Will taking finish off my guitar effect the tone much?

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metalj

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I have a PRS SE with soapbar2 guitar which i just love.

It sustains, the body resonates, the pickups have high quality tone at any volume level, its light and easy to play.

THe finish however is that venere stuff. It is starting to bubble. My dealer said they would ship it off to get it fixed at no charge, but that means i could go months before i get it back.

It only a $350 guitar. Would anything change sonically if i took the venere off and just had a plain ugly looking wood guitar which by the way i would love. I hate those high maintenence guitar finishes, just a flat wood would be fine with me.

Also would i want to sand that, or chip it off??

Any idea what the underneath would look like? would it look like a bunch of wood put together with seams, or would it have a solid look to it??

Just wondering, thanks
 
Will it effect the tone? Possibly, perhaps even probably. Will you like it? Perhaps, but there is an equal chance you will not. In either case, you can be sure that you will limit the life span of your guitar by removing the finish, as the finish is an essential part of the guitars protection from the environment. Removing the finish from a guitar is NEVER a good idea, and will (at the very least) half the value of the guitar.

My professional and well considered advice: DON'T DO IT!!!!


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
I would see about getting a loaner guitar from the shop while your guitar is in the factory.

I know some of the shops around here would do that.
 
If the finish is veneer and its blistering or bubbling that is a repair job for a very experienced luthier or better still the original manufacturer. Do not attempt it yourself you will be asking for trouble. As it is such a major problem it should be covered under faulty parts or workmanship. If one of my guitars was ever returned with a problem like that I would put it right immediately no questions asked. I'd also let the owner have a choice of loaners while the work was being done and phone him everyday to make sure he wasn't bad mouthing the guitar to all his friends..

Find out who the shop intends to do the work and insist it is done by a qualified guy or returned to the manufacturer and get a contact for who ever is doing the work so you can find out why it has happened and what is being done to put it right. The fact that it is "only" a $350 guitar is of no consequence.

Again do not attempt it yourself if you do you will not have leg to stand on when it goes wrong.
 
metalj said:
I have a PRS SE with soapbar2 guitar which i just love.

It sustains, the body resonates, the pickups have high quality tone at any volume level, its light and easy to play.

THe finish however is that venere stuff. It is starting to bubble. My dealer said they would ship it off to get it fixed at no charge, but that means i could go months before i get it back.

It only a $350 guitar. Would anything change sonically if i took the venere off and just had a plain ugly looking wood guitar which by the way i would love. I hate those high maintenence guitar finishes, just a flat wood would be fine with me.

Also would i want to sand that, or chip it off??


Any idea what the underneath would look like? would it look like a bunch of wood put together with seams, or would it have a solid look to it??

Just wondering, thanks
Click to expand...

There is a 99% chance that the factory will just ship you a different guitar. No-one is going to do this type of work on a $350 guitar. Of coarse' I am just taking a guess here.

It is a hard choice.
 
MCI2424 said:
There is a 99% chance that the factory will just ship you a different guitar. No-one is going to do this type of work on a $350 guitar. Of coarse' I am just taking a guess here.

It is a hard choice.
Click to expand...
With PRS the first point of call is with an authorised dealer that is qualified to do repair work. They will advise on whether or not the guitar is to be repaired or replaced. Swapping out the body or any other parts for that matter would constitute a repair.

In this case the extent of the damage would be the deciding factor in whether the guitar would be repaired or replaced. Only an authorised dealer can make that judgement. I have in the past been instructed to do cosmetic repairs on instruments (not just PRS) that I would have advised would need replacing. In most cases involving finish problems the part is replaced or in severe examples the guitar would be exchanged. If the damage is blistering veneer this is NOT a finishing problem. Without seeing the damage it is impossible to give any qualified advice. Once again seek the advice of PRS or one of their authorised dealers. You can find the nearest dealer to you on their website.
 
If you're interested in a plain wood guitar, maybe get a used squire strat and strip that down. There's a ton of finish removing chems on the market - Lowe's/Home Depot would have them. Take all the body hardware off (including the neck), strip it down, put it back together. Play that for a while and see what you think...

One of the most annoying problems with raw wood is that it will stain and get dingy looking - but that might be cool also. But the plus side is that if you don't like it looking stained/dingy, you can sand it down to freshen it up :-)

From a sound perspective, it would be very interesting to do a side by side and see if there's any detectable difference with a solid body. I'm just guessing: you might NOT hear much of a diff between them - a hollow body (e.g. acoustic) would most likely have a different sound. But I'd be willing to bet that the unfinished sounds would not be un-acceptable - assuming quality woods, etc.

One thing to keep in mind is that acoustics/hollow body electrics have unfinished interiors by default, so already much of the wood is exposed anyway.
 
sorry for the double post.

