Finish mods ?

fauves01

New here and fairly new to the style but not new to guitars and mods. I recently bought a dell arte rn-1 import. So far so good really like it.

I have had some other archtops in the past that had the poly finished stripped and really benefited. Has anyone done this with some of the imports? Is it worth it or a waste of time and energy?

thanks and cheers

Jangle_Jamie

Hello, I'm not familiar with the Robin Nolan Dell Arte. I have refinished quite a few cheaper factory gypsy guitars over the years and all have improved in tone, volume and looks. I have only done this on guitars that clearly have a very thick layer of clearcoat though, so my first advice would be to study your guitar's top and determine how thick the finish is and therefore whether you'll make a difference. I have a Gitane DG370 which I've left as is - the finish is quite thin for a Gitane and it's not bright orange like a lot of them! It also looks and sounds great as it is and I can't believe I'd make much of a difference. To determine the thickness of the top coat, I have pressed a finger nail into the top to see if I can make a mark (this is probably not the best way, but it works for me and I do it somewhere where it won't matter, plus the mark will be tiny!). Most Gitanes will have about a millimetre of lacquer all over and certainly no impression can be made with a finger nail.