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Not sure where to post this. There isn't an "Embarrassing Mistakes" section!

After I had routed a top for the rosette I sealed it with shellac, a 2# cut, like I always do. This time for some unknown reason I coated the entire top...Twice. Only the next day did I realize that I had put a finish over the future bridge area!

Do you think I just need to start over with another top? or try to sand back to bare wood? try to strip it with alcohol?
I feel that the shellac has soaked in too far to salvage this top. What do you think?

Luckily I have another top I can use. But I have prepared a piece of scrap spruce to experiment on, just in case.

Mike.

Mike no big deal here. You can sand off the shellac and carry on, you can leave the shellac as a sealer and continue with your finish later. As far as where the bridge will be. Once you've established that, put down some painters tape over the area, set your bridge placement, draw a line around it, cut the tape inside the line about 1/8" all around, pull up the tape and scrape down the shellac to the bare wood with a chisel tip, or some thing that fits in there.
You do want bare wood on the top for glueing on the bridge so this is one way to do it. The shellac on the top is not an issue in most circumstances.

I don't mask off I remove the finish later.
your ok

You've just replicated my preferred method - shellac, then finish, then do what Kevin says

That makes me feel much better..Thanks!
I usually mask off the bare wood before I seal and finish and have yet to have a bridge fail so anything outside my routine makes me nervous. But I learned something new and hopefully others can as well.

Another advantage of this method is that there is no build-up of finish around the edges of the masked area. Here is a sequence showing what I do - click left and right, text below. I fit my bridge and drill the two "E" holes before I finish, then the sequence picks up there

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/ ... 301955987/

I like the notion of not dealing with the finish build up around the tape. Thanks for the pics!

You haven't messed up at all, in fact, you may find it better to have shellac on your top, esp if you use dark or bright bindings. The shellac will protect your top from discoloration.

Simply sand the shellac away. Be aware though, you'll quickly get little shellac nubs on your sandpaper. Check every few swipes and knock them off of your paper. Those little shellac pads will scratch your top.

You said it, Diane.
Those little nubs take hold fast!