How does a nitro finish look right after checking?

mistercharlie

Those folks who have frozen their nitro bodies to check them — how do they look right after the paint cracks?

Do you see the wood through the cracks? Do you have to rub something into the cracks?

Any photos?

Gagaryn

Mine looked like this - nothing rubbed into the cracks.

mistercharlie

That looks excellent. 

Danielsguitars

 That's how my goldtop finish came out

Bridgehouse

A bit of shoe polish can help simulate some dirt in the cracks to make them pop if you want it to stand out

mistercharlie

customkits said:

 That's how my goldtop finish came out

Lovely!

rexter

If you opt not to rub something into them to darken the crazing lines they tend to be quite subtle (unless your lacquer is very thick) and they only stand out at certain angles, kind of specific to the light too. You won't see any wood as it's just the top coat - ie the clear lacquer - that cracks. If you're lucky you'll get nice vertical lines across the body from freezer checking (like the goldtop above). Freezing is definitely the best for a more realistic effect. If you're rubbing some kind of dirty mixture (yum!) into the cracks do it as soon as you can after getting it out of the freezer, they tend to close up a little when returning to normal temps.

mistercharlie

Thanks @rexter! I’m not planning on adding dirt. I’m after a subtle check for my sonic blue Strat, nothing more. I’ll likely wait for the Berlin winter where I can just put the body out on the balcony to freeze it. 

grappagreen

Does the freezing technique emulate the checking that would occur naturally over an extended period of temp changes? 

Gagaryn

grappagreen said:

Does the freezing technique emulate the checking that would occur naturally over an extended period of temp changes? 

Yes. No. Maybe. Checking is pretty random and won't always look the same - that said Gibson's often check with the long straightish lines like on the LP above. Fenders often check with a more mosaic type effect - not really like the green tele above - that's an MJT finish and it seesm to have crazed with both lines and random spiders web type lines.But freezing is emulating what causes guitars to craze over in the real world - rapid temperature changes, perhaps more extremely than is likely to happen in real life.

poopot

My tele after a cold night in the freezer.

WezV

Some will tell you one method is better than the other.  they all work in different ways so don't write any off.

I use a combination of techniques a the moment.   Gibsons tend to start with a knife and finish with a freeze spray.  Fenders start with the freezer session followed up with the freeze spray if needed.   I am more willing to accept random patterns on Fender than Gibson style.   

This is a before and after of a recent one

Worth noting that the undesirable checking on the left was done purely with freeze techniques.  Given the size of the checking I would assume it was put in the freezer a few times rather than done with freeze spray as that gives much finer levels of randomness...    I assume something about the gold layer was different, as the clear has checked with no relation to the wood underneath.  

The finished article on the right  and below was resprayed with Nitro.  checked with a scalpel and a little more detail added with an upside down air duster.  

grappagreen

Thanks for the feedback - interesting stuff..