Starting the Finishing Process

Getting close now. Pore filling is done and the first coats of shellac are on, lots more coats to go...

Summer Projects

So the humidity is not the best for building guitars right now but I am still plugging away at pore filling the parlour guitar and it is almost done... whew.. I'm going to be trying a new shellac formula on it for french polish from Shellac Finishes called Royal Lac it sounds very promising..

http://www.shellacfinishes.com/

I'm using the time to sort out a few more jigs or update some, this seems a never ending task I've got a few new ones I want to make and I am also almost done updating my neck tenon jig to make it more users friendly.. I'll post those when done

Also I'm working on fixing up the first non-dulcimer instrument I ever made a Mandocello.. I seriously screwed up on the design and now I'll be replacing the original flat top with a carved arch.. I just jointed the top (some decent Yellow Cedar) tonight..

Sanding & Pore Filling & Deja Vu

So I have been doing stuff.. I had "issues" with the neck angle on the parlour guitar once everything was glued up so had to remove the fretboard and remake it as well as sort of the neck angle. The neck angle is now perfect and the fretboard almost remade, it just needs frets. I also took the opportunity to do a bit of headstock inlay on the parlour and that worked out well.

This should look familiar

First try inlaying in anything other than ebony

I also did the finish sanding on Rick's tenor and did the first coats of pore fill on the back & sides, they will probably need two more coats.. I'm using z-poxy as a pore fill I like it as it is pretty forgiving..

Nice clean & simple looking

and the back

Pore Filling

I'm still not 100% sure I personally like a pore filled instrument but it is pretty much the standard for instrument building these days..

Typically I use z-poxy to pore fill & it works well enough. For this instrument it left it a bit heavier than I have in the past in the hopes of getting a better French polish on top of it.. We will see how that works..

Now on to the French polish...

Sanding and Pore Filling

Sorry no photos of the exciting task of sanding, but pretty standard, 80 grit with a orbital sander, 80 grit by hand then 150 grit by hand then 220 grit by hand..

After sanding it is on to pore filling, there are as many methods of pore filling as there are luthiers, I'll be using two methods for this guitar. For the back and sides I'll be using Zpoxy brand epoxy. I've used it before and it works well under a French polish. For the neck I'll just be wet sanding with shellac.

The Zpoxy needs to dry overnight then get sanded (more sanding) then probably a second coat and more sanding to insure all the little pores are filled.

Nice thing about Zpoxy is you start to get and idea of what the finished guitar will look like

Back & Sides  First pore filling

Looks good

High tech applicator....