Hey Kirk, I know what you mean, that's one of the great things about it. There are so many different ways, and none of them are wrong. It's about finding the way that works the best for you, gets you the best results, and makes the process the most enjoyable.
I've spent 25 years working in the trades, and though I'm in the leadership spot now, my foundation has always been in woodworking, which I deeply love. Your work is impressive, and I really admire your willingness to share some of the secrets of your trade. Some experience you only get through trial and error so what you provide here so valuable, it’s really giving time.
You remind me of Del Stubbs. He was a really chilled wood turner that was a pleasure to watch his videos. I still remember his videos from 40 years ago. You get what it's all about.
I'm looking forward to this one! I've never gotten a french polish to the point where I was 100% happy with it, but I find the polishing process quite relaxing and would like to try it again in future.
That's great, I should have the next video ready soon. Also, I checked out your channel, I love the quiet hand-building approach; very cool! I love the blue guitar short on there where you put the shellac on over that sunbursted color. Someone was asking in the comments below about how to do a colored sunburst-type finish under shellac.
@@TheArtOfLutherie thanks! The blue guitar ended up being finished with melamine lacquer because the shellac didn't harden properly. I probably went too thick too fast.
Brilliant Tom. Really enjoyed this first Part. I love the natural approach of your presentation style and your openness to share your thoughts and deep insights. Exactly what the world needs right now, openness and kindness:) Really looking forward to this series.
Serendipitous! I was trolling RUclips in attempt to find some tips on sprucing-up the French Polish finish on my 2001 Tom Bills Kasha (acoustic steel-string), and came across this video series. The guitar was one of the first (if not THE first, correct me, Tom) guitar on which he applied this finish. I remember him telling me about the stress and amount of time he had to put into it, as he mentioned in this video. For note, the finish has help-up relatively well over the past twenty-some years. It has a few scratches (as expected), and the back of the neck has worn thin, but it has that classic “well-loved” look. It definitely wears faster than nitro or poly, but so worth it - the sound that emanates from my TB steel string consistently blows-away everyone, from beginner to aficionado. The wood and the build of the guitar are perfect, but I believe that the thinness and pliability of the shellac are key to the guitar’s the massive, unique tone. I also have a 2001 TB Natura Archtop that he French-polished. I don’t play it much (sorry, Tom), but the finish and tone are the same as the day I bought it - perfect, from headstock to tailpiece. Thank you for posting this series, Tom - I’m looking forward to learning how to do this right!
Hey Jason, It is so great to hear from you, and to hear that the guitars are still playing well too! You might be right about that finish, it's hard to remember after all these years though. As soon as I tried French Polishing with shellac I knew it was the way to go to get the best sound. I'm still using it on all my guitars today :) Anyway thanks for reaching out, be sure to let me know if I can be of any help.
I’m in Silverton, Oregon. I’ve done French polish on a couple of pieces of furniture I’ve made; a small chair and an end table. It will be the preferred finish when I build my first guitar and possibly many afterward. I have also used it on several smalls during the holidays. It can be very fast finish to apply because it dries very fast; sometimes you can watch it dry as you continue to apply. It really is fast. I will apply subsequent coats within 30 minutes with a very light sanding. I don’t wipe the dust off after sanding to help with grain fill. After all the dust just dissolves into the grain and fills it quite well. My first attempt was beginners luck (the chair) the second attempt I was doing smalls and for some reason there were a few pieces that I couldn’t get any build up and I just put them aside and remade them and started over and they covered well. Those pieces of wood were strange and I never did figure out what the problem was; got any ideas?
Hi David! It's hard to say, but some things can contaminate the wood and prevent the shellac from adhering well, such as silicone or wax, for example. Maybe it was something like that? Normally shellac is a great sealer and sticks to just about anything and makes a great barrier coat. I used to use shellac as a sealer even when I sprayed Nitro because it was so much less finicky about that kind of thing than the nitro. One trick I do is to wash the wood with Naphtha as a last step to check for any glue drips and clean any areas that might have anything odd on them before I go on with the first sealer coat.
Thanks Tom! Look forward to this series. I’ve only done a couple of builds, hollow-bodies from kits, where I’ve used nitrocellulose spray. The last one I built a whole temporary paint booth in my garage with an exhaust system with nonflammable fan pulling the air out. Results were really good (tobacco burst) but still very toxic and environmentally bad, so looking for alternate methods that are safer, more sustainable.
