r/Guitar•
Jealous-Fish9927

Help! 2006 Fender Strat with finish failure

QUESTION

I've had a 2006 Fender YJM strat for 20 years that has, over the past 6-8 months, been having huge chunks of the finish coming off. I'm talking anywhere from 1/2" to 2" at a time, and then a few days to week later the finish surrounding that detaches. I didn't baby the guitar but I didn't abuse it either.

The chips are going down to bare wood, with the fullerplast and top coats coming off together as one piece. The last one went from the edge of bass neck pocket and extended under the neck plate. I ultimately had to remove the finish from under the entire neck plate because the finish is like 5mm thick and the plate was hovering above the body on one side. The chips are happening all over the guitar though.

I started sanding the edges of the chips as they came up a few months ago, but the finish is still cracking and coming off around them.

Has anyone else experienced this? I don't know what to do. Maybe refin? But I don't really want to spend $600-800 for it. The guitar is definitely not aging gracefully, it just looks ugly. The only upside is that the guitar has been resonating much more as the finish comes off.

Posted Sep 11, 2026, 3:32 PM UTC

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