Finish question on S6

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by CaliGull on August 2, 2012 at 8:54am

No this S6 is the replacement guitar for the one with the mismatched back.

Permalink Reply by Jud Hair on August 2, 2012 at 8:56am

Oh man ... sorry to hear that! 

Permalink Reply by CaliGull on August 2, 2012 at 10:54am

Jud that's what I keep hearing from folks.  But I doubt I am the only one whose guitar has one side with the same finish as the cedar top and one side with the same finish as the cherry back. May not even be noticeable or bothersome to some folks but it raises some questions for me about quality control, particularly when you consider the mismatched coloring on the back of my previous S6.

Permalink Reply by Jud Hair on August 2, 2012 at 1:08pm

Yep, I agree ... you're probably not alone, but you do seem to have been snake bit!  Still, you seem to love your Gull in spite of the flaws, right?

Permalink Reply by CaliGull on August 2, 2012 at 1:11pm

Sure do!   

Permalink Reply by CaliGull on August 3, 2012 at 11:29pm

Guess what folks? I decided to take a chance and polish and buff my S6 to see if I could improve the "noisy" finish imperfection.  I started with a small area near the end pin and worked my way up.  I used two different products:  Guitar Scratch Remover and Virtuoso Polish.  Between the two, I was able to achieve a uniform finish on the entire side panel, from neck block to end pin and back up again.  I then used Virtuoso to polish the back in order to make it uniform and the guitar looks and feels great!  The rough finish tackiness of the one side is now gone and both sides are smooth!  I even gave the cedar top a once over with the polish to no ill effect.   :)))))

Permalink Reply by Lennie Schoonover on August 4, 2012 at 12:10am

As you are finding out, polishing is not black magic.  But an S6 would cost a lot more if a factory worker sat there and rubbed out each one as it came off the line.  Perhaps it was a Friday afternoon and the inspector was thinking about his/her big weekend plans.  I'm glad you were brave enough to try to do it yourself.

len

Permalink Reply by Phil Manuel on August 4, 2012 at 9:48am

Hmm,  I'll have to try those products out.  I do have an area on the back of my Grand Artist that looks like it is something that could benefit.  I never worried about it before, but I'm thinking why not try.  Good work and thanks for the tips on the products.  Is this the polisher you used?

Permalink Reply by CaliGull on August 4, 2012 at 3:14pm

Phil:  Yep that's the one.  It produces a very high gloss shine to my HG guitars.  On the SG it enhanced the semi-gloss finish nicely but not to the extent of a HG.

Permalink Reply by DJ on August 6, 2012 at 7:57am

BG is your guitar shiner?  When you got your S6 it had semi gloss finish right?

I would think I would use this product very seldom on your guitar.

"Virtuoso Premium Polish and Virtuoso Premium Cleaner are two superior musical instrument care products that were especially developed for vintage guitars and other musical instruments. Vintage instruments with nitrocellulose lacquer finishes require more care and attention than modern polyurethane finishes that are being produced today."

Reason: Build up.  I got this off their site as well:

"Virtuoso Premium Polish is more of a protection product. During an application the polish seals your finish with a strong glaze that helps slow down the oxidation of your finish and protect the color of the wood or the pigment in the painted or stained finish with an inherent UV filter. This will help your musical instrument look new longer or help keep your vintage musical instrument from fading. This glaze is also fingerprint resistant, allowing you to go weeks or months without another application. Simply get a clean cloth and wipe your instrument to restore the brilliant luster."

The words that popped to me... "a strong GLAZE"  I think you use the correct product to fix your issue though.  The glaze filled in those rough areas so they feel smooth now.  I feel that if you used this often the glaze layers would build up and could possible change either the finish or worse yet, the tone.

Sounds like it would work great on HG anything

There is my 2 cents. ain't even worth that.

Permalink Reply by Jud Hair on August 6, 2012 at 8:44am

According to Godin, Seagulls all have a nitrocellulose finish rather than polyurethane

Permalink Reply by FloridaGull on August 6, 2012 at 8:56am

Indeed - and, IMHO, as I've experienced both a high-gloss polyester/polyurethane and a high-gloss nitrocellulose lacquer, I think the HG nitrocellulose is superior to the HG polyester/polyurethane - in appearance and in tone...YMMV... :-)

My favorite is still a nitrocellulose satin finish/satin gloss...like the Seagull S6 or my Godin 5th Avenue or Walden Natura and SupraNatura series...

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