Finishing: ONLY shellac/french polish!!! (pics asap!)

[dodomora]

Hi everybody!
I've just "naturalized" my '52 reissue AV.
I was annoyed by the fake original butterscotch: It was gummy, vibes-stopping, anti-time wear and too glossy.

Now it's natural. I sanded it and I was going to re-finish it...

...JUST WITH THE ONLY SHELLAC!

I want to use only few amber shellac layers, wit a french polishing method, leaving it with a very thin finish, ultra vibrant and time-unresistant.

I'd love to reach something like the Boss' partscaster.

Did anybody ever try it?

[Lostheart]

Only on a Pine body:



Came out nice and the current owner seems to like it very much.

I can imagine that the open grain of swamp ash would cause a problem when you french polish. I would at least grainfill and seal the body prior to the shallac...

BTW: Although it was not intended the color did remind me of Bruce's Esquire...

[dodomora]

That's a great work, my friend!
I can believe that the current owner is happy!!
Did you french polished with a buffer or a brush?
Thanks

[dodomora]

ps...and how many hands oh shellac did you give? How diluted?

[Lostheart]

I french polished with a cotton rag formed to a ball and with some olive oil.
I was just eyeballing the mix of shellac and denatured alcohol so unfortunately I cannot give you a perfect formula. I kept it very thin, though, and applied it many many times.
I believe there are a few french polishing tutorials on youtube that you might want to check out.

But...and I cannot say it often enough...if I were you I wouldn't leave the pores of the ash open and would seal them prior to the shellac.
IMHO it looks like a half-a$$ed refinish if the pores are not filled properly and the better the prep work, the better the finish will be.

[dodomora]

I passed a week on the web's tutorials, ehe!
I red somewhere (not only in one site) that the best grainfiller is the same shellac.
And I red about people who passed shellac right on a natural ash wood with good results.

I saw that you have a huge experience in finishing...why do you say that it would be a bad work without passing a grainfiller?

Uff....

[Lostheart]

Originally Posted by dodomora

why do you say that it would be a bad work without passing a grainfiller?

Because every ash body that left the Fender factory in the 50's was grain filled and IMHO skipping this step would result in - well - a rushed homemade finish with a top that looks like a minature of the Grand Canyon. ;-)
Grain filling is not really that big of a deal and only throws you back a day or two. I believe a 1300 Euro guitar is worth spending some time on...and even with the filler it will still wear nicely.
The cool thing about shellac is the fact that you don't need $$$ spraying equipment and since it don't stink it can be applied inside the house.

[dynamohum]

With regards to grain filler, I've been considering a shellac finish on an ash tele body that's coming my way soon. I've seen products that are basically a pre-mixed shellac sanding/sealant that can be used to fill grain (e.g. this one). I'm thinking that I would use this product to seal and get a close to fine finish, and then a little french polishing to finish it off?

[Ronkirn]

Lowes has Bull's Eye shellac sanding sealer... it's Cabot's if I recall. great stuff and readily available.

Ron Krin

[dodomora]

Originally Posted by dynamohum

With regards to grain filler, I've been considering a shellac finish on an ash tele body that's coming my way soon. I've seen products that are basically a pre-mixed shellac sanding/sealant that can be used to fill grain (e.g. this one). I'm thinking that I would use this product to seal and get a close to fine finish, and then a little french polishing to finish it off?

uh...let me understand...

YES a grainfilling done with (pre-mixed) shellac and
NO to shellac directly on ash wood, untreated?

And for the "grand canyon" problem: Can a very fine sandpaper after shellac solidification be a solution, eventually?

[dynamohum]

Originally Posted by dodomora

uh...let me understand...

YES a grainfilling done with (pre-mixed) shellac and
NO to shellac directly on ash wood, untreated?

And for the "grand canyon" problem: Can a very fine sandpaper after shellac solidification be a solution, eventually?

Yes, I'm referring to using a shellac based grainfiller/sealant on the Ash and then doing the french polishing on top.

[jaydawg]

You can also spray shellac. One of the quickie finishes I do from time to time is a couple of coats of shellac brushed on and leveled. Then one or two very light coats sprayed with a preval unit.

