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Showing posts from August, 2019

Varnish, Shellac, Glaire

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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.

Redwood/East Indian Rosewood Classical Guitar

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The workshop should be a comfortable and convenient place in which to work-the one place you'd rather spend time in than anywhere else. Aldren A. Watson, Hand Tools, Their Ways and Workings , 1982 We have lived in this wonderful house for two months now, the neighborhood is quiet and I can't get used to the fact that everything we need-groceries, restaurants, museums, etc.- are only minutes away by car or light rail. I appreciate the fact that many of my clients live within a short drive of the house and that I do have studio space. Having a space means that I need to work and I am busy working on a new guitar that has a reclaimed redwood top with East Indian rosewood back and sides. I got the guitar assembled by the end of last Friday, this week I have been doing some light sanding on the the guitar prepping for when I glue the bridge on and I made the bridge. Today was spent sanding and raising the grain on the bridge so I can start pore filling and French polishing i