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Just watched a video on George Harrison's guitars. Around 1967 he and Lennon acquired a pair of Epiphone ET30-TD hollow body electrics, also called a Casino. It said that they scraped off the sunburst finished and the guitars sounded better. The photo showed just a bare wood instrument with no sign of any color.

I know these are electrics, but has anyone done a comparison of an acoustic guitar with and without finish? I have always wondered what multiple coats of epoxy pore filler do to the sound of a guitar

Merry Christmas

Ed M

I don't know but I like the sound of mine better now that I have just been using a french polish technique that results in a thinner finish. Of course maybe I'm just doing a better job now

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Certainly on my guitars the finish makes a HUGE impact on the overall sound. Still haven’t determined for certain if it’s due to the thickness of the film or the material properties of the finish itself...

Some of the early romantic guitars would have an oil finish on the back and sides and - no - finish on the soundboard. Someone thought they sounded better this way.

Better stick one of those add-on armrests over the edge of the soundboard or it will look pretty gross after a while And give it a cutaway so the shoulder area doesn't get too grungy either. But other than that a bare soundboard should be fine for a fingerpicking guitar. Heck, maybe I'll build one like that myself just for the novelty. I'll probably go with shellac on the back/sides since oil penetrates and would likely add more weight/damping, although I'm sure any audible difference would be more psychological than measurable.

I normally use thin shellac finish for the whole guitar and haven't noticed any tonal effect compared to stringing them up bare, but I haven't specifically checked for it either.

Hi Dennis,
I should have been more specific - they used an oil varnish similar to a violin varnish. On one of the old guitars I have that was built that way I rubbed a thin coat of shellac on the top to protect it, but it was still pretty clean after 170+ years. Players must have been more careful back then.

I would guess that they used some form of the magic "Cremona/Stradivari" ground that is the violin makers quest. Basically some sort of sealer to keep the varnish close to the wood, but not in it. Old instruments with worn varnish still look pretty clean, except in areas where this sealing coat is damaged.

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Why be normal?