Finishes

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Seems like an obvious question to answer, but there is a little bit more to it than one might expect.

A finish... in short... is surprise surprise how a guitar (or anything for that matter) is well... finished.

A finish is how the guitar looks when it is finished.

A finish is subjective, depending what the desired outcome is. A finish is art, and therefore there is no right or wrong way to finish a guitar. A finish is subjective and unique to the artisan or craftsperson that is creating that finish and as such there is no right or wrong way to do a finish as it is unique to the craftsperson and every craftsperson has their own way of finishing an item that is representative to the facilities that that they have at their disposal.

There are many different kinds of finishes that can be applied to a guitar or any given item, but at MAL Guitars there are three main types of finish mediums that are used, these are:

• Nitrocellulose lacquer
• Danish oil and Beeswax
• Raw

Many of you reading this are probably familiar with nitrocellulose or 'nitro' for short. 

Nitro cellulose is essentially a plastic lacquer or paint that is made from cellulose, which is also what all plant cells are made of... 

BUT, The manufacture of nitrocellulose rarely uses cellulose, or plant cell material, from trees, but rather cotton.. which is much more easily nitrated. 

Nitro also never cures it can always be re-dissolved into its original liquid lacquer form... not matter how old it is, which means it is also very easy to refinish should the finish become hideously damaged by a bump or something else. Nitro cellulose is an evaporative lacquer that is touch dry within around 10 minutes, but it is continuously perhaps even perpetually evaporating (drying) and it takes a month or two to dry off sufficiently enough for it to be usable. 

Because nitrocellulose is continuously drying off, it can be quite prone to checking as it ages. What is checking? Checking is when the lacquer develops hairline cracks (sometimes called craquel or crackle) which typically happens when a lacquer contracts shorter than the surface area that it is covering so it cracks as it is unable to stretch. Checking can also occur prematurely if the guitar has been exposed to extreme or sudden changes in environmental temperatures which cause rapid expansion and contraction in plastics. This rapid expansion and contraction is what causes the lacquer to check prematurely and it is a process used when deliberately causing premature lacquer for relic type finishes. MAL Guitars offers three main types of nitrocellulose finish:

• Satin mist
• Brushed satin
• Vintage gloss

Satin mist:

This is a frosty looking finish. It is overall the most affordable and cost effective finishes as it requires the least lacquer and labour hours to produce. It is essentially a base colour (or no base colour if the guitar is to have a natural finish) that is covered with around 6 coats of clear satin top coat, then cut down very slightly with some dry 400 grit abrasive to remove the worst of any roughness from the spray application. It is then finished off with a fine mist coat of clear satin to dissolve away any swirls left behind from the abrasive cutting. This fine mist coat is what give it its frosted mist like appearance. It is then left for around one week before the guitar is then assembled.

Brushed satin:

This is the next satin finish and it is slightly less cost effective than the mist finish as it require more lacquer and more labour hours to produce. The process is essentially the same as the satin mist finish, but after the first dry cut with 400 grit abrasive, it receives another 6 coats of clear satin, it is then cut back again with 400 grit, followed by a final 6 - 8 coats of clear satin. Then it is left for one week before the finish is cut back completely flat with wet abrasive paper working from 400 grit up to 3,000 grit. It is finally brushed with Ultrafine steel wool and beeswax in a straight motion up and down the length of the guitar. The finish is then buffed immediately with a warm damp cloth to congeal the wax and remove any excess. The final process gives it a brushed appearance with very fine brush lines that are visible only upon very close up inspection. It also has a slightly shiny satin appearance that feels very smooth to the touch.

Vintage gloss:

This is essentially a gloss finish, but not a high factory type gloss finish that has a flawless mirror like appearance. It is a very time consuming finish that requires the most amount of lacquer and labour hours out of all the standard nitrocellulose finishes. All processes to achieve this finish are performed by hand, so you could also call it a hand finished gloss. 

The base colour is first applied over any priming coats that may be necessary (or this stage is skipped if it is to have a natural finish) then 6 - 8 coats of clear gloss is applied, it is left 24 - 48 hours before it is cut with 400 grit dry abrasive and then a further 6 - 8 coats of clear gloss is applied. This cutting process followed by another 6 - 8 coats is repeated once more to give a total of 18 - 24 coats of clear gloss. After the final 6 - 8 coats it is cut completely flat starting with wet 400 grit abrasive working right through to 7,000 grits. Polishing compounds are then used multiple times in a repetitive process of polishing and buffing until a glossy sheen is achieved. 

This is also simply referred to as 'oil and wax finish'. 

It is the most cost effective finish that MAL guitars has to offer. It is a beautiful super smooth finish that is silky and has satin like sheen. This type of finish is very very nice to have on the guitar neck and it is very well suited to finish a bolt-on neck that is fitted to a body finished in nitrocellulose. Its super smooth feel makes the neck feel incredibly slick and fast as there is practically zero friction between the skin of your hand and the surface of the neck, which means you can slide your hand effortlessly up and down the length of the neck shaft.

It is also super easy to maintain and re-oil if necessary. Keeping the finish maintained is as easy as polishing a pair of shoes... in fact it is exactly like that! 

To maintain this finish simply apply a small amount of beeswax and turpentine paste (I use 'Liberon') with a microfibre cloth, apply it in circular polishing motions. Allow the beeswax to dry to a haze and then buff it out to a satin sheen with a separate 'clean' microfibre cloth. Leave it to dry for a day before playing the guitar. This maintenance needs to be done 2 or 3 time per year with average playing (an hour or two playing per day) or simply do it a couple more times in the year if the guitar gets heavy use or with every string change for very heavy use (if a guitar receives very heavy use which is around 4 hour plus every day, then you should probably be changing string at least every 2 weeks)

It is important to keep the wax layer of this finish maintained, as the wax layer is the protection for the oil finish beneath.

Raw finishes are a natural finish that is bare wood with no lacquers, varnishes or oils or waxes applied. This type of finish can only be applied to certain types of woods and a select few at that.

The typical wood types that this finish can be applied to are hard dense oily woods such as Ebony. The way that this finish is achieved is as follows: The wood is finished sanded through a series of abrasive starting with 80 grit and finishing with 1,000 grit. The bare wood is then buffed with a waxy tack cloth to remove any dust left over from the sand and polishing and the tack cloth also provides a mild sheen to it. It is as simple as that. 

This finish can be periodically maintain by polishing it with a piece of 1,000 grit abrasive paper that is dry and then buffed with a waxy tack cloth. 

The following woods are suitable for this kind of finish:

• Ebony wood of any type e.g. Indian, African, Macassar, Mun, Pale moon
• AAAAA grade Indian rosewood, lower grade Indian rosewood typically requires some lemon oil to be applied
• Padauk
• Wenge
• Purple Heart (Amaranth)
• Pau Ferro (santos rosewood)
• Ziricote

Having a raw finish is particularly common with ebony fingerboards, but this does not mean that ebony cannot be finished with some nitrocellulose lacquer, in fact it accepts nitrocellulose lacquer rather well, as do the other woods listed in this section.

Wenge, Padauk and Purple Heart are great wood to use for neck construction and using these wood without any other woods that ideally require a finish such as Maple, can mean that you can have a raw finished neck that has no lacquer or oil applied to it. These necks are nice and smooth to the touch and allow the true beauty of the wood to show, where as oils and lacquers can darken the appearance of these wood making their natural grain less obvious.