|
estebanana -> RE: Would unpolished decks sound better? (Dec. 26 2012 20:42:17)
|
Some very famous professional guitarists have asked for luthiers to give them soundboards with a wash coat of shellac or very lightly shellac prepared tops. But as John said the finish does cut down some of the *noise* high frequency stuff that sounds brash.
Lute tops are left unfinished as proper way of building them, and sometimes they get a coat of wax or a wash of shellac. Lutes have a different kind of sound and structure, they need the noise left in, they need as little damping as possible to get the sound. The lutes cousin the oud same thing, no finish.
It is not out of the question and it has been done, but the guitar aesthetic is also against it. Unfortunately for many of us who don't like slickly finished instruments the guitar world demands high gloss. So along with that comes many coats of finish buffed to a high gloss. There's a lot of overkill in how much finish a guitar actually needs vs. how much the industry put on them.
I think classical guitars are more suited to a lighter finish if a player wants it, flamenco guitars usually need more base built up to help them survive the wear and tear. Classicals usually get babied more. But in the end really what sells guitars, at least until people really start listening, is the eye candy of the binding and the depth of the finish, so builders are kind of held hostage to that aesthetic.
There's a guitar historian, designer, player named Mark Silber who I've heard say tongue in cheek: Make the guitar with beautifully flamed or figured wood and let God make the sale.
[;)]
|
|
|
|
