Varnish, Shellac, Glaire
Although varnish has been used for centuries, the present-day guitars are either french-polished or spray finished with lacquer.
Jose Romanillos, The Classical Guitar, from Making Musical Instruments, edited by Charles Ford, 1979
I am always looking for ways to improve the finish on the classical guitars I make and I spend a good bit of time on the Internet looking for articles on French polish and violin varnish. Recently, I decided to revisit the use of egg white to seal the soundboard of a guitar that I am currently working on. I have blogged about using egg white with pumice as a pore filler elsewhere in this blog, I found out that egg white and pumice isn't the best pore filler, egg white is not water proof, contrary to some statements found on other websites.
Making an egg white wash is easy to do, you separate the white from the yolk and then whip the egg white until it forms soft to medium peaks. If you have done any baking, you will know what I am talking about. Then you …
Jose Romanillos, The Classical Guitar, from Making Musical Instruments, edited by Charles Ford, 1979
I am always looking for ways to improve the finish on the classical guitars I make and I spend a good bit of time on the Internet looking for articles on French polish and violin varnish. Recently, I decided to revisit the use of egg white to seal the soundboard of a guitar that I am currently working on. I have blogged about using egg white with pumice as a pore filler elsewhere in this blog, I found out that egg white and pumice isn't the best pore filler, egg white is not water proof, contrary to some statements found on other websites.
Making an egg white wash is easy to do, you separate the white from the yolk and then whip the egg white until it forms soft to medium peaks. If you have done any baking, you will know what I am talking about. Then you …
