Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

[Clint 55]

Hella tone! Neither the neck or the body on my hsh has finish on it and I think it sounds great and looks nice too! Alder body and maple neck with rosewood board. More crisp, more detail, more harmonic content, sounds more like a ax. It's kind of like the zephyr comparison. Before it sounded good but the bare wood I think has definite natural sounding benefits. Blues is my comfort zone, but I think you rawk guys would really like it. Really gives the bridge an organic middy edge to it. Would demonstrate it, but I'm not satisfied with the sound quality I get clean from my mic, need a nice condenser.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

I don't know if you've read any of my recent threads around this - but I consider it a dilemma that my Dad's old G&L has such a great sound but no finish on the body. I really don't want any finish to alter the sound.

Then again... I've heard horror stories from certain people (some of whom don't even want to sell me anything) regarding unfinished bodies cupping and warping when exposed to moisture. Not that humidity is much of a concern in SoCal outside my own sweaty naked body... But I'm considering at least spraying satin clear nitro on that guitar to guard against any of that occurring (or: refinishing it in the stock black.)

(Anyway. Two piece body?)

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

Yeah 2 piece body. I'm skeptical about big bad moisture ruining a guitar body. It's not something I'd worry about. It probably would change the sound a bit to finish it. I noticed a difference between my 2 bad finish jobs and unfinished.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

Did you scrape the finish off a guitar, or is this a new one?

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

The poor body has been thru hell. I got it new unfinished from Warmoth then finished and stripped it twice. The 1st time it sounded good but looked bad, the 2nd time it sounded bad but looked good. Now it sounds good and looks good. The neck I got custom from Warmoth unfinished and haven't messed with it besides fret work.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

Alder can tolerate that. Maple has a hard time unfinished, though. I would at least put a thin coat of a hard finish on it, or, alternately, an oil finish.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

I'd at least oil it. Wood is porous and humans exude gunk that can lodge itself in the wood. That's not a good thing in the long term.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

The neck got gunky after about 8 months and I sanded it lightly and it's fine.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

It's not about the gunk. It's about dimensional stability. Maple moves all over the place in time, if it is not sealed. It might look tight grained enough to not need a finish, but it is not. On many wooden objects, that's not such a huge deal. But on a guitar neck, it's very important.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

So it has 90lbs of asymmetrically distributed pressure on it from the strings, but the big bad atmosphere is gonna get it?

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

I reshaped a neck about 12 years ago, then tung oiled it a few years later. I used to string it 13-58 in Eb. It hasn’t budged. I sanded the finish off another maple Fender neck a few years ago. No issues. I recently played some old Fenders belonging to a local guy, a ‘62 Strat and ‘60 Tele. Both necks were worn down to bare wood a long time ago. Both are strung heavy and still going strong.

I bet you’re gonna be ok.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

So it has 90lbs of asymmetrically distributed pressure on it from the strings, but the big bad atmosphere is gonna get it?

It absolutely makes it more likely without a finish. Especially if you live anywhere that has any semblance of weather variation, that thing will be far more susceptible to variations in humidity over time.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

I see. A few lines of Squiers have unfinished necks. My Affinity P Bass with an unfinished neck is 4 years old and nothing has happened to it.

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

You may end up being just fine, no one can say for sure. Do you think something like a true oil or Danish oil will compromise the sound significantly? I'm asking because I honestly don't know. Maybe even just some sort of wax you can apply to the neck to fill the pores or something? Of course, it's a strat, so even if the neck warps like a pretzel you can always just throw a new one on.

Good luck.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

Hehe, I wouldn't know if a thin oil or wax would change the sound. My p bass is 4 years old and it's fine, this neck is a year old and it's fine. I'm not scared of air - except nados.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

I see. A few lines of Squiers have unfinished necks. My Affinity P Bass with an unfinished neck is 4 years old and nothing has happened to it.

The squires have a sealer on them from the factory......that does the job in terms of weather/gunk proofing. There is not a single Fender Corp. guitar that has no treatment on it at all.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

My affinity strats, p bass, and strat mini had nothing on the necks.

 

[dave74]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

My two Carvin's are both tung-oiled head-to-toe, and IMO they offer these same kind of tonal advantages (when compared to a painted-gloss/satin finish).
I know many will say the finish couldn't possibly have an effect,,,but I very much disagree.

I never have compared the tone to a truly bare-wood guitar. I'm not sure I've ever even played a fully bare guitar but I have played a freshly sanded and slightly reshaped neck on a Dinky before oiling, and to me the tung-oiled just feels a lot better to the hand.


Another good thing about tung is that when you oil treat it once or twice a year it looks even better than normal for a month or two.

The bad thing about tung is that you need to treat it once or twice a year, depending somewhat on climate, but if one intends to oil the board yearly anyways then doing the body and neck-back isn't any more of a hassle.

 

[majewsky]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

The best solution would be using woods that doesn't require finish by nature, like all kinds of rosewood, ebony and other.

Or the roasted woods are slowly becoming a thing, so that's anothar way to do this.

Some folks say, that guitars made from roasted wood sound closer to the old 50's/60's guitars, because it somehow emulates the natural process of aging and drying.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Enjoying the tone befefits of an unfinished guitar

My affinity strats, p bass, and strat mini had nothing on the necks.

Well, they certainly didn't leave the factory that way.....affinity necks have a finish on them for sure.