loopfinding
Friend of Leo's
is that supposed to be grilling sliced onions?
Guitar finish impacts sound in the audible range
- Thread starter ScareDe2
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is that supposed to be grilling sliced onions?
SixStringSlinger
Poster Extraordinaire
If so then I can hear that finish.
If I only had a dollar
For every thread I've trolled
And every post I had to read
Where everyone seemed so old
You know I'd close my browser frame
And I'd re-start to live ....
Oh Lord, stuck in TDPRI again
For every thread I've trolled
And every post I had to read
Where everyone seemed so old
You know I'd close my browser frame
And I'd re-start to live ....
Oh Lord, stuck in TDPRI again
Jerry_Mountains
Tele-Holic
Guitar finish impacts sound in the audible range
Well, I'am convinced that I play faster on red guitars; and black guitars sounds darker for obvious reasons....
Well, I'am convinced that I play faster on red guitars; and black guitars sounds darker for obvious reasons....
Crashbelt
Tele-Holic
Mostly I'd say any audible difference between finishes is marginal at best. My lightweight 74 Strat doesn't sound appreciably worse than my 65 on account of the finishes or any other factors. Different of course but not worse.
But I inherited a 61 Les Paul (SG) Standard that had been refinned in 2mm thick poly. I had it stripped and finished in nitro. It was like releasing a guitar that had been entombed in thick plastic to breathe again. The PAFs just sing now, where they sounded dead before. I can hear that massively and so did my tech who did the work.
So I'd conclude that the audible difference is generally slight, if apparent at all, but in extreme examples like the SG it can be massive.
But I inherited a 61 Les Paul (SG) Standard that had been refinned in 2mm thick poly. I had it stripped and finished in nitro. It was like releasing a guitar that had been entombed in thick plastic to breathe again. The PAFs just sing now, where they sounded dead before. I can hear that massively and so did my tech who did the work.
So I'd conclude that the audible difference is generally slight, if apparent at all, but in extreme examples like the SG it can be massive.
mexicanyella
Friend of Leo's
The poll question is posed as though you’re seeking knowledge, and you’re getting carefully considered answers but you’re complaining about them. Have you considered revising the title, question or poll options in light of the initial answers you’re receiving?
I don’t know to what degree finish affects instrument sound, because the guitars I’ve had with different finishes and sounds also varied so much in other ways that I don’t know what to attribute it to. There’s no poll option for me, but there’s my guitar finish/sound input.
clingin_on
Tele-Meister
Of course. I hope that's not intended to be a "trump card".
fleezinator
Tele-Meister
I don't think enlightenment is the motive here.
Jerry_Mountains
Tele-Holic
I think OP is Blowtorch trolling us.
Hey man, do you like The Beatles?
Hey man, do you like The Beatles?
SixStringSlinger
Poster Extraordinaire
*Poll results lean toward "Yes"*
"See?? I was right!"
*Poll results lean toward "no"*
"Look how many people are wrong!"
mexicanyella
Friend of Leo's
Maybe the entirety of TDPRI, the veracity of its collective hive mind, is being vetted by this poll. Looked at that way...
mexicanyella
Friend of Leo's
Yikes, not that
Acoustic guitar I say YES... at least at the extremes like a thick poly finish. (Think extremer: You have one covered with bed liner, would it effect the sound? 
)
Electric guitar I say NO, not with most finishes out there, not in the audible range normally. But with bedliner it might!
)Electric guitar I say NO, not with most finishes out there, not in the audible range normally. But with bedliner it might!
Sax-son
Tele-Afflicted
Hard to know and hard to prove, that's for sure. However, thick coats of finish over any piece of wood is a turn off to me. Wood definitely has it's tonal properties. When you choke that all off with a thick candy shell of paint, it has to have and impact on the resonance.
I have many guitars and all those with a minimal finish all sound better than those that I have an overkill of finish on them. Less is more in my opinion. A solid body guitar is not the same as an acoustic or semi acoustic guitar. However, pickups will translate the vibration coming from the strings. Since strings resonate from the vibration of the wood, there has to be some impact albeit slightly.
I have many guitars and all those with a minimal finish all sound better than those that I have an overkill of finish on them. Less is more in my opinion. A solid body guitar is not the same as an acoustic or semi acoustic guitar. However, pickups will translate the vibration coming from the strings. Since strings resonate from the vibration of the wood, there has to be some impact albeit slightly.
mexicanyella
Friend of Leo's
This thread is making me wonder about a guitar or bass body (and headstock face) finished in Duratex, like my bass cab.
Even I could apply a Duratex finish. And why worry about a case? Easy touch-ups!
Even I could apply a Duratex finish. And why worry about a case? Easy touch-ups!
tanplastic
Friend of Leo's
New strings + re-attachment of the neck = change of sound.
You have no way of knowing if removing the finish made any difference at all.
tanplastic
Friend of Leo's
They really don't.
In fact the whole point of Les Paul's Log was to kill the body's vibration.
Leo was emulating the steel guitar, which often has hardly any wood at all.
clingin_on
Tele-Meister
Ugh. I should have known better than to get involved in one of these threads.
Because, you know, I'd never changed the strings on my guitar before
I bid you adieu.
if it was finished properly, you could never hear the difference with any kind of finish.
so in answer to the question, no.
but human error can **** up a guitar in unpredictable ways which do make a difference. and if someone ****s up the finish badly enough, it will be detrimental to the playability and therefore the sound of the guitar in general.
the early 80s were not a high watermark for gibson's quality control.
so in answer to the question, no.
but human error can **** up a guitar in unpredictable ways which do make a difference. and if someone ****s up the finish badly enough, it will be detrimental to the playability and therefore the sound of the guitar in general.
This is pretty much what I was going to say, and I was also going to use an SG as the the example. In my case, a 1981 SG with a poly finish so thick, it looked like it had been dipped rather than sprayed. The finish was original, but it was not done correctly. Major orange peel, clouding, bubbles, and discoloration. There was something seriously wrong with the finish from day one.
the early 80s were not a high watermark for gibson's quality control.
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