View Full Version : Stupid question? Not necessarily!!!
I've played both laquer and varnish finished instruments in the past sometimes the same model and from the same maker. There is definitely a difference in sound but my question is, Is it the hardness of the laquer over the soft varnished finish that makes the difference and if so would I be able to make the laquered one sound like the varnished one by removing some of the hard finished surface?
Tom Haywood
Apr-27-2015, 7:02am
The lacquer is most likely on there pretty thin already, so probably not much difference in sound by thinning it further. And you lose some of the protection that it is on there to provide. OTH, the best sounding old Martin guitars I've heard have lost some or most of their lacquer finish. In any event, you'll still have some hard lacquer on it, so it won't sound like varnish.
Bill Baldridge
Apr-27-2015, 7:22am
I've played both laquer and varnish finished instruments in the past sometimes the same model and from the same maker. There is definitely a difference in sound....
There is definitely a difference in sound between in two mandolins, same model and from the same maker, same finish. If varnish is what you want, you don't need a rationale, you just need more money.
OldSausage
Apr-27-2015, 9:55am
Is it the hardness of the laquer over the soft varnished finish that makes the difference and if so would I be able to make the laquered one sound like the varnished one by removing some of the hard finished surface?
These are unanswerable questions, because there are too many other variables.
Willie Poole
Apr-27-2015, 11:08am
I once owned an A model mandolin made by a famous builder but it had a lot of lacquer on the finish so I figured I had nothing to lose so I started thinning the finish on the top using steel wool and with each thinning I noticed it seemed to sound better and better, when it got to a sound that I could enjoy I polished it and played it for a few years, I did sell it to a lady in Texas and she was real happy with the sound that it had after the finished product....I say go for it but take a little off at a time...A word of caution your mandolin may not have as much finish as you think, it was easy to tell that mine did...
The top has to vibrate to get a pure sound....
Willie
fscotte
Apr-28-2015, 6:34am
I think the lacquer cures a little harder. Where you'll hear the difference is in the very high frequency ranges where the finish would have more effect. If you soften those higher frequencies with a varnish finish then the sound will be a bit "smoother".
Nick Gellie
Apr-30-2015, 6:23am
Maybe a lacquered mando is better for those of us who are going deaf!
Maybe a lacquered mando is better for those of us who are going deaf!
Read my posting titled "My tale of woe"
These are unanswerable questions, because there are too many other variables.
I agree. This might be a case of correlation without causation.
Does the wood finish greatly impact how the wood ages?
If this were true, and all other things being equal (which they never ever are) I might postulate a large difference after many many years.
Willie Poole
May-01-2015, 1:05pm
Jeff, I have always heard that builders want to use wood that has aged about as much as it can, also the finish is only on the outside of the wood so it will still age if it hasn`t already reached it`s peak when the mandolin was built...I have often wondered why people play a mandolin in the green (when it hasn`t been finished) because all builders say that the final finish changes the tone...
Willie
Timbofood
May-01-2015, 1:34pm
Not so sure that wood ever ages "as much as it can" but, I get your point Willie. I could almost see the issue if instruments were finished equally inside and out but, they are not. So, the "aging" of wood continues after completion and finishing, no?
I have also understood that playing in the "white" (or "green" as Willie put it) is to tune sound holes and some adjustment of tonal quality prion to finishing. It's all quite fascinating to me, I am NOT a builder so these are simply theoretical musings I offer based on conversations with builders over the years.
Open to correction or clarification if I am blindly off base.
Thanks guys!