Dry Wood? Lacquer or Polyurethane Paint?

[tbryanh]

Looks like I stand well corrected. Great lesson.

[vg3000]

As far as finish goes, it seems there's going to be opinions. A thick finish WILL kill the sound of an acoustic, and solid body instruments do have acoustic properties that can be choked in a similar way.

I saw a documentary a long time ago wherein a famous Italian violin maker's services were lent to trying to discover the reasons why a Stradivarius violin sounds so much better than any other violins made since.

The violin maker went to great lengths in building exact replicas, with vintage period woods and the whole nine yards. It must have cost a small fortune for this research to be performed, they also had several originals to compare against.

The conclusion was (aside from construction) the finish of the originals have a major impact on the way they resonate, thus giving them their trademark tone.




I'm sure that in a solid body the effect would be less evident but may effect it to a certain degree. On hollow bodies and acoustic guitars I would think it would have an effect on the way the body resonates much the same as the findings about the Stradivarius violins and would effect the tone of the instrument in the same manner.