How Do ! I was talking to someone from the group yesterday about a few things and Id like to take a moment and make a Public Service Announcement in regards to Problems with Guitar finishes... There are basically 3 types of paint on 98% of the painted guitars on earth.. 1) Lacquer ( Nitro Cellulose / Acrylic / Shellac ) 2) Enamel ( Air Dry / Catalyzed ) 3) Polyester I really dont want to get into a full blown lecture about the science of paint materials, what I want to briefly talk about is the idiocyncracies of each of the 3 and what you SHOULD and SHOULDNT do with them respectively. For the purposes of this discussion, Im going to talk about Gibson, Fender and Kramer. American Gibsons are basically finished in Nitro Cellulose Lacquer Fenders (Pre CBS) were finshed in Nitro Lacquer and (CBS) in Enamel however, both pre CBS and CBS were dip sealed in Fullerplast which is a Polyester Sealer Kramers ( Neptune NJ Finished) were painted with Acrylic Laqcuer and Enamel color coats and Polyester Top Coats ( Some early solid colors like White, Cream, Red, Pink and Purple were tinted polyester). The point with Kramers finished in New Jersey is, regardless of what was used as a base coat color,the Top Coat (the part of the finish you feel with your hands) is ALWAYS polyester ESP finished Kramers are done in Catalyzed Urethane (enamel) Of the 3 types of materials... Polyster is by far the Strongest, Glossiest, Hardest and most Resiliant. Because it has these properties, it is also the most susceptible to drastic Temperature Changes.. What this means for you as a Vintage Kramer Owner... Well, it means that your guitar is less likely to fade or wear out or get dinged, but it is more likely to crack if its yanked out of a 40 degree case into a 80 degree room. Why is this ? Polyester is SUPER strong and hard in itself. Its the hardest paint material known to man, almost as hard as glass. The cracking isnt caused by paint material failure... its caused by the wood beneath it expanding, contracting , swelling in a rapid manner. Polyester Finshed Guitars NEED to be kept at Room Temperature ( not in cold storage sheds) and they need to be unboxed after shipping only after being left to acclimate gradually over time) Contrary to popular belief... Air Cargo holds are not temperature controlled for the most part, and at 40,000 ft of Altitude, even in the summer months, those cargo holds get to Below Zero degrees... Its best, if youre buying or selling a Vintage Kramer, to be patient and ship it ground rather than air.. Something else to be very wary of (as Rusty Shakleford can attest to with one of his recent aquisitions) under no circumstances, do you ever clean ANY guitar, espcially a Polyester finished guitar with Soapy Water or any type of liquid in copious amounts as this will seep into screw holes and swell / expand the grain... The Wood will move, the Polyester wont. The result will be a Cracked Finish... I hope this has been helpful and informative...
Posted on: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 15:03:39 +0000
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