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RE: Do fabric in the guitar case rea... (in reply to alcazaba)
First, the case should not be the problem but heat when the guitar was transferred.
Second, old shellac could be rendered out of date for proper use.
It all depends on who built the guitar and what actual finished they used. I know of one builder that used Vaseline for a finish off with shellac, and this made the finish rather soft. 'Another is that the finish could have been new and had not been old enough to polymerize to a solid state.
RE: Do fabric in the guitar case rea... (in reply to Tom Blackshear)
Hi Tom, thanks for replying. I build the guitar myself.
I start the finish two months before shipment but I did a couple of sessions more, about two weeks before shipping it.
The flakes where almost five years old. The mix with alcohol was new. I did another guitar before this one, using same aged shellac flakes, though I used different color. I had no problems, it was shipped during colder weather.
I wonder if different colors of shellac have different toughness properties?
RE: Do fabric in the guitar case rea... (in reply to alcazaba)
In my opinion the shellac didn’t cure enough as it was built up too quickly. My guess is that the guitar seemed ok in your environment but during the shipment she was exposed to a sudden change of temperature/humidity which made it softer. . Something similar happened to me some years ago when I sent a guitar to Israel.
Posts: 3487
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Do fabric in the guitar case rea... (in reply to alcazaba)
I had the rosewood pegs on my '67 Ramirez blanca replaced with machines. The work was done by Kenny Hill's shop in Ben Lomond, California, up in the Santa Cruz mountains south of San Francisco. I was passing through, so the guitar was returned to me within 2 or 3 days.
The guitar was kept in a Mark Leaf case in those days, which captured the headstock with padding on the back and front. A day or two after I got the guitar back I noticed a cloth impression on the front of the headstock, not serious, but visible up close.
The guitar was finished in catalyzed polyurethane at the Ramirez shop when it was built. I don't know what Hill's shop used for touchup after the machine slots were cut. Whatever it was, it apparently was not fully cured when the instrument was put back in the case. The guitar was more than 35 years old at the time, and I don't plan ever to sell it, so I wasn't concerned.
Some time over the last several years, the cloth impression has disappeared. I don't know when, because I didn't pay much attention to it. The polyurethane on the rest of the instrument has thinnned out considerably over the 51-year life of the guitar, presumably due to continued cross-linking of the polymer, maybe due to some continued outgassing of volatile compounds.
At any rate, the cloth impression on the headstock has disappeared altogether: (the ding near the 3rd string roller is due to whacking the guitar against something...)
RNJ
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RE: Do fabric in the guitar case rea... (in reply to alcazaba)
What is little understood about shellac is that dewaxed shellac is hygroscopic. This means that the flakes will absorb humidity from the air. Wet shellac does not dissolve readily in alcohol. Dewaxed flakes should be used within 6 months. Undewaxed shellac however is not hygroscopic, and has an indefinite shelf live.
RE: Do fabric in the guitar case rea... (in reply to Tom Blackshear)
That makes sense. This summer I was on a month and a half long vacation, and had turned off dehumidifier. I live in New England where the humidity reaches close to 100% some times. So it could have absorbed lots of it.
RE: Do fabric in the guitar case rea... (in reply to Njål Bendixen)
I bought it at shellac.net, and was good for four years. I had the problem when I finished the orange one and switched to the Super Blonde, or Platina (cant remember exactly which color I bought) Tha's why I was asking if colors made any difference.
RE: Do fabric in the guitar case rea... (in reply to alcazaba)
It is not the colour that makes the difference, it is whether it is dewaxed or not. The palest shellacs are always dewaxed, but coloured shellac can be either undewaxed or dewaxed. The test is if it will dissolve completely and quickly in alcohol.
I would not try to heat it to dry it. Just buy fresh, and in small quantities.
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