Shiny areas in satin finish

raduray

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My seven year old Collings UT-1K has shiny areas in the satin finish in the lower bout where it's in contact with the forearm and near the sound hole where the right hand rests. A luthier I respect to told me that he could sand the shiny areas, but that he'll probably hot be able to exactly match the areas that are not shiny. The other option he offered is to buff and polish the body so that it's all shiny. Of course, I could always leave it the way it is as it's purely a cosmetic issue. Any thoughts?
 
In other areas that is referred to as patina, I'd leave it as a reminder of the hours sweating over you muse.:D
 
I love the rich, low gloss look of a lightly polished satin finish. Can easily be done by hand with a soft cloth and an appropriate polish. Many have used auto scratch and haze remover. I have also used some Flitz plastic polish but have since bought some Stewmac polishes.
 
In other areas that is referred to as patina, I'd leave it as a reminder of the hours sweating over you muse.:D

Agreed!

My Brunswick tenor has a big shiny patch above the soundhole where my thumb comes to rest when I'm playing clawhammer. I did consider the concept of polishing the whole instrument to match, but decided to leave it ;)
 
Like Kypfer said, if I didn't want to leave it the way it is, I'd polish the whole thing instead of trying to make the shiny areas satin-y again. They'll just get shiny again. But I'm with Jack on this: Leave it the way it is. It's like small dings: the sign of a ukulele being played a lot. :)
 
In other areas that is referred to as patina, I'd leave it as a reminder of the hours sweating over you muse.:D

:agree: shows character and that it's been loved and played!
 
Like you said, it is purely cosmetic. I have done the same thing as Phil. I did not like the matte finish on one of my ukes, so I tried using Simichrome to lightly polish the surface, then wipe with a soft cloth. Now it is a semi-gloss and I like it much better. If you look at your Collins each time and say, "I wish it did not look like that", then use polish gently and change it. If it doesn't really bother you much, leave it alone.
 
If the relic craze hits the ukulele scene, you would have to pay extra for the builder to add that shiny spot and some shirt button rash on the back.:D
 
I agree, I'd leave it alone. You could make it worse by trying to "fix" it. Nothing wrong with a shiny spot from playing. That happens on all satin Collings that get played.

However, I did read in another post where someone put Nufinish (car polish) on their Collings and got a uniform shine. Not sure if that is what you want.
 
I'd leave it alone, it's an instrument and meant to be played. There are people who actually pay extra to have an instrument look like it has been played.
 
I think that it is cool that your ukulele looks like you have been playing it for seven years. I wonder how many people have ukuleles that they haven't played for seven years?
 
My Cocobolo has the same thing where my pinkie rests, and where I strum across it. I don't mind it. During my string change, I cleaned and polished the whole uke (except for the fretboard dressing) and it mostly hid it.
 
my Pono AT has a satin finish. I noticed that there were shiny areas on the lower bout above the sound hole from playing. I thought, that looks cool!
 
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