Tinting the Neck on a 50th Anniversary Strat

[Yankeefan01]

Hey guys, I love my Amer.Series 50th Strat but that neck is too light for me. I know about the shoe polish technique and have used it on other guitars.

Also looking at the reranch site(plan on calling them later) they have a "Fender Neck Amber". Has anyone tried this on a newer Fender neck? What is the prep work involved as I don't want to strip the neck.

Any feedback would be appreciated. :thumbsup:

[vintage_brat]

only way to age the wood on that neck is to sand and strip it.
Im not real sure Id age that one anyway. Even though they produced tons of them. in about 20-25 years only about 30% will still be in cirulation. (sort of a common law for US fenders)
I'd let it age on its own. Just having it out in the open will age it from normal UV exposure along with airborne particles.

Just out of curiosity. was this an internet or mail order guitar?. I think I would have picked a darker neck if i was getting it in person and that was my preference.

FYI... even though these are replica's .....Theres a few things missing from theses in order to keep all the fakes to a minimum.

[Yankeefan01]

Bratman, I wasn't planning on stripping it. If that was the case, I'll leave it as is as I don't want to ruin the original look. My question is whether I can use reranch amber tint and reranch clear nitro over the existing finish. I don't want to mess with the decals or anything like that.

I was looking on the reranch forum and ran accross a thread where someone tinted a MIM Strat. They scuffed the surface with some fine sandpaper, sprayed 2-3 coats of the clear nitro, then a couple of coats of amber tint, then a couple of coats of the clear nitro again. The results look pretty good.

I'm still a little skeptical on how the original neck finish would react to the nitro. From car painting experience, it could be very touch and go painting lacquer(nitro) over enamel(poly).

It was an internet purchase, I got the strat from Music123. I normally would have prefered to see and play the Strat before I bought it but the price was just too good to turn down. Well, you know how it goes with GAS.

[vintage_brat]

i understand the GAS had it for 30 years now.
I would be afraid of the reaction. thats a poly finish neck. and its not really permeable like nitocellulose is.

[WireNWood]

Nitro over poly... don't. Won't stay long.

[Yankeefan01]

That's why I asked the experts. I love this guitar and would have hated to ruin it (although this wouldn't have been fatal).

Thanks for the feedback guys. :bow:

[gg40]

an old trick to make the neck more yellow is brown shoe polish. Worked on my tele very well , three coats smear it on buff it off, your hands get a bit brown for a few days after treatment when you play the guitar but it finelly settles down and it looks great.

dont know how it will work on that neck my neck didnt have poly or nitro coating

[buckkillr8]

i just purchased the neck amber along with other sprays from reranch. I'll let you know :thumbsup: