Can you explain to me what a guitar is made of?

Question

I have a gibson, I know its made out of wood but what is done to it to make it all "nice and smooth" feeling and shiny. Im planning on repainting my guitar to my own style so I need to know what to do to make it shiny once again...if this isnt possible just tell me what a guitar is made of anyway lol...thanx

Answer 1

There are various types of finishes, BUT I'm curious what guitar exactly you have.  I would be horrified to find out you were going to paint a vintage guitar!  And if you really don't know what you're doing, you are just going to lower the value of your axe.  However, you might check out Stewart MacDonald for finishing supplies and go from there.

Answer 2

I can tell you how Gibson does it. It's pretty simple actually, just needs alot of extensive labor. Well Depending on what type of Gibson you have, the wood can vary. Guitars are made from everything, from pine all the way to, Koa. A typical Les Paul, however is made of a Mahogany body, and an Ebony fret board.  The process is very simple. First, the design is cut, and shaped. Gibson has a special machine that cuts all of the guitars equally. After when they are cut, they head to the sander, which are sanded until they are as smooth as a baby's bottom. After they are sanded, they head to the binding process. They bind them with celluloid, and put the parts of the body together by wrapping it all together giving them a "Mummy" appearance. After the guitar is done binding (which takes days at a time), the neck and body come together, and binded again once more to have the "Neck Thru" type of construction. Once that is done curing, the guitar is painted (Gibson has a special proccess to do that, not sure what it is). Once painted and dried, the guitar than goes to the buffing process, where it is buffed for countless minutes at a time giving that "Smooth" feeling. It goes for a wax after that, tested by a qualified employee, and than heads to a guitar shop, somewhere throughout the world. Hope this helped.

-Nakayama Akira

Answer 3

Some kind of varnish.  There are lots of kinds and they can make the guitar sound different.

Answer 4

This is from Taylor Guitars but the videos take you through many steps of guitar construction.

http://www.taylorguitars.com/see-hear/

Answer 5

Acoustic guitars are made of 99% wood specifically chosen

for the wood ability to resonate frequencies when the strings

are pluck.

It is not recommended that you "repaint" your guitar. You will

ruin the sound. If you most do something to the soundboard I

strongly suggest that you seek the advice of a luthier or at least a guitar-tech person at a music store.

There are "oils" in the market to "protect" the wood surface

but those oils (like lemon oil) will not damage the surface or

result in changing the "sound" of the guitar.

If you still want a "painted" guitar then your best bet will be

to buy one made by the mnufacturer with the "paint" you wanted. When made, the manufacturer took into consideration what type of wood will be most appropiate for

being "coated" with a color.