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I was at the local Sam Ash and happened upon a new Taylor 410 but with Ovangkol sides and back. I am not sure if you have seen this guitar but my question is about the finish not the guitar. Anyway, it does not have the glossy finish but the dull, almost non-existent looking finish. Many other guitars have it. My question is how do they get that look? I assume they put some kind of finish on it. How do i get that look? The reason I mention the taylor specifically is because it makes me want to go to AC woods and order a set of that wood. Sounded great and looked great.

Frank,

I am a newbie, so I don't know much about finishing, but the finish on that Taylor is refered to as satin finish. A flattening agent is added to the lacquer (or I think Taylor uses a polyester) to give it that appearance. I have heard Taylor uses it on lower end guitars as the satin finish is faster and easier to put on, requiring less man/woman hours.

Here is a link to some lacquer over at LMI, you will see a flattening paste mentioned.

Lacquer

Jeff

Frank,

Forgot to mention, drop Bob a line about some African mahogany which is the same or similiar to ovangkol, I think.

You won't be sorry!

Jeff

I have a set on the shelf, Ed Dicks sells it. It is yellow green tan stripey stuff. Check www.taylorguitars.com and look at the 400 Series, they all have Ovankol, the 300 Series is Sapele, which I believe they are beginning to call that African Mahogany. The species name is what's important. Taylor tries to stay true and not call stuff by popular names, so their African may no longer be Sapele.

I know that typically that finish is on lower models but I still like it and since I will be building a few for me, may as well experiment

[QUOTE=FrankC] I was at the local Sam Ash and happened upon a new Taylor 410 but with Ovangkol sides and back. I am not sure if you have seen this guitar but my question is about the finish not the guitar. Anyway, it does not have the glossy finish but the dull, almost non-existent looking finish. Many other guitars have it. My question is how do they get that look? I assume they put some kind of finish on it. How do i get that look? The reason I mention the taylor specifically is because it makes me want to go to AC woods and order a set of that wood. Sounded great and looked great.[/QUOTE] As far as Taylor is concerned your are right they are using ploy, but the finish affect has more to do with the buff out. This finish is referred to as a Satin finish. Seagull made this finish popular again in the eighties. it can be reproduced using many different film materials. I do mine with shellac FP and polish with micro mesh to 6000 grit(eq. to 2000 gr sandpaper) instead of a buffer.

African mahogany and Ovankol or Shedua are indeed two differant species as are African Mahogany and Sapele two differant species.

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Here's my understanding of the wood families/spectrum as related to mahogany and Ovangkol.

Ovangkol is in the same family (Ghibourtia) as Bubinga is, last time I checked. They've both got that kinda bitter, 'nasty' smell, and they're similar in hardness and weight (this from limited experience), and I'd guess similar in tonality. Ovankol (or Amazaque, or Shedua, whatever you want to call it) has more of the yellowy/tan tints going on, as opposed to Bubinga's reds and browns.

As for African mahogany, we've got Khaya Ivorensis and Sipo (no clue what family that is, it's a tad lighter in colour, similar weight and looks) which are a bit lighter, and fairly coarse, and Sapele, which looks mahogany-ish but is a bit harder and heavier overall. I think Honduran/South American Mahogany, ie real mahogany, falls between Khaya and Sapele for hardness/weight/tonality, but I'd like to be corrected if I'm wrong!