Standard humidification on a "flat" finish?

[wkendhacker]

I don't know the technical term, but my new Breedlove is my first ever, non-glossy guitar. Is there anything special I need to know about keeping it humidified this winter?

[Seorie]

Treat the same as a glossy one

Non glossy are commonly known as 'satin' finish

[Pitar]

Originally Posted by wkendhacker

I don't know the technical term, but my new Breedlove is my first ever, non-glossy guitar. Is there anything special I need to know about keeping it humidified this winter?

Nothing special. Just hose that sucker down like you usually would in the dry times.

BTW, so-called semi-gloss, semi-flat, non-glossy and all the other names conjured up for any finish lacking that high luster sheen are all created the same way. You take a standard high gloss finish and add silica crystal powder exposed to a paraffin. These tiny specs of silica are mixed in with standard high gloss nitro or poly finishes in a certain known ratio (by the tech) and sprayed onto the guitar. During the curing process they get suspended to the very surface of the finish, due to the paraffin, in a layer. Because of their sheer number crowded onto the surface they can't lay flat, forming a single unidirectional refractive plane, and instead are all lying at varying angles to each other refracting light omni-directionally. The more silica added, the duller the final appearance with a dead flat appearance achievable at a certain mix ratio. Ultimately, this layer gets worn away in certain high contact areas revealing the gloss finish beneath. This can get pretty fugly and the only fix is to completely buff off the silica layer or do a complete refinish. Taking off the silica layer is the easy home remedy but takes a bit of (careful) elbow grease to get right. It should also be done if a new finish of the same refraction is to be sprayed if the idea is to keep it as thin as possible.

Silica crystals cannot be polished to a luster. They're very hard and resistant to that and will not gloss-out. They have to be removed.

Poly finishes hold onto their silica crystals much better than nitro finishes do. Poly is a much harder material. It's also much harder to polish out when it starts getting ugly

I work with this stuff daily. Cockpit instrument panels and interior walls, seats, furnishings, etc, must not refract. So, I throw some pixy dust in the finishes used and spray them on the parts being repaired.

[wkendhacker]

Thanks. Now to find out if the Breedlove has a poly finish or nitro. I'm guessing whichever is harder to deal with is cheaper, and therefore on my guitar.

[Pitar]

 

Originally Posted by wkendhacker

Thanks. Now to find out if the Breedlove has a poly finish or nitro. I'm guessing whichever is harder to deal with is cheaper, and therefore on my guitar.

 

LOL.

[Hudman]

 

Originally Posted by wkendhacker

Thanks. Now to find out if the Breedlove has a poly finish or nitro. I'm guessing whichever is harder to deal with is cheaper, and therefore on my guitar.

 

Either way, the inside is unfinished.

[guitarcapo]

I used to have a superstition that flat finishes sounded better to because they were thinner. Possibly also the silica crystals making a harder surface that transmitted vibrations better. I have no science to back this up I will admit.