I have a 1970s Precision (Maple fingerboard) and after 12 years of playing it, the nitro lacquer is starting to peel off/flake away on a fairly regular basis.
Should I be looking to get the neck refinished fairly quickly? Or am I safe in taking a 'meh' approach?
Cheers.
Strip it off.
I thunked 70s Fenders were poly? As in "a shitload of poly." Not that it matters.
Just do whatever SunnyJ tells ya to do. He will shit you negative.
Might be poly. Whatever it is its pretty thick.
If it's nitro, acetone will eat it. Try it on the heel in the neck pocket. Squier necks are EPOXY. I'd take poly any day. Crown tru-strip will take poly off no problem. I do all my stripping by hand, because I'm an old grouchy fuck that hates power tools for delicate work like this.
After you strip it, sand the fuck out of it. 150, 220 and if you aren't going to put a finish back on it, 320. If it's tough poly, expect to spend 15 hours start to finish. Epoxy has me in almost 20 at 70% complete.
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/13/udetamu4.jpg)
Id recommend getting a set of cabinet scrapers for doing some a lot of this type of work
i have this set from rockler, they're really handy. and quite a bit safer than a kitchen knife.
(http://images.rockler.com/rockler/images/45260-01-500.jpg)
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=4898&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_content=pla&utm_campaign=PLA&gclid=CIjB-Lb0-bUCFZE-Mgodr3wAHA (http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=4898&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_content=pla&utm_campaign=PLA&gclid=CIjB-Lb0-bUCFZE-Mgodr3wAHA)
also here is a good writeup on prep, care and use of cabinet scrapers
http://woodgears.ca/scraper/index.html (http://woodgears.ca/scraper/index.html)
I've been using that knife for years to do this. Never have I ever damaged a piece using it, or any of my straight blades. When i want to get real deep, I use broken beer bottles. I learned from the oldest school, and am pretty set in "if you can't do it with what you have on hand, you probably can't do it."
That being said, i have knicked many of stewmacs designs and made them myself.
Those scrapers look nice, but Ill stick with my kitchen knife. It fits perfectly and it's got immense amounts of control, furthermore, i can strike an edge on it in about 15 seconds. I sharpen about every six to ten minutes while scraping.
Also, there is way more of a change to gouge out a radiused area with those cabinet scrapers on a neck. I agree for large flat surfaces, they are fantastic, they leave wonderful finishes, but for stripping, you need more control so you don't gouge the shit out of the neck.
leave it..
I got a USA Fender Lone Star in the 90s from a big store that went out of business shortly after the purchase. The lacquer started peeling off the maple neck pretty quickly. I just left it alone. The peeled area has obviously grown over the years and the wood is a bit stained from sweat, but the functionality doesn't seem diminished and it looks pretty cool actually. It looks like I've put in a lot more playing hours than I actually have haha.
That stuff didn't stick because of shitty prep work. Like 90s Chevys.