garynava
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 454
My main instrument is: Stanley No.5
|
Post by garynava on Nov 8, 2020 15:04:04 GMT
About 10 years ago, I did a series of build videos on a parlour guitar. There were a couple of videos of me French polishing which have had 1000s of views. Well, 10 years have past I like to think that I may have improved my technique, so there are four new videos on my YouTube channel for those who are interested in the process and hopefully someone who may be struggling with their first instruments might find these of use.
Take care and keep safe.
Cheers Gary
Grain filling with epoxy resin
First applications of polish
Using Oil
|
|
garynava
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 454
My main instrument is: Stanley No.5
|
Post by garynava on Nov 8, 2020 15:06:20 GMT
And this one which didn't seem to fit in the window above! Final Applications
|
|
|
Post by skyetripper on Nov 9, 2020 9:50:01 GMT
I've really enjoyed these videos and it's lovely to see the amount of care and attention you put into this. I french polished a mandolin many years ago and it turned out terrible!! If only we had YouTube and Gary Nava back then...
Thanks for sharing
|
|
ocarolan
Global Moderator
CURMUDGEONLY OLD GIT (leader - to join, just ask!)
Posts: 33,891
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"","color":"c0cfe1"}
Mini-Profile Name Color: 182a3f
Mini-Profile Text Color: 733a1c
Member is Online
|
Post by ocarolan on Nov 19, 2020 13:44:41 GMT
Wonderful!
K
|
|
|
Post by lefranglais on Nov 22, 2020 18:44:01 GMT
Hi Gary, Great videos. I also French polish my instruments and it’s really interesting to see how someone else does it.
I also used the Liberon Pale when I made an acoustic bass guitar back in 2009 and it worked well. But after that I used it on the bodies of a pair of tenor ukuleles and found that it wouldn’t harden. I assumed I must be doing something wrong, as it had been recommended to me by colins , but couldn’t figure out what. After each session, to protect them from dust, etc. in the workshop, I put them in a drawer, sitting on an old T-shirt which was sitting on a towel which in turn was on one of those roll-up foam mats used for camping. I’d take them out the next day and found they were stuck to the t-shirt. I’d done the same thing with the body of the ABG with no problem. The only difference was that the ABG wouldn’t go in a drawer. Eventually, I got fed up with the ukes and abandoned them.
That was 10 years ago. The other day, I found them, still in the drawer and the polish had hardened but it wasn’t very pretty. So I cut back the surfaces and gave them a couple of coats of shellac which I’ve since used made up from flakes and alcohol. That seems to be hardening OK so with a bit of luck I’ll get them finished.
Just today, it ocurred to me why, perhaps, the Liberon wouldn’t harden. I remembered hearing that the protective foam on some instrument stands could give off a solvent which attacks the cellulose nitrate with which some instruments are finished. So perhaps the foam mat under the uke bodies was giving off something that prevented the shellac hardening and the fact that they were in an enclosed space made it worse. I’m not even sure now that there was a foam mat under the bass body.
I also use Z-poxy for grain filling, but I use the finishing resin. It’s much easier to sand than the 30-minute stuff and still gives you 20-30 minutes working time. Have you tried it? Cheers, Dave.
www.rcworld.co.uk/acatalog/PT41-Z-POXY-Finishing-Resin-5525788.html
|
|
colins
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 2,319
|
Post by colins on Nov 22, 2020 20:55:11 GMT
Yes a number of synthetic materials can give off solvents that can effect a French polished finish, as lefranglais says foams on stands can cause the finish to soften and mark as can the lining material in some guitar cases, I'm not sure if it is the material itself or the glue used to secure it to the case. I have seen French polished guitars with a near perfect impression of the case lining imprinted into the back where it has been against the material. Something like a Hiscox case will give no problem. On my classicals, which were always French Polished, Liberon Special Pale was my shellac of choice, this is a de-waxed shellac, giving a near clear finish. I remember back in the early 90s when the trend for epoxy pore filling started, as mentioned above, the general consensus was to use the Z-Poxy Finishing Resin to fill pores due to the fact that it dried harder and sanded better. There were two schools of thought on the process however, one which sanded back just leaving the epoxy in the pores the second which then put a full thinned epoxy wash coat over the entire surface. I was in the former school as there was less chance of a mottled look due to sand through. Incidentally if you are going to epoxy fill then don't put on a shellac washcoat first as the epoxy will not adhere to shellac, strangely though the shellac will adhere fine to the hardened epoxy. I however much preferred to use egg white as a pore filler.
|
|
garynava
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 454
My main instrument is: Stanley No.5
|
Post by garynava on Nov 23, 2020 16:05:55 GMT
Hi Gary, Great videos. I also French polish my instruments and it’s really interesting to see how someone else does it.
I also used the Liberon Pale when I made an acoustic bass guitar back in 2009 and it worked well. But after that I used it on the bodies of a pair of tenor ukuleles and found that it wouldn’t harden. I assumed I must be doing something wrong, as it had been recommended to me by colins , but couldn’t figure out what. After each session, to protect them from dust, etc. in the workshop, I put them in a drawer, sitting on an old T-shirt which was sitting on a towel which in turn was on one of those roll-up foam mats used for camping. I’d take them out the next day and found they were stuck to the t-shirt. I’d done the same thing with the body of the ABG with no problem. The only difference was that the ABG wouldn’t go in a drawer. Eventually, I got fed up with the ukes and abandoned them.
That was 10 years ago. The other day, I found them, still in the drawer and the polish had hardened but it wasn’t very pretty. So I cut back the surfaces and gave them a couple of coats of shellac which I’ve since used made up from flakes and alcohol. That seems to be hardening OK so with a bit of luck I’ll get them finished.
Just today, it ocurred to me why, perhaps, the Liberon wouldn’t harden. I remembered hearing that the protective foam on some instrument stands could give off a solvent which attacks the cellulose nitrate with which some instruments are finished. So perhaps the foam mat under the uke bodies was giving off something that prevented the shellac hardening and the fact that they were in an enclosed space made it worse. I’m not even sure now that there was a foam mat under the bass body.
I also use Z-poxy for grain filling, but I use the finishing resin. It’s much easier to sand than the 30-minute stuff and still gives you 20-30 minutes working time. Have you tried it? Cheers, Dave.
www.rcworld.co.uk/acatalog/PT41-Z-POXY-Finishing-Resin-5525788.htmlHello Dave, I've been using the special pale polish for a long time now, fortunately without any issues. I always leave them hanging up uncovered. I've not tried the finishing resin- I assumed that it was used as a kind of gel-coat for fibre glass work. BUT if it's easier to sand, I may well give it a go! Cheers Gary
|
|
colins
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 2,319
|
Post by colins on Nov 23, 2020 16:18:25 GMT
garynava as I said in my post above, back in the 90s when epoxy pore filling was being discussed a lot on the luthier forums, particularly the OLF, a lot of experimenting was being done on which epoxy to use and it became clear that the epoxy of choice was the Z-poxy Finishing Resin with many of the US professional finishers using it. I used it myself for many years with great results on dozens of guitars before French polishing with the Liberon Special Pale shellac (as the equivalent of a 2lb cut mixture). It's certainly the one to use if you are going down the epoxy pore fill route. Remember though, as I said, epoxy won't adhere well to shellac, though shellac will adhere well to epoxy.
|
|