Nitro vs "poly"

ICBM

SteveRobinson said:

Nitrocellulose is a nitrated polysaccharide

But that is not the answer here .

prlgmnr

They're all poly.

None of them are even guitars.

This is now a classic car forum.

terada

poly
nitro
poly

GoldenEraGuitars

I’m staying out of it @ICBM

Tbh, there are so many variables on older finishes that make it difficult to assume a cracked finish is “nitro”. I’ve just stripped a 63 strat that was craze checked to buggery... but it wasn’t nitro! 

I do wonder when the myth that nitro allows dead wood to “breathe” will fade. 

thegummy

GoldenEraGuitars said:

I’m staying out of it @ICBM

Tbh, there are so many variables on older finishes that make it difficult to assume a cracked finish is “nitro”. I’ve just stripped a 63 strat that was craze checked to buggery... but it wasn’t nitro! 

I do wonder when the myth that nitro allows dead wood to “breathe” will fade. 

I'm shocked to learn that there are people who believe that.

Suppose I shouldn't be given the things people believe in the worlds of religion/alternative medicine/superstition etc. but it just seems weird that it's brought in to the guitar world. I wonder if it enters the world of any other instruments? I don't remember any of it from the keyboard world I was in for years before getting in to the guitar.

proggy

I reckon: red - polly

              sunburst - nitro

              blue - nitro

             

ESBlonde

Poly

Poly

Not sure? But I'll say poly.

GoldenEraGuitars

thegummy said:

GoldenEraGuitars said:

I’m staying out of it @ICBM

Tbh, there are so many variables on older finishes that make it difficult to assume a cracked finish is “nitro”. I’ve just stripped a 63 strat that was craze checked to buggery... but it wasn’t nitro! 

I do wonder when the myth that nitro allows dead wood to “breathe” will fade. 

I'm shocked to learn that there are people who believe that.

Suppose I shouldn't be given the things people believe in the worlds of religion/alternative medicine/superstition etc. but it just seems weird that it's brought in to the guitar world. I wonder if it enters the world of any other instruments? I don't remember any of it from the keyboard world I was in for years before getting in to the guitar.

I get asked a lot... poly vs nitro? Alder vs ash? Etc etc etc 

By the time you strap a pound of metal and plastic to the body I doubt whether the paint makes a difference. 

I can imagine my thoughts would turn most guitarists stomachs

JezWynd

SteveRobinson said:

polywhat? 

Deadman

ICBM said:

Deadman said:

last one.... poly that’s been ‘fake nitro’d’??

None of them are faked.

Interesting results so far - all of them have been guessed both ways. Not telling yet .

Interesting....

I'm intrigued.

SRich

It's Poly Wolly Doodle all the day.........

dannyboy82

I’ll go for - Poly nitro, poly.

cj73

I've got one "nitro" guitar and it's blue so:

Something
Something
Blue

LastMantra

It's hard to tell from these photos.

Is that the point? 

mburekenge

My Avri57 'relicd' the natural way.

I don't think anyone would confuse it for nitro lol

thermionic

Nitro - only because it looks like a thin finish that has worn through and hasn’t had thick chunks knocked out of it.

Nitro - not because it’s sunk into the grain (I’ve owned a couple that the poly finish has sunk into the grain, although not to that degree), but because the marks on the bottom edge look like they were caused by a reaction to a stand.

Poly - partly because it was selected to trick us, but mainly because the checking doesn’t quite look like what I’ve come to expect from nitro.

ICBM

LastMantra said:

It's hard to tell from these photos.

Is that the point? 

You'd think it would be easy to tell, wouldn't you? Nitro is the one that wears and checks gracefully and naturally, and "poly" is the one that chips, cracks, and comes off in big flakes.

And yet we have almost equal guesses for all of them. A couple of people have got it right.

thegummy

ICBM said:

LastMantra said:

It's hard to tell from these photos.

Is that the point? 

You'd think it would be easy to tell, wouldn't you? Nitro is the one that wears and checks gracefully and naturally, and "poly" is the one that chips, cracks, and comes off in big flakes.

And yet we have almost equal guesses for all of them. A couple of people have got it right.

Do you think that's because some people really know what they're talking about or just that if a load of people were guessing 3 random "black or red"s that a few would get it right anyway?

I've never paid much attention to it, I've picked up (mostly from here) that the poly is much sturdier and less likely to damage but if it does get a ding it comes off in an ugly chip whereas nitro is more susceptible to damage but when it is damaged, it looks that faded way like a relic guitar that some people like.

LastMantra

ICBM said:

LastMantra said:

It's hard to tell from these photos.

Is that the point? 

You'd think it would be easy to tell, wouldn't you? Nitro is the one that wears and checks gracefully and naturally, and "poly" is the one that chips, cracks, and comes off in big flakes.

And yet we have almost equal guesses for all of them. A couple of people have got it right.

Not really. There's probably a bit of overlap on the spectrum. That's what I mean by it's hard to tell by these photos. It's (obviously) not obvious. 
That pic of the yellow strat is far more extreme. 

thegummy

When I was in to karate, there would be old guys who had been doing it since the 70s and their black belt had worn down so that parts of the black layer had frayed and worn down.

A company started selling black belts made deliberately out of weak material and weak in places so that it wore and frayed like that after only a short time.

To me, that is exactly the same as buying a fully painted guitar but deliberately wanting a type of paint used that wears quickly.