Re: BRW/Torrified Adi OM. My First Commissioned Build
Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 2:44 pm
It's been months since I've updated this blog. I had my hand operated on in October/ November and an extensive surgery on my left shoulder in December. So, things came to a screeching halt. I tried doing some french polishing without using my left arm, but it was pretty slow going.
I've been french polishing the OM for quite a while now and it has a good build up. I'm still working on it (obviously). There is a tiny spot that is in the center of a part of the grain knot that didn't completely fill when I used the aquacoat, so I'm building up the shellac in this spot. It's smaller than the head of a pin. I'll level it and give the entire back a final couple of coats when it's filled, then polish it out to mirror. The sides are done, but I'm still doing some building on the top. The sides will get more as I work the top.
At this point, I've lost track of how many coats are on this guitar. I average 2-3 coats in one fp session and I do 3 sessions per day, to start. Then I decrease to 2 sessions per day as it builds, otherwise it overworks too easily. Once the pad is well used, I usually put 5-6 drops of shellac on the pad, which will cover 1/4 of the back, so 20-24 drops per coat on the back or top. Same for the sides.
Starting today, I'm down to 4 drops of shellac to 2 drops of alcohol. So, at this rate, you can see that it takes me weeks to french polish a guitar.
The neck is Spanish cedar. Since it's a very light colored wood, I had the additional challenge of trying to match the BRW of the sides and back. I used 3 different colors of TransTint dye to try to match it. Additionally, each side of the neck has a different pore texture. On one side, the pores was to soak up the dye quickly and the other side slowly. The wood needed to be conditioned so that the dye would penetrate more evenly, but the commercial conditioners that I found were oil based and couldn't be used with the dye. I mixed a 1/2 # cut of shellac for a wash coat, which helped to even things out.
It's not perfect. I cannot turn Spanish cedar into Brazilian Rosewood, but I think I've got a pretty darn good match.
I've got a lot of interesting repairs happening, so I'll be posting those as well in the repair section of the forum.
I've been french polishing the OM for quite a while now and it has a good build up. I'm still working on it (obviously). There is a tiny spot that is in the center of a part of the grain knot that didn't completely fill when I used the aquacoat, so I'm building up the shellac in this spot. It's smaller than the head of a pin. I'll level it and give the entire back a final couple of coats when it's filled, then polish it out to mirror. The sides are done, but I'm still doing some building on the top. The sides will get more as I work the top.
At this point, I've lost track of how many coats are on this guitar. I average 2-3 coats in one fp session and I do 3 sessions per day, to start. Then I decrease to 2 sessions per day as it builds, otherwise it overworks too easily. Once the pad is well used, I usually put 5-6 drops of shellac on the pad, which will cover 1/4 of the back, so 20-24 drops per coat on the back or top. Same for the sides.
Starting today, I'm down to 4 drops of shellac to 2 drops of alcohol. So, at this rate, you can see that it takes me weeks to french polish a guitar.
The neck is Spanish cedar. Since it's a very light colored wood, I had the additional challenge of trying to match the BRW of the sides and back. I used 3 different colors of TransTint dye to try to match it. Additionally, each side of the neck has a different pore texture. On one side, the pores was to soak up the dye quickly and the other side slowly. The wood needed to be conditioned so that the dye would penetrate more evenly, but the commercial conditioners that I found were oil based and couldn't be used with the dye. I mixed a 1/2 # cut of shellac for a wash coat, which helped to even things out.
It's not perfect. I cannot turn Spanish cedar into Brazilian Rosewood, but I think I've got a pretty darn good match.
I've got a lot of interesting repairs happening, so I'll be posting those as well in the repair section of the forum.