NorCalluthier -> RE: Hide glue pore filler? (Jan. 16 2020 22:45:42)
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Hello All, When Gene and I first started the only information available, aside from A.P. Sharpe's booklet on Spanish guitar making, were books on violin making. The violin maker that he new in San Jose was Ernie Shertenlieb and we went to see him occasionally. We were both taken by the idea that an oil varnish was the best instrument finish. I got hold of Michelman's book on making rosinate varnish, and influenced by Meyer's book on artists materials, I believe it was, went to the trouble of finding cold pressed linseed oil. I then synthesized the resins for my varnish, used dipentine as a solvent, and finished three guitars. It killed the treble on them all, even though I increased the resin content on the last two. My conclusions from the oil varnish effort were that the treble might have come back to some extent in a long period of finish curing---I cured it with UV light. And that its damping effects were probably a good thing on violin tone, and that was why it had such a good reputation among violin makers. So, all my experience since going back to guitar making in 1993 is that just shellac, and not much of it, is the best finish for nylon string instruments. Gene's use of walnut oil is one place where we differ. I wrote an eulogy on Gene for American Lutherie when he passed away in which I described him as "The Most Unforgettable Character I Ever Met"---borrowed from the Reader's Digest series. Cheers, Brian
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