Andy Culpepper -> RE: French polish - bodying sessions (Sep. 5 2011 20:11:22)
|
OK I'll just give my whole process for comparison. 1. Fill neck wood - tried a million things and believe it or not Famowood Cherry/Dk. Mahogany works best. Color is perfect, does not shrink, sands easily after half an hour and done. 2. Epoxy fill back and sides if porous wood - that's a whole process I won't go into. If blanca, seal all woods that bleed color with piece of t shirt and shellac. 3. Start body sessions. 1-2 a day until usually 6 sessions. w/fan on, pad on shellac starting in straight motions and then rubbing in circular. no oil. pumice can be used at any time if you think the bridge or headplate is not going to get filled enough. 4. After enough shellac has been built up, wet-sand all surfaces of guitar with 1000 grit sandpaper, backed by a rubber block. This takes 3-4 hours but the grit is fine enough that it's not easy to burn through and you can get it down to a really thin, even layer. After this, wait a few days. 5. This is the final French polish. Make a cheesecloth muñeca, and cover it in t-shirt material. Get dropper bottles with shellac, olive oil, and alcohol. Prepare the pad with equal drops of alcohol and shellac until it is barely damp, then add one or two drops of oil. French polish in straight lines, circles, figure 8s, etc. Start out with light pressure and then press hard when the pad gets dry. Repeat a couple of times for each surface until you get a mirror shine. After this, let it dry for at least a week. 6. Polish up the entire guitar with Maguiar's #7 show car glaze on a piece of t shirt. This removes any oil residue and shines up the finish. All this gives me a VERY light and beautiful finish which is what I want. It takes about 15 hours total.
|
|
|
|