West R Lee
Venerated Member
I thought some of you might find this interesting. This is a direct quote from a 1997 issue of Guild Gallery Magazine "A Guild Guide".
" The art of finishing acoustic guitars is critical to the production process. The finish on an acoustic guitar impacts both it's durability and it's sonic charictaristics. Recently, there has been great pressure upon the guitar industry to reduce pollutants associated with finishing, and Guild has responded to this pressure by developing our exclusive hand-rubbed satin finish and by researching other methods.
Unlike many other manufacturers, however, Guild has not made any changes to the finishing of high gloss acoustics. Guild still finishes its high gloss acoustics with nitro-cellulose lacquer, as it always has. Nitro-cellulose is the lacquer attributed to violin-maker Antonio Stradivari and is the traditional lacquer used on nearly all high quality musical instruments since Stradivari.
Several guitar makers now finish their instruments with polyester or polyurethane finishes. These finishes have an excellent appearance when executed properly, but these finishes are very hard and therefore they restrict the necessary vibration of the top. Using this type of finish on solidbody electrics or laminated-top acoustics is acceptable, but solid spruce tops need to be finished with nitro-cellulose. Otherwise, they will not breathe, vibrate and produce the warm wood tone that has been prized by musicians for countless years."
Boy, that was a mouthful! Does that settle the finish question? I especially like the part about that obscure violin maker using nitro.
West
" The art of finishing acoustic guitars is critical to the production process. The finish on an acoustic guitar impacts both it's durability and it's sonic charictaristics. Recently, there has been great pressure upon the guitar industry to reduce pollutants associated with finishing, and Guild has responded to this pressure by developing our exclusive hand-rubbed satin finish and by researching other methods.
Unlike many other manufacturers, however, Guild has not made any changes to the finishing of high gloss acoustics. Guild still finishes its high gloss acoustics with nitro-cellulose lacquer, as it always has. Nitro-cellulose is the lacquer attributed to violin-maker Antonio Stradivari and is the traditional lacquer used on nearly all high quality musical instruments since Stradivari.
Several guitar makers now finish their instruments with polyester or polyurethane finishes. These finishes have an excellent appearance when executed properly, but these finishes are very hard and therefore they restrict the necessary vibration of the top. Using this type of finish on solidbody electrics or laminated-top acoustics is acceptable, but solid spruce tops need to be finished with nitro-cellulose. Otherwise, they will not breathe, vibrate and produce the warm wood tone that has been prized by musicians for countless years."
Boy, that was a mouthful! Does that settle the finish question? I especially like the part about that obscure violin maker using nitro.
West