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.
I've decide to really take the time and make the effort to learn this method. I'm tired of lacquer, the smell of lacquer, all the prep work of lacquer, cleaning the equipment afterwards and trying to get the perfect temp. conditions, blah, blah, blah.
I feel French polishes keeps you more "connected" with your instrument. I guess it would be totally "handcrafted". Does this make sense? There is just a thrill to watching the beauty of the wood come out as you apply your polish. I know this method is just as time consuming if you want it done right.
I'm just curious about your opinions with FP vs. Lacquer. My first guitar had a FP top and lacquer back and sides. The luthier who was showing me the ropes, recommended I do this so I could see what was involved with both types of finish. As I FP'd the top, I found it to be very theraputic. It wasn't the best FP job as I was given a "crashcourse" in this methods but I did enjoy it.
RE: Who here French Polishes? (in reply to TANúñez)
I french polish exclusively now. I used to do a combination of spray laquer and french polish. It's a superior finish in terms of sound, appearance, and repairabilty of the instrument. But it does'nt work for everyone. Some players destroy french polish finishes really fast, no matter how thick they are applied. If you want the finish to be more durable, try using the less refined grades of shellac, such as seed lac or orange shellac, and use walnut oil instead of parrafin oil as a lubricant when polishing.
RE: Who here French Polishes? (in reply to TANúñez)
I used to French Polish but at this moment Antonio Ariza Hijo does for me.
I agree with marcus, and Tom, I think you know very well about the goods and the bads.
French Polish is tricky and time consuming, but I like the fact that you can eat what you aply . You might get drunk, but its not a danger to your health.
Go ahead Tom, French polish one. You can always put lacquer on top of the FP.
RE: Who here French Polishes? (in reply to TANúñez)
I french polish all my instruments and have done so for twenty years. I agree that it is time consuming but is not a good lacquer that also? The big difference is that most of the time french polishing is a good meditating time when you can reach for the luthier's Nirvana, while killing yourself with lacquer and the nasty solvents never is enjoyable.
I french polish exclusively now. I used to do a combination of spray laquer and french polish. It's a superior finish in terms of sound, appearance, and repairabilty of the instrument. But it does'nt work for everyone. Some players destroy french polish finishes really fast, no matter how thick they are applied. If you want the finish to be more durable, try using the less refined grades of shellac, such as seed lac or orange shellac, and use walnut oil instead of parrafin oil as a lubricant when polishing.
Marcus Dominelli Dominelli Guitars
Marcus,
Thanks for your input. Welcome to the foro. Your work is exquisite!
I used to French Polish but at this moment Antonio Ariza Hijo does for me.
I agree with marcus, and Tom, I think you know very well about the goods and the bads.
French Polish is tricky and time consuming, but I like the fact that you can eat what you aply . You might get drunk, but its not a danger to your health.
Go ahead Tom, French polish one. You can always put lacquer on top of the FP.
What I'd like to know is how Antonio applies an orange FP but manages to leave the rosette clear. I thought I knew how he did it but I'm not so sure. Has he told you?
RE: Who here French Polishes? (in reply to TANúñez)
A lot of new luthiers use Danish oil with no pore filling and the guitars look damn good. I'm planning to use Tru-oil together with Birchwood-Casey sealer/filler. Not that it is the same as Danish oil but because Tru-oil is far more protective.
I've heard both Tru-oil and Danish oil have little to no influence on guitar sound.
RE: Who here French Polishes? (in reply to Taranto)
quote:
A lot of new luthiers use Danish oil with no pore filling and the guitars look damn good. I'm planning to use Tru-oil together with Birchwood-Casey sealer/filler. Not that it is the same as Danish oil but because Tru-oil is far more protective.
I've heard both Tru-oil and Danish oil have little to no influence on guitar sound.
Taranto,
I'm not familiar with Danish oil. Is it thick enough that it fills pores at the same time?
