Affinity telecaster - what to do?

5redlights

I've got a butterscotch affinity telecaster that I'm looking to mod.

The issue for me is the difference in colour between the neck and body. The body is basically orange, whereas the neck is super pale. 

I did get some wudtone neck finishing tint, but from an initial try at the heel and reading around, I don't think its going to take as there is a light satin finish on the neck already. I'm a bit concerned about going ahead with wudtone as I've now read some mixed reviews.  

A lot of the American sites suggest using kiwi polish to tint the neck. Anyone tried this? Does it really work?

My other thought was to leave the neck as it is, and heat gun strip the body, tru oil it, and then leave it as that. That seems like the nicest looking option so far and maybe mucking about with the neck is going to make it less comfortable to play. 

Any thoughts? 

Funkfingers

A young lad on the Seymour Duncan User Group Forum tried the boot polish method to tint an all-maple detachable guitar neck. He declared himself pleased with the result. Next thing we knew, he had traded his guitar for something else. Hence, he never provided any long term durability reports.

The only times when the neck and body of a Fender Telecaster are the same colour are;
1) when both are made of the same wood variety and clear-coated
2) when they get painted the same colour. 

On a Squier Affinity guitar, the wood beneath an opaque finish is unlikely to be pretty. Expect to find the body width made up from at least five pieces.

What you do to your guitars is entirely a matter for you but, if you are determined to throw money at the Affinity Tele, a better place would be the pickups and controls.

impmann

Having stripped an Affinity Tele myself... I wouldn't bother as the wood beneath was pretty gnarly and as has been said above it was made up of several bits.

I wouldn't boot polish the neck for a number of reasons - 1) its an unknown quantity in terms of longevity and you don't know if its just going to come off all over your hands/clothes etc, 2) its applying a finish on top of another finish... see above, 3) 99% of "aged" finishes of this type just look like someone has smeared either dog turd or sump oil over the otherwise unworn finish.

The satin finish on the necks is actually very tough - I have a dead Squier Standard (same factory/age) neck in the scrap pile that hasn't broken through the finish on the back of the neck despite heavy use and massive humidity issues. 

Personally, I'd just accept the finish on both - if it plays well and you like the feel of it, then I'd swap out the pickups and electronics (*much* more beneficial). If not, I'd find something that suits better and is arguably a better modding platform.

lysander

I stripped one of these a long time ago, it was nasty, like 2mm of poly and sealer. The wood underneath wasn't too bad but not sure it was worth the effort.

Funkfingers

If the guitar body finish is almost Amber in colour, why not make a feature of it. Change your pickguard to either single ply white or four ply faux tortoiseshell. 

JezWynd

You could sand/wire wool the neck and then use Danish Oil on it, that goes a lovely mellow gold colour once it's fully dried. I put a 5 hole Bakelite guard on mine and called it a day. Wonderful guitars.

5redlights

Have taken the cavalier approach of wetsanding with 2000 grit so surface is keyed but not scratched up, then going to go ahead with wudtone tinting and see what sort of results come out. Will update! 

Funkfingers

The bottled tint is supposed to be mixed proportionately into clear coat and sprayed. 

Wiping it onto keyed poly will probably just emphasise the scratches.

WezV

If its a maple board I would just overspray with a lightly tinted nitro - too much hassle to strip between the frets for this.

If its rosewood board I would strip back to wood and refin with tinted oil for the best feel