shellac finish

[red king]

Does anyone have any experience using shellac as a finish coat? (French polish)

 

[Tonar8352]

I use shellac as a sealer in spray application but have not done a french polish.   I do have some Zinsser Bulls Eye French Polich that I got from my Zinsser rep which I woul be happy to send you free to try out if you want.  I do not have time to play with it but would love to see some results.  Send me an email if you want it with your address and I'll get it to you at no charge to you.

 

[red king]

Hey Tonar

Thanks for the offer.  I think I'm going to go with the tung oil afterall.  When I did my test piece, it was taking forever to dry.  However, the weather was rather wet over the last few weeks, so that was probably a factor.  Now that we are drying up nicely here, the test piece has dried and looks great.

I'll post my results.....unless I end up having to sand right down and re-start! LOL!

R

 

[neil]

Shellac is an amazing finishing material,but it does take a very long time to get it right.Personally I only both to do a shellac finish on acoustic or classical guitars....It can be fragile and acoustics/classicals tend to get treated better than your average road dog electric.
But as a sanding sealer before spraying its brilliant.

 

[-CB-]

Shellac does not really make a good electric guitar finish, and wears exceedingly quickly on necks and where your body rubs.

Shellac is somewhat more "breathable" than lacquer as well.

And, any sort of alcohol makes it soften.