....amateur or pro;
What do you recommend for varnishing/finishing a maple neck and fingerboard ? ( Yes, I'm finally extracting the digit this year and want a couple of new instruments on the road. )
Bearing in mind I have no specialised hi-tech spraying equipment, not the space to use it.
Any advice gratefully received.
Pete...what is the instrument? I am guessing a fiddle, but could be a guitar or something else.
I am a big fan of French Polish. Love it, and it's really not so hard. It is a bit delicate, and wears easily, but you just wipe some more on. It is easily repaired and touched up too. I just FP'd a harp I built, had only done guitars up til now... I never FP'd the fingerboards though, just left them, but they were ebony. I did do the harp soundboard however.
PS...my necks were all mahogany too... no problem, I also play the living daylights out of them and have no spots where it wore though. I use the Zinnser's (sp?) French Polish in a can, but put on about three coats of shellac first, uncut, right out of the can, slop it on, and sand in between coats. Then go to town with the FP on a little rag. A little drop of olive oil too.... usually on the back of your hand and picked up with the rag that is saturated with FP. Some use mineral oil, but I was taught by an Italian, LOL! Olive smells better! it's just to make the rag glide better, it rises up and out of the FP to the surface as the FP dries. You can do it without the oil too if you get good and fast. Once you get the knack, it's terribly simple really. Try on some scrap maple. It's a nice warm glow and a really classy look that a great instrument will love. It makes them look just a little antique and special somehow, not like it was dipped in plastic coating.
Actually, it's not an instrument for ITM.......and I'm hoping to sell it on, which is why I was hoping for a hint of the best durable non-maintenance-heavy finish.....and it's not even acoustic.
But I am working on my mandola too, with a nice inlayed design on the fingerboard from the nice man in Taiwan ( was amazed my daughter thought it was really great, she's usually so critical ), and an Engelmann spruce soundboard, and a head that curls back up into a squared end on the plane of the fingerboard after sloping off down to give the strings a tension at the nut. But I have to try and recoup a bit of all the cash I've spent, so there's an electric or two needs to be completed and presented to the world as well.
The weather is getting warmer, the frogs are clumping and croaking in the pond, managed to get in an hour of routing out bodies in the back garden ( my workshop ) this afternoon.
What,? routed out? what happened to `Lovingly handcarved by our master luthiers using painstakingly traditional methods passed down from father to son".
FP from a can ?
I know about Prince Albert in a can.........
Remember I'm the other side of the Big Ditch.
As the academic said to my SO when she was about to embark on her first transatlantic trip "You will find that things you thought were universal are merely local customs...".
Hi
Just a word of warning about French polishes, try and make sure you do not buy some that has sat on the shelf for a long time as sometimes the varnish will not harden, Rustins is good and can be bought in 250ml bottles, enought to do about ten necks for around €8, just try and get a fresh batch.
If you are doing a maple fingerboard, lacquer is really the only option - anything else will wear through in no time. But you don't need spray equipment, you can buy brushing lacquer, or pre-catalysed aerosols, which are probably a better idea, because the lacquer needs to go on after the frets, and cutting back brush marks without wrecking the frets is likely to be a problem.
Mikea - I haven't used pre-packaged French Polish (it sounds like a neat idea), but as they're basically shellac based - at least the standard homemade kind, you are correct. Something happens to the shellac, whether the alcohol absorbs too much water or there's some other change I don't know, it just gets gummy, like you said. I've had to re-do a few furniture projects because I was cheap and used old shellac. Luckily you can usually just strip the whole mess with alcohol and rags.
Pete - have you heard the one regarding pig's feet?
I never had a problem with the Zinnser's, even stuff that sat over a year. It is shellac based, you can make your own too though, dissolving the flakes in alcohol etc.
Iris - yeah, a year is a short time. Like I said, I'm really cheap. I believe that Zinser's stuff is formulated to have a long shelf life. This has been a great and informative discussion, anyway!
Question for luthiers
Question for luthiers
....amateur or pro;
What do you recommend for varnishing/finishing a maple neck and fingerboard ? ( Yes, I'm finally extracting the digit this year and want a couple of new instruments on the road. )
Bearing in mind I have no specialised hi-tech spraying equipment, not the space to use it.
Any advice gratefully received.
# Posted on February 27th 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Question for luthiers
i would echo this question, except my neck is mahogany.
actually my neck is whale blubber.
my OMs neck is mahogany.
# Posted on February 27th 2009 by rumpole
Re: Question for luthiers
Pete...what is the instrument? I am guessing a fiddle, but could be a guitar or something else.
