Wilson Burnham Guitars

French polish can, of course, be perfectly successful as a finish. Charles H. Hayward, Staining and Polishing , 1946 I am always tweaking my French polishing technique. After working six-seven months out of the year as a historic preservation carpenter, I pretty much have to re-learn how to French polish when I get back into my shop. It is something I have to keep working at all the time. I have and do experiment with techniques espoused by different authors on the subject, I still think that Ron Fernandez's video on French polish is one of the best, but often times what works for one person doesn't work for me. Here are a few things that have worked for me: Pumice, alcohol and a little bit of shellac make a great filler. Coating the wood first with egg white makes the filler a little bit harder. I no longer use any "synthetic" wood filler. Olive oil works best for me, I haven't had much success with mineral oil. Patience is the best ingredient fo

As one of the supremely expressive musical voices of humanity, the classic guitar continues to fascinate and persuade. Graham Wade, A Concise History of the Classic Guitar , 2001 Today, I will finish the back bindings on this guitar. It has a hand split, near master grade Western red cedar top with "wild grown" East Indian rosewood back and sides. The handcrafted rosette is a close copy of a rosette used by Francisco Simplicio, Ignacio Fleta and several master guitar makers in Barcelona, Spain. In his article on Rodriguez flamenco guitars, Ron Fernandez states that he remembers that the guitars he saw in the Rodriquez shop in the 1960's were braced with five "fan" braces, two diagonal "cut off" braces, two main transverse braces and diagonal sound hole reinforcements that are inlet into the heel block. There was no bridge patch. To read the full article click here . This statement intrigued me, because the famous Rodriguez guitars of