Black matte finish guitars. How to keep dull finish??

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lord Toneking
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Lord Toneking

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I've got this steath Wolfgang and it's getting very shiny where my forearm lays, where I pick and around the knobs. Any way to make it all matte and dull again so it doesn't look like big greasy chicken finger smudges??
 
Sadly it's impossible. You can use a bit of naptha or glass cleaner that has alcohol (but not ammonia) in it on a soft rag to remove some of the oils from your hands and arm but no matter what your arm and fingers are acting as a super fine polishing abrasive as you rub over the area actually polishing the matte paint which is irreversible. They're usually painted with a single stage matte paint (meaning no clear coat just the matte black paint over the wood sealer and that's it) and over time your hands, fingers and arm will polish it no matter what. I had a matte black Charvel years ago from the TMZ run and it looked horrible after a few months so I had it repainted a custom gloss color. Also had a matte purple Ibanez decades ago that I ended up hand polishing to a gloss purple using various rubbing compounds and polishes since it was looking horrible and glossy around the knobs and forearm area too. Before I ended up polishing the matte purple Ibanez to gloss I tried making the finish matte again and nothing worked to perfectly match the rest of the matte finish that wasn't polished by my arm and fingers. I tried steel wool and super fine sand papers and micro mesh and all of them got it a bit more matte but also left fine scratches too. Matte finishes are never a wise idea on an item you'll be touching and rubbing and getting oils from your hands on. It's a great idea for a guitar company wanting to maximize profit though since they cost less to paint since there's no clear coat and no buffing stage, meaning less hand labor, making it a much lower cost finish.
 
Funny, I had a thread on how to degloss a black guitar. I got crickets on that thread. I have a resonator guitar with a brushed (matte) steel finish. My hand would shine the thing up always where my hand rests. So I buffed the area with some steel wool, got it dull again, buffed some clear pickguard material out with some steel wool, cut a piece and put it where my hand usually shines it back up. It worked, but the pickguard stuff looks dumb.
 
Since it was abrasion that caused the finish to shine, it's abrasion you need to get it matte looking again. You could take some 0000 steel wool to the finish to return it to matte. But it's only a matter of time before you go through the paint to the wood.
 
fretout":1d3ggdhi said:
Since it was abrasion that caused the finish to shine, it's abrasion you need to get it matte looking again. You could take some 0000 steel wool to the finish to return it to matte. But it's only a matter of time before you go through the paint to the wood.
Click to expand...

This. 0000 steel wool will remove the gloss.
 
You can just buy my Stealth Wolfgang. Since I hardly play it, its still nice and matte-y. :)
 
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