SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE

Why is it that with all the different types of guitars you can buy, with different pickups, hardware, woods and style, we invariably have only one finish type: gloss? Oh, and occasionally matt or satin, even though those finishes are often deemed ‘cheaper’. A high-quality modern finish is expected with no marks or blemishes. Modern finishes (polyesters, polyurethanes, acrylics) have been used on pretty much everything since the 70s, replacing nitrocellulose in the majority of cases for numerous reasons: they’re more stable, harder wearing, faster drying, easier to buff, and so on. Initially, many lower-end brands found they could heap on these ‘poly’ finishes and hide a lack of preparation. Today, a thinner finish is preferred and often is promoted as ‘better’.

However, with this advancement of materials, technology and the process of finishing, what we’ve lost along the way is feel. There are plenty of high-end