RE: Who here French Polishes? (in reply to TANúñez)
I thought of a question after reading Tarantos post. When French polishing cypress, do you just skip the pore filling stage since cypress is unlike rosewood?
RE: Who here French Polishes? (in reply to TANúñez)
Usually I skip the pore filling when polishing cypress but I try to give the rosewood binding extra attention and pressure. Usually I manage to fill the binding only through polishing with schellack. But sometimes when I have a rosewood wedge at the back as in the picture I can choose to mask the cypress while filling, then polish as usual.
Images are resized automatically to a maximum width of 800px
RE: Who here French Polishes? (in reply to TANúñez)
I've done all the finishes, even plastic coating..(help) but keep returning to the french polishing. It needs time tho, and likes to sit for weeks, sinking into rosewood grain, and then continue. Its easy to do it too quickly, although tempting at times when a delivery is near and the fridge is empty! I now take 6 weeks to polish a guitar, sometimes more with rosewood. It is very enjoyable and gives me a lot of contact with the guitar to get to know it well. I use olive oil now as a lubricant and use pummice for grain filling and then cutting down as I load up. I also use tripoli powder but lost my bag of it when caught in a recent storm, along with a bunch of other stuff, including my life....!
I think the length of time of FP varies from maker to maker. FP is applied by hand and lacquer is usually sprayed. Is this what you mean by "how does it work"?
Although polishing may take 6 weeks or more total time, I estimate that the 'man-hours' actually working on the guitar during this time would add up to about 7-10 days for a rosewood guitar, and a little less for cypress. The rest of the time the guitar needs to be left alone so that the polish can gas-out, sink into the grain, etc., and finally left to harden as much as possible (min 3 weeks at this time of year) before final burnishing.
Which is exactly what this one is doing right now !!..........
Images are resized automatically to a maximum width of 800px
RE: Who here French Polishes? (in reply to TANúñez)
Pretty quickly really ..... I will spend the best part of a day doing burnishing, cleaning up (saddle/nut slot, fingerboard edges, string roller holes, etc.) and final finishing, then the following day I will fit tuners and do the final setup ready for delivery.
Ideally I would like to hold on to the guitar for a few days after stringing up to make sure I'm happy with it, and to hear what it sounds like after it's had time to settle in a little, but this is not always possible.
The french polish is still not fully hard at this time and will continue to harden over the following weeks/months/years.
RE: Who here French Polishes? (in reply to TANúñez)
Of the makers I know there is about a 50:50 split.
It is certainly easier to polish without the bridge !
Some carefully mask the area with tape and others lightly score around the bridge and scrape away the polish before gluing. This is much easier with thin FP than with sprayed finishes.
If you glue on the bridge before polishing at least you can string up and listen to the guitar before polishing, and you have the chance to sand the top if it needs more flexibilty, but it does make polishing difficult close to the bridge. Before gluing the the bridge onto the unpolished guitar I seal the bridge with a couple of spit coats of shellac so that the rosewood doesn't bleed into the spruce, install, and then polish it along with the rest of the guitar.
I find it rewarding to hear the guitar as soon as possible ..... it gives me a warm feeling every time !
RE: Who here French Polishes? (in reply to TANúñez)
Tom, I always glue on the bridge before polishing since I want to play the guitar for a month or two before deciding if the guitar need some fine tuning. I don't find it particularly difficult to polish the guitar with the bridge on although it certainly is easier without.
RE: Who here French Polishes? (in reply to TANúñez)
Tom, I polished with the bridge on and so do Antonio. He uses 3- 4 weeeks and I leave the guitar for a week before finishing it. Then another 4 - 7 days with strings on to check that everything is ok, (and to play and enjoy it before it goes away)
Ricardo. I cant see the difference on a photo and even in "nature" you have to look very well in order to se what is what. All depends on the laquer.
Most Madrid makers use Lacquer, most Granada builders FP. The builders here use both, and outside Spain, I donnt know.
Printable Version
. You might get drunk, but its not a danger to your health. 
before it goes away) 
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