I am a big fan of French Polish. Love it, and it's really not so hard. It is a bit delicate, and wears easily, but you just wipe some more on. It is easily repaired and touched up too. I just FP'd a harp I built, had only done guitars up til now... I never FP'd the fingerboards though, just left them, but they were ebony. I did do the harp soundboard however.
# Posted on February 27th 2009 by irisnevins
Re: Question for luthiers
PS...my necks were all mahogany too... no problem, I also play the living daylights out of them and have no spots where it wore though. I use the Zinnser's (sp?) French Polish in a can, but put on about three coats of shellac first, uncut, right out of the can, slop it on, and sand in between coats. Then go to town with the FP on a little rag. A little drop of olive oil too.... usually on the back of your hand and picked up with the rag that is saturated with FP. Some use mineral oil, but I was taught by an Italian, LOL! Olive smells better! it's just to make the rag glide better, it rises up and out of the FP to the surface as the FP dries. You can do it without the oil too if you get good and fast. Once you get the knack, it's terribly simple really. Try on some scrap maple. It's a nice warm glow and a really classy look that a great instrument will love. It makes them look just a little antique and special somehow, not like it was dipped in plastic coating.
# Posted on February 27th 2009 by irisnevins
Re: Question for luthiers
Actually, it's not an instrument for ITM.......and I'm hoping to sell it on, which is why I was hoping for a hint of the best durable non-maintenance-heavy finish.....and it's not even acoustic.
But I am working on my mandola too, with a nice inlayed design on the fingerboard from the nice man in Taiwan ( was amazed my daughter thought it was really great, she's usually so critical ), and an Engelmann spruce soundboard, and a head that curls back up into a squared end on the plane of the fingerboard after sloping off down to give the strings a tension at the nut. But I have to try and recoup a bit of all the cash I've spent, so there's an electric or two needs to be completed and presented to the world as well.
The weather is getting warmer, the frogs are clumping and croaking in the pond, managed to get in an hour of routing out bodies in the back garden ( my workshop ) this afternoon.
# Posted on February 27th 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Question for luthiers
"routing out bodies", GP? I'm not sure that I want to hear more.
# Posted on February 27th 2009 by oldstrings
Re: Question for luthiers
What,? routed out? what happened to `Lovingly handcarved by our master luthiers using painstakingly traditional methods passed down from father to son".
# Posted on February 27th 2009 by cos
Re: Question for luthiers
You can't get much cheaper than FP from a can... it costs $18.00 and I could likely do about four-five full instruments with it easily.
Test it...it's too easy! Looks super too. If it gets dinged, you can sand the area and reapply easily....not so for the usual type finishes.
# Posted on February 27th 2009 by irisnevins
Re: Question for luthiers
FP from a can ?
I know about Prince Albert in a can.........
Remember I'm the other side of the Big Ditch.
As the academic said to my SO when she was about to embark on her first transatlantic trip "You will find that things you thought were universal are merely local customs...".
# Posted on February 27th 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Question for luthiers
Hi
Just a word of warning about French polishes, try and make sure you do not buy some that has sat on the shelf for a long time as sometimes the varnish will not harden, Rustins is good and can be bought in 250ml bottles, enought to do about ten necks for around €8, just try and get a fresh batch.
# Posted on February 27th 2009 by Mikea
Re: Question for luthiers
If you are doing a maple fingerboard, lacquer is really the only option - anything else will wear through in no time. But you don't need spray equipment, you can buy brushing lacquer, or pre-catalysed aerosols, which are probably a better idea, because the lacquer needs to go on after the frets, and cutting back brush marks without wrecking the frets is likely to be a problem.
# Posted on February 27th 2009 by skreech
Re: Question for luthiers
Mikea - I haven't used pre-packaged French Polish (it sounds like a neat idea), but as they're basically shellac based - at least the standard homemade kind, you are correct. Something happens to the shellac, whether the alcohol absorbs too much water or there's some other change I don't know, it just gets gummy, like you said. I've had to re-do a few furniture projects because I was cheap and used old shellac. Luckily you can usually just strip the whole mess with alcohol and rags.
Pete - have you heard the one regarding pig's feet?
# Posted on February 27th 2009 by tomw
Re: Question for luthiers
I never had a problem with the Zinnser's, even stuff that sat over a year. It is shellac based, you can make your own too though, dissolving the flakes in alcohol etc.
# Posted on February 28th 2009 by irisnevins
Re: Question for luthiers
Iris - yeah, a year is a short time. Like I said, I'm really cheap. I believe that Zinser's stuff is formulated to have a long shelf life. This has been a great and informative discussion, anyway!
# Posted on February 28th 2009 by tomw