what is "sinkage" in wood grain

sunshinewelly

to be fair to the guys at Peach they have sent me some photos of the yamaha guitar i have purchased which looks fine to me. they say though that as part of the thin nitro on the guitar i can expect to see some sinkage which is normal. what does that mean.

here is the photo they sent me - looks fine to me

i have not come across the term before

https://imgur.com/a/ldqOMCz

they really are a good bunch of guys at Peach

danishbacon

Pretty normal and all my guitars have it to some degree. The work on that bridge looks superb

Whitecat

The lacquer in these is super thin and will often “sink” into the pores on the wood. As stated it’s common and normal and really can only be seen right up close. Usually happens as instruments put a little age on them, but maybe some of these have just been sitting in a warehouse for longer than expected. 

Is that the one that has the serial number ending in 85A?

HandwrittenHero

Whitecat said:

The lacquer in these is super thin and will often “sink” into the pores on the wood. As stated it’s common and normal and really can only be seen right up close. Usually happens as instruments put a little age on them, but maybe some of these have just been sitting in a warehouse for longer than expected. 

Is that the one that has the serial number ending in 85A?

Depending on the finish and the wood it doesn’t even take that much time. The AV Fender run right up until the American Original line has really thin nitro which is why they chip so easily. They seem to see sinkage just from the first set of seasonal change.

Not a negative to my mind, nice to be aware of just so it isn’t a surprise.

sunshinewelly

Whitecat said:

The lacquer in these is super thin and will often “sink” into the pores on the wood. As stated it’s common and normal and really can only be seen right up close. Usually happens as instruments put a little age on them, but maybe some of these have just been sitting in a warehouse for longer than expected. 

Is that the one that has the serial number ending in 85A?

yes thats the one that was left - the other 36 had gone. 

Whitecat

sunshinewelly said:

Whitecat said:

The lacquer in these is super thin and will often “sink” into the pores on the wood. As stated it’s common and normal and really can only be seen right up close. Usually happens as instruments put a little age on them, but maybe some of these have just been sitting in a warehouse for longer than expected. 

Is that the one that has the serial number ending in 85A?

yes thats the one that was left - the other 36 had gone. 

Good score - to me that was the nicer top of the two. As good a piece of Engelmann as you’ll see anywhere these days. Congrats!

guitars4you

Wood is porous - To avoid any 'sinkage' you would need a 'thicker/stronger' base coat, so the top coat sits on a flush surface to give you that car like glass gloss vibe - Yet such a base coat would harm the guitars natural resonance/acoustic properties - As such guitars utilise a far 'softer/thinner' base coat and by doing so the finish will/can ripple 'n' sink

In reality it is more complex than I've mentioned above - But the above is the gist of it 

SpiritOfTheAge

I bought a 2003 Stratocaster in black a few months back and you can see the grain all over if held at the right angle, I love the look.

Also just bought a PRS McCarty Gold top and the finish of the gold top has sunk into the grain and I can see the flamed maple under the finish which I also love.

sunshinewelly

cheers everyone - i have learned a lot from these forums

danishbacon

I’d also add that, according to Larrivee’s maintenance booklet, if the sinking becomes too pronounced, ie, feels /looks like corrugated cardboard it’s a sign that the guitar has dried out, but I’d say an unlikely scenario in this country unless the guitar is kept next to a radiator, which it should not be. 

danishbacon

https://www.larrivee.com/pdfs/Larrivee%20Care%20Maintenance.pdf

I’d point out that larrivees are built with poly finishes so I’d expect a nitro finished guitar to show this effect more prominently without it being an issue than with a poly finished guitar, just to keep that in mind as otherwise you might cause yourself some undue paranoia

edit: as @ICBM pointed out, thinness of finish and filler also affect it. I had an old tomato strat with sunken finish and it was poly

ICBM

sunshinewelly

ICBM said:

i like the look of that

ICBM

sunshinewelly said:

i like the look of that

It's an old Matsumoku-made Aria with a very thin polyurethane finish.

Thinness and lack of grain filler in the wood is what does it, not the finish type as such.

Bennyboy-UK

I put it down to lack of grain filling as well - I don't get the misty eyed excitement about the sinkage as a desirable feature- I've seen some old Gibsons over the years (mainly old SGs as it goes) without any "finish sinking in to the grain".

Mind you, I've been wrong before you know  

brooom

ICBM said:

sunshinewelly said:

i like the look of that

It's an old Matsumoku-made Aria with a very thin polyurethane finish.

Thinness and lack of grain filler in the wood is what does it, not the finish type as such.

The same thing happens on old 80s Greco SE-500s and TE-500s, which are finished with very thin polyurethane. The finish sinks into the sulk of the wood grain.

artiebear

Not a problem, some of my favourite acoustics and electrics have this due to the long process of applying nitro and buffing down to the thinnest most effective finish. I love the tactile element of the grain being present, especially on an acoustic.

guitargeek62

brooom said:

ICBM said:

sunshinewelly said:

i like the look of that

It's an old Matsumoku-made Aria with a very thin polyurethane finish.

Thinness and lack of grain filler in the wood is what does it, not the finish type as such.

The same thing happens on old 80s Greco SE-500s and TE-500s, which are finished with very thin polyurethane. The finish sinks into the sulk of the wood grain.

PRS finishes do it too (as already mentioned). The finish over the mahogany neck and back on my Cu24 has sunk in beautifully after 33 years, though not noticeably on the maple top!

SpiritOfTheAge

I've got a few snaps of the Stratocaster