Warning: That 'custom' guitar I ordered online in 2018 looked WAY different a year later

I ordered a supposed custom shop telecaster copy from a builder in Nashville back in 2018 for about $900. When it arrived, the flame maple top was bright and the finish was perfect, it was gorgeous. But after about 14 months sitting in my living room, not even in direct sunlight, the whole thing turned this weird greenish-yellow color and the top started cracking along the grain. I think he used some cheap nitro lacquer that wasn't cured right, or maybe it was mixing with the wood's oils. Anyone else have a guitar body or piece of furniture totally change color on them after a year or two?

3 comments

3 Comments

lilya761mo ago

oh man, I had a friend who went through almost the EXACT same thing with a custom Tele from a guy in Texas. He ordered it in 2017, paid like $800, and the purple burst finish was absolutely stunning when it showed up. He kept it on a stand in his bedroom, no sunlight, just normal room lighting. After about 10 months, the purple faded into this muddy brownish-gray color and the whole neck started shrinking, leaving gaps at the fret ends. He reached out to the builder who just said something about "nitro reacting to the climate" which is total garbage. I told him to post about it on the guitar forums but he was too embarrassed he got ripped off. I think some of these small shop guys are using house paint or furniture lacquer and calling it "vintage formula" just to move product fast.

hill.margaret1mo ago

Vintage formula" is just fancy talk for "we used cheap paint.

wadew511mo ago

...and honestly, you're not wrong about some builders cutting corners, but I gotta push back a little on the house paint thing. Most of these guys aren't that dumb - they know house paint won't hold up on a guitar. The real problem is they're using cheap nitrocellulose lacquer from a hardware store, which is technically "vintage formula" because that's what Fender used in the 50s, but it's the modern cheap version of it that has zero quality control. That purple burst your friend got, that sounds like they used a dye that wasn't colorfast mixed into a thin clear coat, so the UV from normal room light killed it fast. And the neck shrinking, that's just bad wood drying, not the paint's fault - but the builder blaming it on "climate" is a cop-out for sure.