Guitars With Satin Finishes

[Drunken Bowling]

I'm referring mostly to the Gibson variety...the "faded" Les Pauls and SGs. Now PRS has an S2 with the same finish.

Does the lack of clear coat tend to let in more moisture, thus making it necessary to perform trussrod adjustments more often?

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Guitars With Satin Finishes

Basically speaking, the answer is no.

Hard finishes do not "breath," as the old guitarist's wives' tale states. I.e. there is no passage of moisture, or any other substance, through a hard finish. Temperature changes will, of course, expand or contract both the finish and the wood, as no substance needs to pass through the finish for that to happen (just energy).

The Faded finishes do wear off much more quickly than gloss lacquer ones, however. They are not only thinner, but the matte surface is much less resistant to wear and damage. That said, just because this happens doesn't necessarily mean that you are going to need to adjust your truss rod more often than with a thick gloss lacquer finish. You'd have to be missing a ton of finish, and be going through some serious and rapid humidity changes to have a severe effect on the neck. In general, temperature changes are going to be the main culprit in that department, not humidity changes.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Guitars With Satin Finishes

Furthermore, if you do ever wear through the finish on those necks, slap on some tru-oil and move on.

 

[allbutromeo]

Re: Guitars With Satin Finishes

I have noticed that some of the older ones seem more resistant to wear. I have an older SG Special Faded that's seen some hard use and the finish has held up fine, as have other people's who have even older ones than mine. But, I noticed alot of the newer LPJ and LPMs that the finish was rubbing of after only a month or two.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Guitars With Satin Finishes

As already mentioned, the finish won't affect how often you have to adjust the truss rod. A lot of changes in temperature and climate will do that to basically every guitar.

I prefer a satin finish, prefer that finish to gloss.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Guitars With Satin Finishes

I've never found that to be the case. I love satin finishes, and the heat here makes me stick to gloss. So I almost always try to get satin finishes when I can. I've never actually noticed that they wear any different. You notice fine scratches in hard finishes. But I've never been bothered by any of that.

 

[Inkstained]

Re: Guitars With Satin Finishes

This may or may not be relevant, so take with a grain of salt or ignore altogether. Honestly, my feelings won't be hurt.

My Gibson 2014 Les Paul Melody Maker happens to have a satin finish. It's my cheapest guitar, easily. (You can see part of it in my profile pic, and there are probably other photos floating around here. ) It's also my most resonant, unplugged or in any situation (except for my Martin 000-28).

I got it in January 2014 and I've adjusted the rod just once. It has been remarkably stable since. It may help that it has a (relatively) thick maple (not mahogany) neck.

This guitar will never win any beauty contests. But it sounds and feels like home.

That's my very limited experience with satin finishes. I'm also looking at a 2016 Les Paul Studio Faded.

I love cheap Gibsons. And satin finishes are growing on me.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Guitars With Satin Finishes

Unless I change string gauges, I've never really had to do much truss rod adjusting on any guitars.

 

[Wattage]

Re: Guitars With Satin Finishes

My Faded Standard is a rock

I love the neck too wore in to absolute perfection

 

[Thundermtn]

Re: Guitars With Satin Finishes

The only difference I've noticed is that as you progress from gloss to matte finishes is how much faster the matte shows sweat and dirt between cleanups. My gothic V is like fly paper compared to my LP.

 

[Blues357]

Re: Guitars With Satin Finishes

Hi, interesting thread.

I have a 2016 Studio T in satin fireburst (pictured). I've had it for six months, and the finish looks as good as the day I got it. I play it every day, and play it hard. This was not my experience with a 2014 cherry LPJ; the finish on that guitar began to get noticeably thin where my forearm touched the body. The two guitars are really quite different. The pickups on the 2014 were great ('61 zebras), but the rest of the guitar wasn't good enough to keep, so I sold it. When the 2016s came out, with the return to traditional specs for the T series, I took a chance and mail-ordered one when Guitar Center had one of its 15-percent off sales. I'm glad I did.

Although the 2016 is a somewhat lighter guitar (7.5 pounds), it is better balanced, and incredibly resonant. It just sounds good unplugged. The build quality is also superior; frankly, it is better than my 2002 LP Standard, which I bought new. I've had no issues with the truss rod on the 2016, and have had to adjust it only once, when we had an extreme cold spell. The tuning is very stable. I checked the intonation with a strobe tuner, and it was quite good out of the box (and this is something you can immediately hear, because chords just sound better). The neck on the 2016 is comfortable, at least to me, and the fret job was perfect. The guitar came with Burstbucker Pros, which are quite good pickups. I like this guitar so much, in fact, that I sprung for the brown Gibson TKL hard case, because the included gig bag just doesn't offer much protection.

I don't mean this to sound like an advertisement for Gibson, but I'm very impressed with this guitar. Each instrument is different, of course, and your experience may differ. The finish will, of course, wear quicker than the more expensive models, but that's okay with me. A little wear will give it character. Also, the finish still has that sweet smell, sort of like cotton candy. In all, this is a terrific guitar for the price.

I hope this helps, and I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Stickymongoose]

Re: Guitars With Satin Finishes

It seems like if this was an issue, you'd want to be much more worried about the rosewood fretboard than a thin finish on the neck.

 

[Godin15]

Re: Guitars With Satin Finishes

I've never found that to be the case. I love satin finishes, and the heat here makes me stick to gloss. So I almost always try to get satin finishes when I can. I've never actually noticed that they wear any different. You notice fine scratches in hard finishes. But I've never been bothered by any of that.

I find the same as you. I really like the satin finish as well. I have found by trial the gloss finish even in the colder climate after practising even for half hr hand starts sticking to the neck. I will not buy a guitar with gloss finish neck.