Odd problem with shellac. I've tried to fill dents with shellac. Where there is a ding or scratch i have carefully dropped a small a out of shellac thined with meths into the hole leaving a slightly proud bump. In a few the shellac has crept out of the hole forming a doughnut crater with the walls higher than the center. If I allow it to dry and sand or scrap it off there is a definite ring around the ding where I did not put shellac and a hole in the center where I had left the shellac level withorabove the surface. This happens both o french polished finishes and modern plastic finishes. Im puzzled, it's as if the shellac is trying to get away from itself.
In my experience it seems that french polishing allows the instrument breathe unlike nitro or poly finishes which shrink as the volitiles evaporate. That shrinking appears to choke the instruments ability to vibrate the way we, as luthiers, intend.
Hi Tom new sub here I’m just starting out on clock repairs and I’m going to be French polishing my first clock in a few months hopefully and found this just started watching I’m hoping to find how to get the best results does this series show how to fix chips Thanks for sharing this Mark
There is a website design rule which states that a users attention must be captured within 7 seconds of landing on the page, this equally applies to social media including RUclips video. I am 6:24 seconds into a 13:22 video about French Polishing and so far no nothing about the benefits of or why I would choose French Polishing. The quality of the production is great, but In my opinion you need to get to the point much quicker to keep potential customers on the page. I am no expert, I completed my dissertation in Interactive Design in 2016 but since then never put it into practice; however, it comes in handy now and again. Please don't be offended, it's meant to be constructive. If I were a potential customer for your other online courses, I would need to know if this unnecessary long-winded introduction was representative of your other courses.
what I found that separates Tom's approach to other online tutorials is that he doesn't edit his videos to be as short as possible - he doesn't just give you the bullet points. Having watched practically every video online about french polishing, I can attest to what separates Tom's teaching approach is that he keeps the camera rolling. He lets you see almost the entire process- which opens the situation up to things that go wrong and allows him to adjust and comment on the unexpected situations.... and thats where the real learning comes in. I personally had spent lots of money buying other online lessons which are compact, but leave me with 1000 questions. Tom's method, while lengthy, tends to answer most of those questions. I don't think his format is best for those with short attention spands. His teaching method isn't probably best for those with youtube style quick timeframes. But for those who are patient and really want to learn and learn thoroughly, its really deep and extrememly detailed. So yes, if Tom's way of delivering information is too detailed and slow for you, you might want to move on. From my own personal experience, every lengthy word was vastly apreciated.
@@efee5500 I did watch the video to the end and have now concluded that it's the title that is wrong, if it was called “Why I switched to French Polishing" then it would not lead viewers to have false expectations of what they are about / hope to receive.
That was my response as well after getting over half way through the video I'm thinking get on with it & GET TO THE POINT! In my opinion, in order to learn "French Polishing" this whole video could have been skipped & you'd be none the wiser.
@@pluckerpickHe's interesting enough but I agree because I too didn't click on this video to hear his life's story about how he came to want to use this process rather to try & learn something about this particular finishing technique. Hopefully in video he "get's to the point".
There's a reason all those guys in Spain used shellac. Yes, it sounds better. There's a reason people used nitro too - faster production, with fewer returns for touch ups. Note that one reason involves quality of sound, the other not.
I have never finished a violin, but I think it's pretty different. With guitars, we aim to create a very glossy finish that shows very little or no texture from the wood.
Hey Caleb, Some of my students in the Luthier's EDGE have done it by doing a hand-rubbed burst with stains and then doing the French Polish finish over the top of it. I haven't done it though, so I can't speak to it from personal experience. I use the natural colors of different shellacs and then decolorize and blend them to get richer and warmer color tones, but it's not a sunburst.
I’m looking forward to the series. Thanks.
Hey thanks Nitro, stay tuned, the next video should be ready soon!
Damn dude. Thank you for putting this together. Excellent production.
Thank you so much for this amazing content!
Great to see. There are so many different approaches to french polish and conflicting processes. Looking forward to this series.
Hey Kirk, I know what you mean, that's one of the great things about it. There are so many different ways, and none of them are wrong. It's about finding the way that works the best for you, gets you the best results, and makes the process the most enjoyable.
