty and can spray any colour.
Of course that does give a small degree of 'relicing', but its generally just deglossing rather than chips and dings.

This is their work (body) with low to medium chipping and checking.

 

[AniML]

Re: Nitro tele for cheap?

then get either butterscotch or blonde. You can see the grain through both. Use some grain filler first to get a smooth finish. If you want, you can spray on some vintage tint gloss too. The main thing is that you start playing it after only a few days while the nitro is dry but not at its final hardness.

My first Tele I used blonde and tinted clear. I was going for more opaque sides and trans front/back.I ended up using too much tint and it turned much more yellow than planned.

As for grain fill, mine was built with swamp ash, so it takes many passes of grain filling and sanding to get it completely smooth. Again, my first finish job so I have a few pin holes. Go with alder if you want an easier grain / pore structure to work with than ash.

So it is not a traditional butterscotch blonde, but more of a semi opaque yellow, but still my #1 Tele.

 

[Rand-O-Monium]

Re: Nitro tele for cheap?

Heard/read good things about MJT...