The 1993 510 was perhaps the best sounding guitar I've ever heard. I sprung it on an experienced sound man at a Bluegrass festival in Spartanburg. We opened the set w/Blackberry Blossom,and afterwards he paged me over the monitors. He said,and I quote, " What kinda guitar is that?" I replied into the PA "A Taylor 510, Engleman spruce top, and Mahogany back and sides."
Later he told me that I had red lined his meter until about halfway through my first break. He couldn't believe how well it cut the mic, and that I'd never stepped into it.
Just a killer instrument. I had put an ivory nut and saddle in it earlier in the week, and hit the sweet spot dead on. I never touched the set-up again . It left in a tornado August 21, 2005.
Steve
Personally, I'd find it hard to believe that anyone can actually detect a difference in sound between a guitar with satin finished back and sides and one with gloss finished back and sides that is actually due to the finish. I would think that any humanly detectable difference in sound would be due to construction and materials. The top is where the sound is actually generated and, as far as I know, all of the tops are gloss.....and I'm not real sure there would be any detectable difference between the sound of a gloss top and a satin finished top, if the finish were the ONLY difference. I have guitars with French Polish of shellac finishes and I'm not even certain that makes enough difference to be worth it (although it is certainly a noticeable difference in the pocketbook). The way you have to lessen the influence of any finish on the vibrations of the top is to make it thinner. The thinner the finish, the less durable. French Polish is very thin, but it has to be re-finished periodically....it's like spit-shining a boot. It gives a very thin, light, and beautiful finish, but it wears and scuffs easily....and at about $700+ a pop for a re-polish, I learned to do it myself....it's VERY labor-intensive.
As far as the durability of a finish, I can't say that I've ever seen a defect, scratch, ding, or dent in gloss finish that I could say "That wouldn't have happened if this guitar had a satin finish", or vice-versa. Taylor is going to make their finish as thin as possible while still providing adequate protection to the wood, just as Martin or any major mfg would. Once again, I think any big difference is going to be in the wood the finish is applied to. As a rule, cedar is soft and dents and scratches easier than spruce...the finish isn't going to make a difference there. I suppose you could add additional protection by making the finish so thick and hard that you would begin to affect the sound adversely, but that wouldn't be very practical. I've never seen a finish on a quality guitar "lift". That would indicate to me that there was some sort of oil or something on the wood and the finish was applied over it, not that there was anything inherently wrong with the finish.
FWIW, I'm with Steve on this....it's much ado about nothing. Choose the finish that pleases your eye.....that's where the only real difference is. JMHO.
