CE24 black-grey Satin finish. How careful?

[Mike D]

When shopping for this guitar, I noticed a couple older satin PRS guitars that had worn through the finish where the player had seemingly picked into the wood near the high e string, or they had long sharp fingernails like a classical guitarist would.

Now that my barely used CE24 is here and I've played it for a week, I've noticed the satin starting too shine in the same area.

Any advice besides continuing to play lighter to avoid contact with my fingers? My pick doesn't contact the finish to my knowledge. My nails are not a factor either.

Thank you again

 

[Russ73]

The shine is kinda like a buffing out, my Satin S2 the back of the neck is shiny already but yeah they are more fragile than a finished bodied guitar just play the hell out of it and don't worry too much....

 

[garrett]

Any advice besides continuing to play lighter to avoid contact with my fingers?

Play the hell out of it and don't worry about it.

 

[László]

Where your arm, hand and fingers rest on any satin finish guitar will result in a shiny area - it’s like what polish with a chamois does to a finish. Glosses it a bit.

No big deal, and it’d be awfully hard to avoid the effect and still play the thing. It’s part of the charm of a satin finish. Eventually it all evens out as the guitar is used, the whole finish picks up a bit of a sheen.

Some of PRS’ most desirable and highly sought-after guitars, like the Modern Eagle 1 and some of the legendary Violin guitars, have satin finishes.

Perhaps they’re not for the truly OCD, but they do look pretty damn cool.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

What they all said, I had an acoustic with a satin finish, I played the out of it so much that the neck, where my arm rested on the top and part of the back where there was friction between me and it all obtained a sheen.

So Les said, your hand etc. Is like a soft abrasion pad that causes this. Think of it as you makin the guitar your own.

Enjoy playing her

 

[grausch]

I have a 2005 Satin Standard that is glossed up almost everywhere. No worn off finish that I can see and I believe mahogany is a lighter wood, i.e. it should be easily visible. It has 2 small dings on it and in both cases, it looks like the finish just got dented along with the wood. Thus again, not easily visible.

However, I have seen some of the same guitars with significant bucklerash. So any spot that gets hit with something hard, i.e. pick scratches or a belt buckle will eventually wear away.

PRS recommends the a furniture polish for satin finishes - https://www.prsguitars.com/csc/care.html - however, I believe the new S2s have a thinner finish so not sure if the recommendation needs to change. I have not yet tried polishing my S2 Satin and have not yet felt the need on the 20th Satin Standard.

 

[walrus]

It's called "mojo"!