Epiphone Finish ??

The difference between the finish of the two is that the Gibson has a Nitrocellulose lacquer finish and the Epi has a Polyurethane finish.

I am not sure of the major difference between the two and impact on sound if any but the polyurethane is actually a little tougher, easier to apply, glossier and cheaper.

The nitro finishes will allow for aging of the wood. They allow some air and moisture to pass through the finish that brings out different sound characteristics as the instrument gets older. It also has to be applied in multiple layers with sanding in between.

The poly finishes only need to be sprayed on in one or two coats, so it's less labor intensive. It also restricts the air and moisture transfer through the finish that reduces the (often desireable) effects of aging.

There's no real benefit to nitrocellulose. It's an old finish that's stuck around because guitarists are conservative old farts. They want what was on the classic guitars of yesteryear, and nitrocellulose lacquer was the cheapest and easiest thing to put on them in the old days. It is easy to patch up for the same reason it doesn't have to have all that rubbing between coats and such. The solvent in the new coat dissolves the previous coats so it all ends up being one continuous coat. Actually, polyurethane has to be reapplied before the previous coat has cured if sanding's to be avoided, because it can't be dissolved after it sets and the new coat has to mechanically bond to it.

Nitrocellulose can best be thought of as a cheap synthetic substitute for shellac. It's the original manmade plastic, and was coming into popularity (and cheap wide availability) about the time mass produced cheap guitars came along. It saved the makers having to pay for a lot of brushing, hand sanding and rubbing. It is super easy to work with, and the only reason it's faded out of popularity in the US is that the EPA and OSHA have made it very difficult to use in compliance with restrictions on solvent vapors released in the air. That's not the case in all countries, and some cheap Asian made guitars come with nitrocellulose lacquer. Lacquer hardens by evaporation of the solvent, and lacquer thinner vapor's pretty noxious stuff.

It's not very resistant to water or chemicals like alcohol, and plasticisers in rubber and plastic (like those sleeves on guitar stands) will attack and mar it. It's easily stained. It doesn't resist ultraviolet well at all. It doesn't age well and shrinks and cracks. (Some folks like the look of that "alligatored" finish, though.) It also emits corrosive fumes that'll eat up your guitar's hardware in the case as it deteriorates. It has nothing to do with how your wood ages; it's bare on the inside, anyway!

Polyurethane's a superior finish in most respects, UNLESS you want to strip and refinish it, when its durability and resistance to solvent and chemical attack become barriers to removing the old finish.

thanks guys

Hi.
He he he I know alittle about this... the finishes that is, I used to make paint.
Nitrocellose is used in Laquer paint the finish is pourous alittle and never quite dries... It does eventually and will crack and fall off.
Polyurethane is thicker by nature and must be cured when applied.
Its usally a two part deal with the catalyst mixed in at the time of application. I made polyurethane as an industrial coating. They
use it to paint the insides of water towers and tanker cars
Even though it does cure (dry) it is very flexible, where as the laquer
gets brittle when it is touch dry. The amount of solvents (xylene &
Tolulene) in the mixture will determine this dry time. AS little as 2 hours
for thin coats and really 24 hours after all the coats been applied.

I don't really know much about what they do with guitar finishes,
but I'd imagine the densityand that flex in polyurethane can be
both a good and a bad thing.

I'm guessing (wildly) that it kills some of the performance from pickups
but helps in controlling feedback.
I have a Greco SG copy that was old when I bought it 22 years ago
It has a laquered finish and you can see cracks in the finish
It feed backs horribly at high volumes, but I think that has more to do with the Imitation PAFs on it than the finish.

Oh one more thing about nitrocellose... when it dries it looks a little like
Violin Resin...you hit it with a hammer and it will spark

I know a bass player that repainted his bass two times. the first time he used acrylic Laquer. man that base has a sustain from hell.
he repainted it with Ernon Automotive paint....... LOL it sounded like he
was playing IN a car. Come to think of it, the last I heard, He was selling
cars

Ummm... What about powder coatings? I've only seen that applied to metals and don't know if it would be suitable for wood.
Probably too thick huh?

To be honest when i said finish, i meant the colour, does the Epiphone wine red have the same rich colour ? with the same effect ?

The painted Epis I've seen have looked good. I have one with a lovely bright red finish. Generally painted guitars have an enamel finish and often they're painted with standard car colors.

As for the nitrocellulose lacquer sparking, well, nitrocellulose is an explosive. Smokeless powder is made from somewhat more highly nitrated nitrocellulose. It's also inherently unstable and can't be made completely stable. Over the years it deteriorates, releasing fumes of nitrogen oxides. That stuff's intensely corrosive to metal hardware on guitars left shut up tightly in cases.