jcwu
Senior Member
I've always loved the hand rubbed satin finish on my '95 DV52, and in the last year or two, I've acquired two other Guilds with satin finishes - a F4CE, and more recently (thanks to Treem), a JV52.
When I first got the F4CE, I was surprised by the finish - it wasn't glossy like a high gloss finish would be, but it wasn't satin, either - at least not the satin that I'd come to know and love. On the F4CE, the finish was smooth and matte, but there were spots where, with wear over time, the finish had become polished and glossy.
On my DV52, however, even though I've owned it and played it for ... what, 14 years now, there isn't a single spot of gloss on it. Well, today, I got a chance to sit down and compare the DV52 and JV52 side by side, and I think I figured out the difference between the two satin finishes.
On the DV52, I don't think there was any grain filler used, and the finish is super thin. In fact, when I play the guitar, I've always felt like I was handing naked wood. When you look at the guitar from the right angle, you can see all the pores and grain, almost like there's no finish on the guitar. Where the pickguard has shrunk, I see residue from the adhesive, but the finish hasn't been pulled/cracked, because there simply isn't that much finish to pull and crack/check.
On the JV52, even though it's a satin finish, the grain has been filled (very nicely done, of course), and there's plenty of lacquer on the instrument, thick enough that where the pickguard has shrunk, it pulled the finish apart, resulting in some cracks in the finish. The thicker lacquer also means there's a lot more checking/crazing on the top of the JV52, whereas the DV52 has not a single bit of checking/crazing (and the two instruments are one year apart in age). With the JV52, I don't feel like I'm fondling naked wood, but rather, a well finished piece of wood.
I think I much prefer the "raw" looking finish on the DV52, even though from the labor standpoint, it was probably more work to get the finish on the JV52.
I'm just curious, for those who know these things - were there a lot of the hand-rubbed satin (HR) finishes done on Guilds? Or mostly the regular satin? And would it be possible to refinish a regular satin to the hand-rubbed satin (I probably can't afford the job but I'm just curious if it can be done..)?
(On another note, I sat on my bed between both the JV52 and DV52, with my head right between the two, and just strummed the open strings. Ahhh, loud luscious stereo heaven!!!)
When I first got the F4CE, I was surprised by the finish - it wasn't glossy like a high gloss finish would be, but it wasn't satin, either - at least not the satin that I'd come to know and love. On the F4CE, the finish was smooth and matte, but there were spots where, with wear over time, the finish had become polished and glossy.
On my DV52, however, even though I've owned it and played it for ... what, 14 years now, there isn't a single spot of gloss on it. Well, today, I got a chance to sit down and compare the DV52 and JV52 side by side, and I think I figured out the difference between the two satin finishes.
On the DV52, I don't think there was any grain filler used, and the finish is super thin. In fact, when I play the guitar, I've always felt like I was handing naked wood. When you look at the guitar from the right angle, you can see all the pores and grain, almost like there's no finish on the guitar. Where the pickguard has shrunk, I see residue from the adhesive, but the finish hasn't been pulled/cracked, because there simply isn't that much finish to pull and crack/check.
On the JV52, even though it's a satin finish, the grain has been filled (very nicely done, of course), and there's plenty of lacquer on the instrument, thick enough that where the pickguard has shrunk, it pulled the finish apart, resulting in some cracks in the finish. The thicker lacquer also means there's a lot more checking/crazing on the top of the JV52, whereas the DV52 has not a single bit of checking/crazing (and the two instruments are one year apart in age). With the JV52, I don't feel like I'm fondling naked wood, but rather, a well finished piece of wood.
I think I much prefer the "raw" looking finish on the DV52, even though from the labor standpoint, it was probably more work to get the finish on the JV52.
I'm just curious, for those who know these things - were there a lot of the hand-rubbed satin (HR) finishes done on Guilds? Or mostly the regular satin? And would it be possible to refinish a regular satin to the hand-rubbed satin (I probably can't afford the job but I'm just curious if it can be done..)?
(On another note, I sat on my bed between both the JV52 and DV52, with my head right between the two, and just strummed the open strings. Ahhh, loud luscious stereo heaven!!!)
bush :lol: 