[Awkirk]

I've refinished a bunch of things- necks, bodies, even a lap steel with amber shellac and couple coats of clear, what a stellar finish and easy to work with. the quick drying time, and the richness of the color really brings out a vintage beauty to any wood. I've used it maple and over rustoleum for a squier relic project that turned out great.

i've never done the french polish route-i'm still such an amateur hobbyist, but the spray and brush on works great, dries in a half hour, and a little sanding and buffing and you've got a fantastic finish.

I wonder why not more people use shellac as a finish option- given all its practicality. Any thoughts?

[dynamohum]

Originally Posted by Awkirk

I've refinished a bunch of things- necks, bodies, even a lap steel with amber shellac and couple coats of clear, what a stellar finish and easy to work with. the quick drying time, and the richness of the color really brings out a vintage beauty to any wood. I've used it maple and over rustoleum for a squier relic project that turned out great.

i've never done the french polish route-i'm still such an amateur hobbyist, but the spray and brush on works great, dries in a half hour, and a little sanding and buffing and you've got a fantastic finish.

I wonder why not more people use shellac as a finish option- given all its practicality. Any thoughts?

I've not used it yet, but I've been wondering why it's not so popular as well. For someone like me, who hates hanging around for hours (never mind days!) before I can move on to the next step, shellac seems to be very appealing, on the surface at least (no pun intended).

I know that if you go down the route of a genuine french polish, then it's not a simple task. That is something I'd like to try, but if spray on shellac can get near to that finish quality then I'm more than ready to be converted.

[Brock Lee]

There was a time I was french polishing bodies to seal them before spraying them out. I have since replaced that with a homoclad sealer out of preference.

When I was doing it, I used a rag with cotton stuffed inside, rottenstone fine abrasive to keep s the surface mooth and baby oil to lube. They all came out great and I loved the smell while they were shellaced.

Quick tip, watch the denatured alcohol around old neck pickups and gray bobbin pickups as it will reactivate their potting solution. Something acetone can't even do.

[Axis29]

Originally Posted by dynamohum

I've not used it yet, but I've been wondering why it's not so popular as well. For someone like me, who hates hanging around for hours (never mind days!) before I can move on to the next step, shellac seems to be very appealing, on the surface at least (no pun intended).

I know that if you go down the route of a genuine french polish, then it's not a simple task. That is something I'd like to try, but if spray on shellac can get near to that finish quality then I'm more than ready to be converted.

Shellac seems to a be a dirty little secret!

Woodworkers use it all the time for sealing... I use it seal stains before painting... walls.... It kills nicotine stains and water stains and can be topcoated with just about anything.

I also love the smell of denatured alcohol.

The big drawback is that it does not hold up to alcohol, like if you spill a whiskey on it, it can get sticky and melt... but what happens when the alcohol evaporates? It dries right back out, a little sanding and hit again with some fresh shellac, good as new!

It is probably more difficult than Poly's and spray finishes for production work, though I cannot attest to that. But it becomes more brittle than Poly's, that's for sure!

I'm a huge proponent of it.

[dodomora]

Thank you all for the suggestions...I did the job...

A masterpiece (ok, I could have done better...next time!)...I wonder what I was waiting for? Great tone improvement.

And I'm pretty sure that it will get better everyday...I guess that the wood can "breath" into shellac and dry up, live and resonate more and more.

Thanks!

d.

[dynamohum]

Sounds good dodomora - but you know this thread is worthless without pictures :). Let's see your finished result!

[Brock Lee]

The wood is dead. It stopped breathing a long time ago.

[Lostheart]

Originally Posted by dodomora

Thank you all for the suggestions...I did the job...

A masterpiece (ok, I could have done better...next time!)...I wonder what I was waiting for? Great tone improvement.

And I'm pretty sure that it will get better everyday...I guess that the wood can "breath" into shellac and dry up, live and resonate more and more.

Thanks!

d.

Wow, that was fast. Took me a few days (I wasn't working on it non-stop, though) to build up a thin shellac finish and you've made it in like...one!?! Do you have a flux capacitor?