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I acquired a Raimundo 148 classical guitar...Cedar and Indian RW.

It does not really project the way I would like. The finish on the back and sides  of the guitar appears to be very thick and has turned white and opaque. Is there a chance that this could affect the tone/projection.? This guitar also has two hairline cracks in the soundboard adjacent to and parallel with the fret board. ie F12-19 any suggsetions on the best way to repair this much appreciated.

Thanks

Thick finish does kill tone.

Photos of the guitar are helpful.

Sounds like this guitar got damp, hence the opacity?

Time to repair those cracks, most likely.

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_________________
http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Steve,

I'm not an expert on this, so hopefully one of our experienced repairmen will chime in. Those cracks by the fingerboard indicate that something is amiss inside the box, I think. You may have a loose brace under there, which would certainly affect the guitar's sound. Something like that can be repaired, probably without costing a fortune. A structural problem like a loose brace would affect your guitar's sound much more than the finish.

The type of repair depends on whether the cracks are just in the finish or if they also go through the wood.

 

The cracks are through the wood along the grain. There is no undue top distortion or obvious loose bracing which will often rattle....so I was suspecting shrinkage due to overheating/drying in a past life

 

Oh and thanks for the welcome!

I am not 100% convinced that Finish does not or cannot have an affect on Tone or better said allowing the wood to fully reach its potential. As a player I feel and have felt over the years that some finish types and processes allow tonewoods to reach closer to its potential while others seem to or could inhibit this process.

Mike
White Oak, Texas

Those cracks in the top next to the fingerboard are common and can be due to the ebony fingerboard shrinking just a little over time and pulling a crack into the soundboard. They can be fixed.

Interesting indeed as I had always put it down to spruce shrinkage! Still curious for any suggestions as to a fix method.

sdavis asked:
"I acquired a Raimundo 148 classical guitar...Cedar and Indian RW.

It does not really project the way I would like. The finish on the back and sides of the guitar appears to be very thick and has turned white and opaque. Is there a chance that this could affect the tone/projection.? "

I don't know much about that guitar, but there are some things that can be suggested.

Other than the weird look of the finish, why do you suspect that as the culprit in the dead tone? Most of the sound comes from the top, and you don't indicate that the top finish is thick or 'off' in any way, except for the fingerboard cracks (which I agree are probably from ebony shrinkage).

A thick, opaque white finish sounds to me like polyurethane that is starting to peel. The stuff seems to stick to itself better than it sticks to anything else, and once it starts to come up it can peel like a bad sunburn.

Another possiblity is that the guitar has been abused in some way. If there are no loose braces I would not fear that it had been in a flood, but it may have been cooked at some point; say in the back seat of a car in the sun, or a shipping container. Even if things look tight there could be loose glue lines and other things that could contribute to 'dead'. Cooking can effect sanding sealer differently than the finish over it, and that could cause the cloudy look.

There is also to possiblity that it's just a heavy guitar, or that, in the luck of the draw, it's just not working all that well. Wood varies a lot, and manufacturers have to build to averages, knowing that once in a while there could be a dud. Maybe you got the dud.