Not to be a contrarian, but the trouble I’ve had with satin finishes creating noise hasn’t been with the finish itself, but with the clear satin pickguards that both Larrivee and the Tacoma Guitar Company used with their satin finish guitars back in the 1990’s.
I owned several satin finish examples of both brands back then, and still have one of each.
I dislike clear pickguards anyway, because they remind me of the clear vinyl furniture covers I sometimes had to sit on and absolutely loathed as a child. So whenever I acquire any guitar with a clear pickguard, it’s the very first thing I change, even before I put fresh strings on the instrument.
So those pickguards were going to go away, regardless. No court of appeal: I’m unflinching in my adamant hatred of clear pickguards (I don’t hate them on other people’s guitars, but it’s pointless trying to convince me to keep one on any of my instruments.). With the six or seven satin finish guitars that passed through my hands, as soon as I replaced those factory stock pebble grain clear pickguards with Martin-style black or tortoise pickguards, the noise problem went away.
But while the original satin pickguards remained on there, the noise they generated when I played was both audible and annoying.
So I would recommend that you consider that aspect before jettisoning your satin finish guitar; the problem might not stem from the finish itself, but from the pickguard.
Hope that makes sense.
Wade Hampton Miller
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