So much great general life advice in this short video on a specific topic. Thanks and I like it when you occasionally get off-track! Cheers :)
Thanks Tom
Hey Geary, glad it was helpful, stay tuned for the next videos coming soon! :)
I've spent 25 years working in the trades, and though I'm in the leadership spot now, my foundation has always been in woodworking, which I deeply love. Your work is impressive, and I really admire your willingness to share some of the secrets of your trade. Some experience you only get through trial and error so what you provide here so valuable, it’s really giving time.
You remind me of Del Stubbs. He was a really chilled wood turner that was a pleasure to watch his videos. I still remember his videos from 40 years ago. You get what it's all about.
I'm looking forward to this one! I've never gotten a french polish to the point where I was 100% happy with it, but I find the polishing process quite relaxing and would like to try it again in future.
That's great, I should have the next video ready soon. Also, I checked out your channel, I love the quiet hand-building approach; very cool! I love the blue guitar short on there where you put the shellac on over that sunbursted color. Someone was asking in the comments below about how to do a colored sunburst-type finish under shellac.
@@TheArtOfLutherie thanks! The blue guitar ended up being finished with melamine lacquer because the shellac didn't harden properly. I probably went too thick too fast.
Brilliant Tom. Really enjoyed this first Part. I love the natural approach of your presentation style and your openness to share your thoughts and deep insights. Exactly what the world needs right now, openness and kindness:) Really looking forward to this series.
Serendipitous! I was trolling RUclips in attempt to find some tips on sprucing-up the French Polish finish on my 2001 Tom Bills Kasha (acoustic steel-string), and came across this video series. The guitar was one of the first (if not THE first, correct me, Tom) guitar on which he applied this finish. I remember him telling me about the stress and amount of time he had to put into it, as he mentioned in this video. For note, the finish has help-up relatively well over the past twenty-some years. It has a few scratches (as expected), and the back of the neck has worn thin, but it has that classic “well-loved” look. It definitely wears faster than nitro or poly, but so worth it - the sound that emanates from my TB steel string consistently blows-away everyone, from beginner to aficionado. The wood and the build of the guitar are perfect, but I believe that the thinness and pliability of the shellac are key to the guitar’s the massive, unique tone.
I also have a 2001 TB Natura Archtop that he French-polished. I don’t play it much (sorry, Tom), but the finish and tone are the same as the day I bought it - perfect, from headstock to tailpiece.
Thank you for posting this series, Tom - I’m looking forward to learning how to do this right!
Hey Jason, It is so great to hear from you, and to hear that the guitars are still playing well too! You might be right about that finish, it's hard to remember after all these years though. As soon as I tried French Polishing with shellac I knew it was the way to go to get the best sound. I'm still using it on all my guitars today :) Anyway thanks for reaching out, be sure to let me know if I can be of any help.
I’m in Silverton, Oregon. I’ve done French polish on a couple of pieces of furniture I’ve made; a small chair and an end table. It will be the preferred finish when I build my first guitar and possibly many afterward. I have also used it on several smalls during the holidays. It can be very fast finish to apply because it dries very fast; sometimes you can watch it dry as you continue to apply. It really is fast. I will apply subsequent coats within 30 minutes with a very light sanding. I don’t wipe the dust off after sanding to help with grain fill. After all the dust just dissolves into the grain and fills it quite well. My first attempt was beginners luck (the chair) the second attempt I was doing smalls and for some reason there were a few pieces that I couldn’t get any build up and I just put them aside and remade them and started over and they covered well. Those pieces of wood were strange and I never did figure out what the problem was; got any ideas?
Hi David! It's hard to say, but some things can contaminate the wood and prevent the shellac from adhering well, such as silicone or wax, for example. Maybe it was something like that? Normally shellac is a great sealer and sticks to just about anything and makes a great barrier coat. I used to use shellac as a sealer even when I sprayed Nitro because it was so much less finicky about that kind of thing than the nitro. One trick I do is to wash the wood with Naphtha as a last step to check for any glue drips and clean any areas that might have anything odd on them before I go on with the first sealer coat.
Thanks Tom! Look forward to this series. I’ve only done a couple of builds, hollow-bodies from kits, where I’ve used nitrocellulose spray. The last one I built a whole temporary paint booth in my garage with an exhaust system with nonflammable fan pulling the air out. Results were really good (tobacco burst) but still very toxic and environmentally bad, so looking for alternate methods that are safer, more sustainable.
Hmm--interesting for sure.
I went through ten pounds last year on pianos.
Good workouts.
Anxious to watch.
