Cloudy finish after several years

[Bill Blackman]

I have found two of my classicals to have a cloudiness of various densities in the finish. This has occurred after 5 to 10 years but was not present to start with. Both classicals were made in Spain and appear to have a catalytic finish that is fairly thick in places. I wondered if it was the Spanish finish or if anybody else has seen this phenomenon. Hopefully somebody knows how this happens and maybe how to fix it.

[Stephen Neal Saqui]

Spanish factories use catalyzed finishes. The cloudiness could come from the finish separating from the surface either from poor prep before finishing or from golpe or tapping. There are other causes of dulling or cloudiness but usually is caused by dirt and sweat...and usually on lacquer or French polish.

The solution is refinishing. Higher level guitars normally are French polished and, being that it's very thin and delicate, periodically need refinishing or touch up. Some makers uses lacquer as a base coat then French polish over that. The idea being that the finish is tougher but still light weight.

Catalyzed finish is very tough but is believed to negatively affect the sound because of the thickness and weight. Find a luthier that specializes in classical and flamenco guitars and discuss your options with him.

[David King]

Glasurit from BASF in Germany was a very popular finish starting in the 1970s. I haven't heard of it becoming cloudy. There was a notorious bad batch of Fullerplast that went on a lot Fenders from the mid 1970s. It would go cloudy and then get gooey and shed whatever topcoat was on it in big ugly patches.

[Stephen Neal Saqui]

Right, we used Fullerplast back then but switched to Sherwin-Williams Conversion Varnish. But I've gone back to Behlens Instrument Lacquer which requires more labor but way fewer problems!! Catalyzed finishes seem to come up with ugly surprises on occasion!

[Mark Swanson]

I recently had a Yamaha acoustic in my shop that had a thick finish that had gotten really really cloudy. It looked terrible. This was deep in the finish, nothing I could do with it. I sent it back to the customer, telling him a refinish was all he could do with it.

[Bill Blackman]

Thanks for the input, guys. Quite informative. The situation Mark described seems to be the closest fit. The cloudiness seems to be mostly, if not all, on the back and sides. I got rid of the first one to cloud as it was a guitar I no longer used and the cloud was extensive. It was a Prudencio Saez, kind of a starter classical. The other is a Manuel Rodriguez Model D, a much newer guitar. Its cloudiness is in small areas and is somewhat light. Since Rodriguez went commercial they seem to have cut some corners, cheaper finish being one of them. I tried heat from a hair dryer to no avail. I think Mark is right - the only solution is refinishing.