Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.
This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.
We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.
Hi Per, You would use a punch to create the stippling effect. Basically a pointed tool that you tap with a hammer. I would ask Richard Brune for more specifics if you are interested in trying it out.
Aaron, thanks for the tip. I should have thought about it myself but I was obviously too busy embarrassing myself. I made a try in a haste as in the picture:
Images are resized automatically to a maximum width of 800px
Per did you do that just now? Your post asking how to do this was at May 11 '07 11:17:15 AM and this post was at May 11 '07 2:55:32. Not bad man. That looks great. Did you use a punch?
The head was done earlier today but the punch work I did after reading Aaron's post. I reshaped an old nail punch to a slightly more narrow point, took a hammer and punched. I don't think it took more than 15 minutes to do actually. I found that hitting with the hammer two or three blows per second while moving the punch constantly gave a nice random pattern and was the fastest way to do it.
The picture below shows my head as it has been the last 13 years. It is made with similar design as the common Torres/Hauser design but I make it three dimensional. But since it is quite difficult to french polish it I have started to think about other ways to do it. The punch is very much easier todo than a good french polish on such a narrow three dimensional surface but I will probably try to refine the design somewhat. This first try look a little crude I think.
Images are resized automatically to a maximum width of 800px
Both ways look great. I like that punched design though. It adds a little something.
French Polishing is the next thing I want to take the time to learn. I'm tired of the lacquer fumes. Is it difficult to French Polish insides the tuner slots?
French Polishing is the next thing I want to take the time to learn. I'm tired of the lacquer fumes. Is it difficult to French Polish insides the tuner slots?
I think french polishing is little as learning to ride a bicycle. It is not that difficult to learn to do a descent FP or keep on the road, but to "win Tour de France" you need to practice a lot.
I think it is one of the most enjoyable processes involved in guitarmaking. As Gene Clarke (the American flamenco and classical builder) once said: "If you are into french polishing you never get a need for go fishing"
Tom, I don't know how much you know about the process. There is a good video/DVD by Ron Fernandez that shows all the basic techniques. There is also a very good webpage at Milburn guitars that describe the whole process quite in depth. Finally, some years (maybe five) ago the American Luthiery magazine had a very good article by Cyndy Burton written after she had attended a french polishing class with Gene Clark. With information from those three sources anyone can learn to do a descent FP.
To answer your specific question. No, it is not "difficult" to polish inside the tuner slots. It takes some time though since it is not possible to polish with the common muñeca-technique. Use a cloth that is folded to a suitable size and thickness.
What do you think of making that head stock in reverse, the centre section out with the sides back? Might mean the head angle with the machines has to increase a little. Just a thought.
I think french polishing is little as learning to ride a bicycle. It is not that difficult to learn to do a descent FP or keep on the road, but to "win Tour de France" you need to practice a lot.
I think it is one of the most enjoyable processes involved in guitarmaking. As Gene Clarke (the American flamenco and classical builder) once said: "If you are into french polishing you never get a need for go fishing"
Tom, I don't know how much you know about the process. There is a good video/DVD by Ron Fernandez that shows all the basic techniques. There is also a very good webpage at Milburn guitars that describe the whole process quite in depth. Finally, some years (maybe five) ago the American Luthiery magazine had a very good article by Cyndy Burton written after she had attended a french polishing class with Gene Clark. With information from those three sources anyone can learn to do a descent FP.
To answer your specific question. No, it is not "difficult" to polish inside the tuner slots. It takes some time though since it is not possible to polish with the common muñeca-technique. Use a cloth that is folded to a suitable size and thickness.
Hi Per,
Now I really have to give FP a shot. Seems like it would be relaxing. It must be nice completing the construction of the guitar then seeing it's beauty come out as you start to FP. I'll have to get the Fernandez video. I have browsed through the Milburn tutorial. Very informative with a lot of detail.
Have you always French Polished or have you used lacquer as well?
Jim, I think of the head design on guitars as one of two specific details (the other is the label) telling who has made the instrument. Looking at the Maldonado head we can see some details that are constant and found on all his top instruments while other details are made as individual design elements, i.e. extra decoration. Since my head design is quite similar to many other guitarmaker's I like to stay with the three dimensional design since that is what distinguish my design from for example Hauser's. But I will think over what you propose and see what I can come up with. I have a couple of ideas that I will try in the near future.
It feels as if I have hijacked this thread. Sorry about that. Thanks Norman for posting the link to the big collection of guitar pictures.
Per, I think your old design (without the punching) is very classy. I prefer it to the punched version. But I can see the center would be hard to polish. Could you polish that part separately as an insert and then glue it in? Seems like a place you could put mosaic inlay. . .
Do you have any pics of that head with pegs?
By the way the guitar salon site has some magnificent Garcias with the 3-dimensional look combined with punching. Here's one:
Printable Version
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread