Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey guys...been reading a lot of different sites on French polishing. It seems like this is the best method to bring out the grain but I'm kind of confused on the process. Can anyone give me any steps on the process? I bought some Bullseye shellac but it seems like a lot of people discourage from using a premixed shellac. Thanks.

Andy-
You posted this in the 'Electric' forum - French polishing is not very common on electrics, but no particular reason not to use it, if you want. You won't get the 'dipped in plastic' look very easily with French polish, though.

If you just want something to make the grain of the wood dramatic, a wash coat of shellac will help, though epoxy (for open pored woods) and a number of other finishes will do the same thing.

Michael Payne has some excellent FP instructions on this site, and the 'Millburn' site is often recommended.
http://www.milburnguitars.com/fpbannerframes.html
FP is tricky enough that I'd recommend dissolving your own (dewaxed) shellac flakes if possible. I'd also recommend taking some guitar-sized scrap wood and finishing the practice panels before working on your guitar. You could use the premixed shellac to start some experiments while you wait for your shellac flakes to arrive.

I'm not a very talented finisher and I find FP a lot more problematic than the experts let on!

Cheers
John

It's like "bring out your dead!" ... only the opposite. and for wood.



I suspect that when no one is looking they'll use a lot of brush and a lot of sandpaper.

_________________
"...you have to get over your strict adherence to your largely imagined notion of absolute perfection..."

Oh ok well I'm not stuck on french polishing. I know very little about finishing. I'm going for a PRS look with the maple top that really pops. I'm using a black wash and using water based bright blue dye on the top. What method could I use to bring out the figure of the maple? Should I be using shellac at all? I'm thinking about testing out buffing.

Andy-
Search around for 'Finishing curly maple" or "Finishing tiger maple" and you will get lots of ideas (There are some Youtube videos on this as well).
Generally, if you want stain to penetrate the curl, don't put a sealer coat on before staining. Maple (like cherry) can be 'blotchy' so you want to keep the staining under control.
I'd say the 'PRS look' is about as far from French polish as you can get!
Make friends with an autobody guy and have him shoot about 20 coats of clearcoat on 'er!

Cheers
John