Guitar Finishes

Guitar makers (luthiers if you will) will agree that for a guitar the best finish is no finish at all. Many musicians have either stripped their guitars down or have had their finish worn off with no intentions of refinishing it. The Beatles John Lennon stripped down an Epiphone Casino that was given to him because you get a more pure sound out of it. Rory Gallagher also carried a worn down to wood 61' Fender Stratocaster. Now how some people would like the look of a relic'd guitar or a bare wood one, they are suseptable to moisture, dirt, and oil. Now dirt and oil won't exactly break a guitar but, could hinder the natural beauty of the unfinished wood. There are also beautiful finishes from the "French Polish," which is where numerous coats of varnish are applied to the wood. There are also laquer finishes and more recently used a polyester resin finish. The polyester resin is the most inexpensive finish but, has probably the longest durability. So which one do you choose? The design aspects of these different finishes on guitars could be what you look for in your guitar. Do you choose one more for better sound? or for better looking? Personally, I like the unfinished guitars with perhaps a little bit of oil on them. I like the function of the better sound and I think that the bare wood is beautiful. Also I enjoy the look of an aged guitar, which a bare wood guitar looks more like. The more use and age your guitar has the more "you" it is and that is what I look for in a lot of designs. How can you make this design a part of you? I believe that designers that make their designs a part of them are some of the best designs. This could be as simple as the interior design of your house or as complex as a trying to find an automobile that speaks to you as an individual. Me? I'll take a worn guitar with chips and cracks and no paint.