Light.....I tried giving you Rep points but it said i need to spread it around to others first, even though i already did. At least i tried.
 
gvarko said:
Strip that MF down to bare wood and finish with some Nitro Laquer from Guitar Re-Ranch. With all due respect to Light, who really cares about the life expectancy of a PRS SE.

http://home.flash.net/~guitars/products.html#aerosols
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That sounds like a reasonable alternative .... it'd still be protected with a finish.
And that veneer stuff might deaden the sound some .... acting like a damping material. It seems possible that removing it might free the body's wood up some where it's resonate a bit better. Of course, that may or may not be a good thing ...... but maybe.
 
Lt. Bob said:
That sounds like a reasonable alternative .... it'd still be protected with a finish.
And that veneer stuff might deaden the sound some .... acting like a damping material. It seems possible that removing it might free the body's wood up some where it's resonate a bit better. Of course, that may or may not be a good thing ...... but maybe.
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Thanks for the rep Lt. Bob. I have used that Nitro from the Re-Ranch for years. It is top quality stuff and really hard to mess up. I like the vintage tinted stuff myself.
 
gvarko said:
Strip that MF down to bare wood and finish with some Nitro Laquer from Guitar Re-Ranch. With all due respect to Light, who really cares about the life expectancy of a PRS SE.

http://home.flash.net/~guitars/products.html#aerosols
Click to expand...


I agree completely. Its only an SE and only cost me $350. The only thing im worried about is what is underneath it. Is it veneered due to it being peiced together? You know will it have a smooth surface or will it have lots of seams and joints showing where it was glued together or whatever they do to it.

I could not believe how well it sounds after I bought it with my rig. It has such a ring to it, and the soaps really gives it a growl. It is my #1 stage guitar at the moment if you can believe it.

Thanks for the help Gents.
 
As far as I'm concerned, the Reranch stuff should not be sold to the general public. Shooting nitro without proper equipment is flat out stupid, and is a very good way to die in a giant ball of flames. Seriously, it requires a great deal and very expensive safety equipment, and as good as their quality is (I use it for some things), it is a really bad idea to sell to the public. Shooting nitro safely is a purely professional endeavor.

At any rate, why would you bother when you can just get a new guitar from PRS (which, by the way, is pretty much how they deal with all but a few warranty issues, even with expensive guitars).

Oh, and PRS doesn't have any warranty centers. Any warranty work goes back to the factory, and has to go through the dealer.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
If it were mine, I'd take precautions and give the nitro a try.

I'm sure most of us know how hit and miss cheap guitars are. What are the chances of PRS having good consistency with their cheaper guitars? Seems like a 50/50 chance to me.
 
I have finished/refinished a lot of guitars. I have the equipment needed and let me just say this.............

The stuff needed to do it right would pay for a new guitar twice over. If you want to use rattle cans to finish a guitar? Good luck. It isn't as easy as it looks and will most likely leave you without a guitar as long as sending it to get repaired. Lacquer has a lengthy cure time. The average (this time of year) would be 4 weeks easy. If you aren't experienced I wouldn't recommend delving into such a project. Plus if it comes out good you'll be addicted. Painting guitars is like smoking crack!
 
Light said:
As far as I'm concerned, the Reranch stuff should not be sold to the general public.
Click to expand...

Because then we would have to pay a professional luthier to do it, right?

As far as the results from a spray can, I have found none better than the Re-Ranch Nitro.

Your concerns have been noted, but I would add that gassing up your car can be a dangerous ordeal if not done properly. Take precautions and use common sense and it is no more dangerous than painting a room in your house.
 
Light said:
Oh, and PRS doesn't have any warranty centers. Any warranty work goes back to the factory, and has to go through the dealer.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
Click to expand...
Not True, That maybe the case in the US but not elsewhere.
 
gvarko said:
Because then we would have to pay a professional luthier to do it, right?

As far as the results from a spray can, I have found none better than the Re-Ranch Nitro.

Your concerns have been noted, but I would add that gassing up your car can be a dangerous ordeal if not done properly. Take precautions and use common sense and it is no more dangerous than painting a room in your house.
Click to expand...

Nitro even the reraunch stuff which has inhibitors in it is extremely volatile. It is found in many explosives and when the stuff goes up it goes with a big bang. It has a low flash point at which it ignites. I wouldn't use nitro anywhere but in a static free, spark free booth with proper extraction and positive pressure. You can of course do so if you want to but please make sure you are away from friends family neigbours etc if you do.
 
My 2 cents

If under warranty I would send it back.

Doing decent nitro job on a guitar is a lot of work and time you could ship it off and get a replacement sooner than you could finish it yourself.

The last strat I finished took almost $60.00 worth of nitro and sealer. Add to that a lot of time to get it ready to finish and spraying light sanding maybe for a week.

Nope I wouldn't bother with it for a $350 guitar.
 
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