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French polish hardness
http://mowrystrings.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10117&t=23698		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  roby [ Sat Sep 05, 2009 6:49 am ]
Post subject:  French polish hardness
Hallo all i finished my first build with french polish around two months ago and it looks great but i'm dissapointed with how easy it scratches,does anyone know if there is anything i can put on it to make it more durable, would Qualasole work?Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks all Rob.
Author:  billrayner [ Fri Sep 11, 2009 11:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: French polish hardness
I want to add to roby's question. About 6 weeks after I finished my french polishing, I put the guitar on a guitar stand for about two days. The stand has a support (covered with rubber) positioned right at the middle of the guitar. When I took it off the stand, I found that the rubber had left a very noticeable blemish on the back of the guitar. The stand was not in the sun, and was not hot or wet or sticky, but the rubber seemed to have stuck to the french polish. It shouldn't be a problem to repair ... but are french polished guitars so sensitive that you can't even put them on a stand? Thanks ;)
Author:  Michael Dale Payne [ Mon Sep 14, 2009 9:36 am ]
Post subject:  Re: French polish hardness
There is another topic ongoing on this. So I wont repeat myself in regards to the hardness issue other than to say that the hardness of a French polish finish will never be equal to nitro or cat poly but should be more durable than you seem to have produced.

On the issue with the rubber sticking to the French polish, one or two things are going on here. Either the finish was not cured or the most likely scenario is that the rubber you speak of is not rubber at all but rather a cheap vinyl that is off gassing. Many cheap guitar stands are built using an orange or black colored vinyl as padding to the butt and neck of the guitar. This vinyl off gassing can damage and soften the finish were it contacts the guitar. This usually takes a fair amount of time but temp can speed this up.

A third culprit is that the flake or mix used to make up your cut may have been bad. This happens with age of the shellac and can exhibit a failure to properly cure, even if the best technique is used.

I still bet that the issue is the vinyl off gassing. Stay away from stand where rubber tube like padding is used. The odds are it is vinyl. The vinyl does not seem to affect Cat poly but I have seen major damage on Tru-oil, Danish-oil, nitro and shellac finish caused by these stands. I my self prefer a stand with felt padding.
Author:  billrayner [ Sat Oct 03, 2009 4:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: French polish hardness
Thanks very much Michael - the way you describe the tubing sounds like what I have on the guitar stand. Live and learn! :shock:
Author:  gozierdt [ Sat Oct 03, 2009 7:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: French polish hardness
Well, Bill, you've learned something. And at least FP is
the easiest finish to fix bliss
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