Matte, nitro finish?

[charleyrich99]

I am looking at a guitar with a matte, nitro finish. However, every guitar I have ever owned has had a gloss finish.

What does it feel like playing on a neck where the back is matte finished? I have experienced it on beginner's guitars where it felt a bit rough and frankly cheap.

I imagine it has to be different on an expensive archtop.

Opinions?

[skiboyny]

If it’s satin nitrocellulose. It feels no different than gloss. Just less shine. I have not had experience with a Mat finish though I doubt it would feel much different.

[gitman]

When you look a B120 from Roger Borys you see that the finish is not buffed out to a bright shine but it feels not much different to the fingers when compared to a gloss finish. A neck like this will eventually become glossy when you play the guitar regularly and up and down the neck. I own a guitar where only the top is glossy but the back is REALLY matte, it feels relatively coarse under the fingers and I'm sure it will never gloss up... I do not know of any usual production-line guitar that has a matte finish but I'm sure they are out there. Have you looked at the Reverend line ? The Greg Koch "Gristlemaster" model has a roasted maple neck that is not finished at all IIRC - roasted maple does not require a finish.

[John A.]

Very generally, gloss finishes can feel sort of gummy and can feel as though they pick up dirt from your hands easily. Satin finishes tend not to do this and tend to feel smoother to the touch. Some people have a preference, but I think most adapt easily to either one.

But this is not absolute. The extent of the differences depends on the specific finish formulas used, how they’re applied, and how smooth the underlying wood is.

Also, Many satin finishes will develop a glossy/buffed appearance and feel over time due to contact with the player’s hands and clothing, so the differences tend to recede. This happened with my strat - the neck was originally a satin (polyurethane) finish. It’s now glossy, except for the front of the headstock.

Then again, a thin gloss nitro finish on the neck can be abraded down to the bare wood by your hands over time. Somewhere in that journey it’ll feel like a satin finish. So I guess the real answer is "Yes. No. Maybe."

[sgosnell]

The Epi ES175 has a matte nitro finish. The neck on mine soon became glossy from being polished by my hand as I fretted, though. It feels no different from my other guitars, not from the start.