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  #16  
Old 01-27-2015, 09:51 PM
mushin mushin is offline
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Curious! Let's see some photos.
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  #17  
Old 01-27-2015, 10:14 PM
NEGuy NEGuy is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TEK View Post
Seems to me you took finish off of everywhere EXCEPT where you would get the most benefit. The top
I would agree with this assessment.

If you took a bit off the lower bout of the top and reported the results, I would be very interested.
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  #18  
Old 01-27-2015, 11:38 PM
maxtheaxe maxtheaxe is offline
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I've been contemplating doing something like this with my satin finished Larrivee L03 mahogany. One of the things you may have noticed is that the sanding on satin finished guitars is much less thorough...also why they're cheaper as a general rule.

I've thought to rationalize this as a way to reduce handling noise when recording with sensitive condenser mics (yeah, that's it!)...but really, I mostly just want to see that chatoyance in the wood.

I would not in any case sand an acoustic down to bare wood and leave it that way...if you can just polish up the existing finish, great, but these woods really want to be sealed to retain some stability against humidity changes.

I realize that there doesn't appear to be any finish on the inside, so what's the diff? Honestly I don't know, but I do know that one never sees an acoustic guitar without finish on it; if it really made them sound better to leave bare, they would leave it off.

I'd be curious to see how that turns out, though...seems like I've seen pics of satin finish axes that were polished out with Meguires automotive polishing compound that came out looking really very nice.
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  #19  
Old 01-28-2015, 05:01 AM
Malcolm Kindnes Malcolm Kindnes is offline
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Fifty years ago, when I was a teenager, my friends and I often sanded the finish off guitar tops to improve the sound of cheap guitars. I'd say it worked, mostly.
A couple of my guitars today have a very light shellac finish and they sound wonderful. Just my 2c as you guys say.
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  #20  
Old 01-28-2015, 07:40 AM
handers handers is offline
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Why did you do this?

Hans
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  #21  
Old 01-28-2015, 07:47 AM
GibbyPrague GibbyPrague is offline
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I think you must have been in La la land at the time... were you ?
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  #22  
Old 01-28-2015, 07:48 AM
chitz chitz is offline
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A 16 grit grinder disc would have been better.
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  #23  
Old 01-28-2015, 08:00 AM
RustyAxe RustyAxe is offline
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Let me see if I understand ... 100's of years of guitar-building knowledge behind them and today's builders still don't know this secret? Wait, maybe they do, and are just holding out on us! Maybe they don't have the technology to make it work (ie, they're out of sandpaper).

Even a badly crazed, cracked and aged finish is infinitely better than a half-assed relic job, or an amateur experiment.

Just one man's opinion, of course.
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  #24  
Old 01-28-2015, 08:49 AM
Neil K Walk Neil K Walk is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by maxtheaxe View Post
I've been contemplating doing something like this with my satin finished Larrivee L03 mahogany. One of the things you may have noticed is that the sanding on satin finished guitars is much less thorough...also why they're cheaper as a general rule.

I've thought to rationalize this as a way to reduce handling noise when recording with sensitive condenser mics (yeah, that's it!)...but really, I mostly just want to see that chatoyance in the wood.

I would not in any case sand an acoustic down to bare wood and leave it that way...if you can just polish up the existing finish, great, but these woods really want to be sealed to retain some stability against humidity changes.

I realize that there doesn't appear to be any finish on the inside, so what's the diff? Honestly I don't know, but I do know that one never sees an acoustic guitar without finish on it; if it really made them sound better to leave bare, they would leave it off.

I'd be curious to see how that turns out, though...seems like I've seen pics of satin finish axes that were polished out with Meguires automotive polishing compound that came out looking really very nice.
I've seen it done in years past, mostly over at the Larrivee forum. Some came out so-so while others appeared to have been buffed with a mechanical buffing wheel which resulted in a true high gloss.

As it so happens, my beloved 2006 OM-03R is still nursing a nasty key crack which should be an easy fix though the polyester finish has actually chipped away in places. I'm considering on taking my cheapo Skil brand hand sander and smoothing thing down then French polishing it with some shellac that I need to use by April as I did with my DIY build. Would it even bond with Poly though?

Anyway, from what I understand with working from bare wood, you want things as smooth as possible, using wet/dry sandpaper in progressively finer grits in order to get that plate glass look. I haven't quite gotten there yet though.

BTW, if you have any outstanding dings and want to repair or replace the finish it's a good opportunity to carefully steam them out with a damp cloth and the end of a clothes iron. It destroys the finish though, so it's kind of mandatory to restore it.
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  #25  
Old 01-28-2015, 09:50 AM
DesertTwang DesertTwang is offline
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You are my hero! I can't wait to see the pictures.

I can't stand glossy guitars. Before I started playing, I was actually wondering whether electric guitars had plastic bodies. I'm not kidding. I couldn't fathom anyone would plaster a beautiful wood body with two inches of acrylic paint.
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  #26  
Old 01-28-2015, 10:21 AM
BillyHank BillyHank is offline
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I have had two classic guitars made by Jeff Medlin, one had a regular Gloss finish all over and the other has a French Polish on the top, both sound great, but the French Polish has more volume and better across the strings response.

Having said that, I wouldn't think of removing the finish completely on any of my guitars. It takes so much hard work to get a really great finish on a guitar, I just couldn't do it.
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