aarongreen -> RE: finish INSIDE a guitar (Apr. 18 2007 12:18:17)
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I think your book is way oversimplifing things. All things must work in balance to produce an efficient system, no matter what the system is. To say lighter is better is not untrue, but its not true either. Same goes with stiffness. The concept of "reflecting" sound has little to do with how guitars work, IMO. Finish adds damping, one reason we talk about the benefits of a thin finish is to minimize this. Thats not to say I believe a guitar without finish would sound better than the same guitar with finish (depending on the finish and application). However to finish the inside for acoustical gains would be most likely a fruitless endeavour. Finishing the inside of a guitar is a holdover from a common furniture making practice. Since the guitar is a mostly closed box with all the end grain nicely sealed up by the bindings, the inside of the guitar is pretty well protected and it will expand and contract at the same rate as the finished outside. As Per correctly points out, when the inside of a guitar is finished, it makes life difficult for future repairs. I am dealing with one right now, an older Kohno, the rosewood back had a nice crack in it that I managed to get to close. Thanksfully the crack is mostly within reach and the inside of the guitar has only a light shellac sealer. It was still tricky to do a clean job scraping off the finish so I could glue in the cleats.
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