Spruce Top Ridges

F312

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My 77 Guild G312 has a top that you can run your finger across it and it's not smooth, you can easily feel the rings on the top. Anyone else have one like that?

Ralph
 

AcornHouse

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Its just the lacquer settling into the grain. The ridges are the difference between summer and winter wood (the rings). As a guitar ages, they may become more pronounced depending on your environment. As long as your at a good stable humidity (50% ideally), nothing to worry about.
 

adorshki

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My 77 Guild G312 has a top that you can run your finger across it and it's not smooth, you can easily feel the rings on the top. Anyone else have one like that?

Ralph

Yes it's from the NCL shrinking into the grain.
The thinner the lacquer he more quickly it happens.
It's taken the longest time to start on my D40, which I used to say was literally glassy smooth.
It started off with a pretty thick finish, thickest of the 3.
It's just starting to be visible, also, keeping 'em cased slows down the process, I think.
 

F312

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This one I have had for about 15 years and was so darkened yellow, and I figured it was out of the case for a long time before I got it. The lacquer is thick on it and not a mirror finish but more of a haze. I have sometimes thought it has been sprayed again. I'll have to show it to a luthier to determine.

Ralph
 

jcwu

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I actually like when the finish thins out and the ridges start to show up. Looks more... woody.
 

adorshki

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This one I have had for about 15 years and was so darkened yellow, and I figured it was out of the case for a long time before I got it. The lacquer is thick on it and not a mirror finish but more of a haze. I have sometimes thought it has been sprayed again. I'll have to show it to a luthier to determine.

Ralph
Have you been using the same polish on it that caused the top of your Martin to "haze up"?
Methinks could simply be another case of wax build up, just "presenting" a little differently.
Even so, they will get duller over time just like furniture, but a good polishing with something like Virtuoso ought to bring it back.
In fact many years ago a local guy with a pretty good reputation told me the secret ingredient in bringing a real shine back to a top is........ cigarette ash.(!)
Finest abrasive that's "practically" available. Kind of like clay coat for NCL.
Followed by a real polish and even carnauba wax if you really want to "seal" it. (Extra protection for the lacquer itself)
Except that yes wax can build up over time as you've discovered.
Curious to hear what your luthier says.
:friendly_wink:

I actually like when the finish thins out and the ridges start to show up. Looks more... woody.

Yeah, everything goes better with wood.
:devilish:
 
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Charlie Bernstein

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That's what you want. What you don't want is a skating rink-smooth polyurethane finish that deadens the sound. Not as big a deal on an electric (though not good either), but on an acoustic, it's death.

The ridges tell you it was finished properly, with a thin coat of nitrocellulose lacquer.
 

F312

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Have you been using the same polish on it that caused the top of your Martin to "haze up"?
Methinks could simply be another case of wax build up, just "presenting" a little differently.
Even so, they will get duller over time just like furniture, but a good polishing with something like Virtuoso ought to bring it back.
In fact many years ago a local guy with a pretty good reputation told me the secret ingredient in bringing a real shine back to a top is........ cigarette ash.(!)
Finest abrasive that's "practically" available. Kind of like clay coat for NCL.
Followed by a real polish and even carnauba wax if you really want to "seal" it. (Extra protection for the lacquer itself)
Except that yes wax can build up over time as you've discovered.
Curious to hear what your luthier says.
:friendly_wink:



Yeah, everything goes better with wood.
:devilish:

This is something way different, not a haze left from polish. Let me clarify, the finish reflection is hazy and quite shiny, nothing wrong, actually I like it. Whenever I polish, it's a matter of drops and spread, and it's only when needed.

Ralph
 

adorshki

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That's what you want. What you don't want is a skating rink-smooth polyurethane finish that deadens the sound. Not as big a deal on an electric (though not good either), but on an acoustic, it's death.
To be fair, even though I'm an NCL loyalist myself, a too thick coat of nitro can also hold a guitar back, at the very least.
I suspect it was probably the primary reason my Corona D40 took so long to open up (I bought it new).
In fact I actually called it the "Sonic runt" of the litter" when I first joined up here, while at the same time noting the build quality was every bit as good as the Westerlys and the finish was the best of the 3, because of the perfect glassy smoothness.
And a couple of times I wondered if it might actually be poly after seeing comments about Fender experimenting with poly finishes on Guilds.
The corollary is that these days people like Tylor have poly down to such a fine art that they can spray thin enough to let a top resonate freely.
I still suspect though that once it's on though, it's as good as its ever gonna get, and nitro keeps getting thinner as it continuously dries out over its life, thus improving tone, or at least so some of us believe.
Also NCL remains the easiest to repair or refin if needed, and gains that beautiful ambering as it ages, besides.
So it's unlikely I'd accept a poly-finished guitar for my personal ownership.
 

adorshki

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This is something way different, not a haze left from polish. Let me clarify, the finish reflection is hazy and quite shiny, nothing wrong, actually I like it. Whenever I polish, it's a matter of drops and spread, and it's only when needed.
Ralph

Suspect simply "micro-scuffed up", then, and probably would respond to the "cigarette ash" treatment if you were ever so inclined.
 
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