Nitro Cellulose Finish on Vintage Tokai's.

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makaze

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Tokai's use of Nitro on the ST-80's is well known, but as of yet I have yet to see an ST nitro finish melt away when acetone is applied. By melt away I mean it can leave you in no doubt that the finish is like the stuff fender used.

On an 1981 "80" bass it melts away like goop, 1981 LS-100 the finish melts away like goop, 1979 LC-100 it melts away like goop. In contrast I have tested 20+ st-80's and the finish does not melt away.

Does anyone have an example of an ST-80 that will goop away with acetone?

I recently had to take a so called vintage fender with original finish to a luthier to verify it was genuine. The It turned out it was a modern relicced respray, paint chips just floated around in the acetone and thinners like little gold fish.

He then got some chips of paint from colour board he had sprayed to show me the difference, to show me how it melts. Funny thing was IT DIDN'T.
He was flumoxed.

During the conversation he mentioned "catalysed nitro" which he think his nitro must be. After a lot of time the paint chips became very pliable in the acetone but did not melt it away.

I have since tried the 3 st-80's I have now and low and behold, give them 5 minutes and the chips do become pliable whereas poly paint stays firm enough to crack when pressed.

So unless I have just kept on buying dodgy st-80's I am thinking that unlike the LC, LS, etc ranges, the nitro on st-80's must be a different (calalysed?) type of nitro whereas the former are the nitro people here about.

I am very interested in others results of acetone on Tokai's, A picture of a goopy test would be most welcome.

Cheers.
 
The interesting thing is that when testing higher end Burny & Greco LPs from the same timeframe you will get similar results as with your STs, so must have the same nitro composition. The finish on my LSs also melt away immediately, never seen that before on other Japanese brands.
 
Haven't done anything like the same number of tests, but I noticed the same thing when I did it to my ST-80 from 1980 and my LS-50/60/80 from 1983. Nothing happened with the ST, despite the fact that they're always said to have a nitro finish; the finish on the LS melted immediately.
 

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