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I prefer a satin finish on my guitars because they seem a little faster in the neck and I prefer the softer look. Does anybody have a godd suggestion on applying a satin finish that will provide good protection without diminishing the sound? By the way, if there is another topic somewhere that answers this question I apologize, I am new to the forum, but look forward to being apart of it. Thanks, Jeremy.

For necks, a number of people, following Dave White's advice, have switched to using Tru-oil. After a bit of playing in the neck is like silk! You can also use Tru-oil over shellac on the body for a nice satin sheen.

See this thread for an example.

Old Man's First

Do a search for Tru-oil in the archives.

ColinColin S38732.2277546296

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Satin finishes are usually thinner than gloss, so, in that respect, they are, if anything, better for sound (some would say there's a subtle difference in tone owing to the smoother surface of a gloss finish versus the rougher satin, but, personally, I'd be very surprised if a blind listening test would bear that out; I think that most would agree that the thinness of any finish can certainly be significant, though).

There are several ways to go. Most finishes can be rubbed out to a satin sheen, and others have a flatting agent in the finish that give it that sheen. Personally, I'm skeptical of Tru-oil being tough enough for a guitar top, but I'm interested in hearing others' experience with that - what does the guitar look like after a few years of playing, esp with a flatpick (pickguard notwithstanding)?

I'd suggest satin urethane as a good option. One thing I'm currently experimenting with is McFadden's satin polyurethane wipe-on gel on top of shellac. A test piece of spruce I've done looks really good. I wiped on the shellac until I got a bit of build, sanded it lightly with 400 grit, then wiped on 5 coats of the gel urethane. The urethane gel goes on really thin per coat, because you wipe it back off, but I could clearly see the build developing with each coat, and with 5 coats, it really looks nice. The reason I put the shellac on is because I tried the gel urethane on bare wood and it didn't pop the grain well and kind of dulled the color. With the shellac under it, though, there's good clarity, depth, shimmer, color, and satin sheen. It was also exceedingly easy. I'm going to do a whole guitar body this way (Tru-oil on the neck).

Nevertheless, I'm still thinking I'm going to send some guitars to Addam Stark for him to spray on his satin urethane finish that is reportedly very nice.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

You should definately post pictures of your results, I would love to see the outcome.

[QUOTE=Todd Rose] Personally, I'm skeptical of Tru-oil being tough enough for a guitar top, but I'm interested in hearing others' experience with that - what does the guitar look like after a few years of playing, esp with a flatpick (pickguard notwithstanding)?

[/QUOTE]

Todd,

Just took this picture of the top of my first baritone that I made back in February 2004 and finished with Tru-oil (no shellac undercoat for this one). Admittedly it doesn't get much attention with a flatpick!! You can also see how much I have learned about how to intonate long scale guitars in low tunings as well :



Tru-oil is pretty tough (I also used it on the kitchen windowsill) and like French polish and nitro, running repairs are not that hard to do. Unlike nitro, you don't need to get into the bio-suit to do it. Applied thinly it is a great tonal finish and the guitar's tone gets better and better by the year.

Jeremy,

Another option is to spray nitro and rub the coats back by hand with 0000 wire wool. This is the technique used by George Lowden (and on Lowden guitars) and gives a great looking and durable satin finish. Pretty time consuming though - it's one of those "put 4 coats on and rub 3 of them back off again" sort of processes.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Dave, thanks for the post about your experience with Tru-oil. I'm glad to hear it's working well for you, and I hope to hear about others' experiences with it as well - particularly on tops, where the wood is soft and can take a beating from picks.

Jeremy, I'll try to post some good pics of the guitar I'm planning to finish with this shellac/gel urethane finish, but I don't know how well the photos will show the sheen, clarity, depth, and color. I'll do my best. It'll be a couple weeks at least before that guitar's done.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/