Odd problem with shellac. I've tried to fill dents with shellac. Where there is a ding or scratch i have carefully dropped a small a out of shellac thined with meths into the hole leaving a slightly proud bump. In a few the shellac has crept out of the hole forming a doughnut crater with the walls higher than the center. If I allow it to dry and sand or scrap it off there is a definite ring around the ding where I did not put shellac and a hole in the center where I had left the shellac level withorabove the surface. This happens both o french polished finishes and modern plastic finishes. Im puzzled, it's as if the shellac is trying to get away from itself.
Is it hard being on Grey's anatomy and doing french polishing at the same time???
I have no interest in trying to make an instrument, but I DO want to try French polishing on a tabletop.
In my experience it seems that french polishing allows the instrument breathe unlike nitro or poly finishes which shrink as the volitiles evaporate. That shrinking appears to choke the instruments ability to vibrate the way we, as luthiers, intend.
Hi Tom new sub here I’m just starting out on clock repairs and I’m going to be French polishing my first clock in a few months hopefully and found this just started watching I’m hoping to find how to get the best results does this series show how to fix chips
Thanks for sharing this Mark
Hey Big Mac, thanks for checking out the series! I don't go over fixing chips, though.
There is a website design rule which states that a users attention must be captured within 7 seconds of landing on the page, this equally applies to social media including RUclips video. I am 6:24 seconds into a 13:22 video about French Polishing and so far no nothing about the benefits of or why I would choose French Polishing. The quality of the production is great, but In my opinion you need to get to the point much quicker to keep potential customers on the page. I am no expert, I completed my dissertation in Interactive Design in 2016 but since then never put it into practice; however, it comes in handy now and again. Please don't be offended, it's meant to be constructive. If I were a potential customer for your other online courses, I would need to know if this unnecessary long-winded introduction was representative of your other courses.
what I found that separates Tom's approach to other online tutorials is that he doesn't edit his videos to be as short as possible - he doesn't just give you the bullet points. Having watched practically every video online about french polishing, I can attest to what separates Tom's teaching approach is that he keeps the camera rolling. He lets you see almost the entire process- which opens the situation up to things that go wrong and allows him to adjust and comment on the unexpected situations.... and thats where the real learning comes in. I personally had spent lots of money buying other online lessons which are compact, but leave me with 1000 questions. Tom's method, while lengthy, tends to answer most of those questions. I don't think his format is best for those with short attention spands. His teaching method isn't probably best for those with youtube style quick timeframes. But for those who are patient and really want to learn and learn thoroughly, its really deep and extrememly detailed. So yes, if Tom's way of delivering information is too detailed and slow for you, you might want to move on. From my own personal experience, every lengthy word was vastly apreciated.
@@efee5500 I did watch the video to the end and have now concluded that it's the title that is wrong, if it was called “Why I switched to French Polishing" then it would not lead viewers to have false expectations of what they are about / hope to receive.
That was my response as well after getting over half way through the video I'm thinking get on with it & GET TO THE POINT!
In my opinion, in order to learn "French Polishing" this whole video could have been skipped & you'd be none the wiser.
@@pluckerpickHe's interesting enough but I agree because I too didn't click on this video to hear his life's story about how he came to want to use this process rather to try & learn something about this particular finishing technique. Hopefully in video he "get's to the point".
@@AncientApparatus The course isn't much better, it's like watching paint to dry. Very boring
😊 12:41 12:42
There's a reason all those guys in Spain used shellac. Yes, it sounds better. There's a reason people used nitro too - faster production, with fewer returns for touch ups. Note that one reason involves quality of sound, the other not.
How does this process compare to doing a shellac finish on a violin/viola???
I have never finished a violin, but I think it's pretty different. With guitars, we aim to create a very glossy finish that shows very little or no texture from the wood.
Hi Tom, are you able to do bursts like spray using French polish method?
Hey Caleb, Some of my students in the Luthier's EDGE have done it by doing a hand-rubbed burst with stains and then doing the French Polish finish over the top of it. I haven't done it though, so I can't speak to it from personal experience. I use the natural colors of different shellacs and then decolorize and blend them to get richer and warmer color tones, but it's not a sunburst.
@@TheArtOfLutherie hey Tom, thank you for the reply! I will test it out when I start on the next build with spruce top
2 minutes in and I'm OUT. Failure To Get On With It Syndrome, FTGOWIS. What is wrong with you?
Thanks Tom