What difference does the finish make to my guitar?

Author: Allan Kumpulainen   Date Posted:July 21, '16 

This buying guide will explain the differences between guitar finishes.

There are two main types of guitar finish:

  • Gloss: these are a thicker glossy, shiny finish that is smooth to touch
  • Matte: a very thin finish, rough to touch and doesn’t reflect light.
The sound difference between matte and gloss is negligible - arguably non-existent for electric guitars. What IS important, is how much lacquer has been used and what type. Generally speaking (for acoustic instruments) the thicker the lacquer, the more the sound will be choked by the finish.  
Matte guitars have a thin coating, so the finish will have little effect on the tone, compared with gloss finish guitars. If you've ended up on this page wondering about how the finish on your ELECTRIC guitar affects your tone, get off your phone and go and practice - the short answer is that it doesn't. The long answer is, if it does, you can't tell the difference no matter how much you convince yourself you can.

The majority of our guitar range is sprayed in polyurethane, which has overtaken nitrocellulose lacquer as the industry standard for guitar finishing. This finish is very weather resistant, and does not require temperature controlled shipping or hyper sensitive storage. If you want your guitar looking factory fresh after years of playing, a poly finish is the way to go!

Some guitarists prefer the thinner, vintage feel of nitrocellulose lacquer, despite it being an objectively worse material for durability. Nitro finishes will crack, bubble up, and change colour with age. This kind of aging is more inline with how many of the most sought after vintage guitars have aged over the years, so if you want an authentic look that will show its hard earned scars, a nitro guitar might be more your speed.