How to French polish your guitar. Video 3 of 9. 

Ferruccio Alfonsi you are very welcome

John Keenan on the rosewood I take it to 240 before grain filling and to 400 after so that the surfaces are as scratch free as possible on the soundboard and neck I also prepare them to 400 before applying any polish

Andy Sparks it is just a good quality artist brush, I washed it well and let it dry before using it to make sure I wasn’t going to have particles coming out.

You first have to seal the lines very carefully with a clean cloth and a bit of shellac and change the clothe each time you do one pass to apply the shellac, you have to do this there o four times before you can start polishing

@@redkitekk Thanks for this! I am finishing a federal card table in mahogany with holly inlay and I have not been able to find any information on how to fill grain and french polish without contaminating the holly inlay. This is the only method that makes sense to me so I'm going to give it a shot!

@@andrewkonopitski7939 try the resin in an of cut of mahogany and holly to check that the resin dries clear to polish on top, I don’t use these timbers so I don’t know how the react to resin, with some timbers the clear resin is not so clear once dry so it is best to test it before you use on your table.

Lynda McArdle I am very pleased you enjoyed the video, the back and sides in this guitar are Indian rosewood and the soundboard is made of cedar.

Anton Harms I bought the oil I use a long time ago from a British company that isn’t trading anymore, it was sold as polishing oil. I have never used paraffin oil so I don’t know for sure but it should work fine.

Daniel Szekely thanks for bringing this up, I use UK gallons which is 4,5 liters.

@@redkitekk Thank you

Lynda McArdle i am sorry to say that without seen the guitar it is difficult to make an assessment, but perhaps I can try to answer your questions. Sanding is the last thing you would want to do to any soundboard, to remove varnish, lacquer, or any other finish I would use paint stripper, as many times as needed depending on the type of finish on the guitar, once all finish is removed you could do very light sanding to completely clean the surfaces. If you have been sanding and sanding and the marks don’t go it is possible that some thin oil has been used and it’s gone very deep into the grain, but I would try the stripper in those areas just in case you can pull the finish completely. To lighten up some areas of the soundboard you can use wood bleaching products or H2O2, but you could end up with uneven colors. Basically...... not a fun job.

Catherine Thompson I have never used anything but 69% but I believe you would be ok using a higher % as it will have less water.

i think you mean 96% Pablo? here in australia i have found 100%, im starting my french polishing this week after removing the Nitro from my Cedar top spanish guitar. i have done 240, then 320 and now doing 400...

Simone Camplani any good quality artists brush will be fine and you clean it with alcohol.

2 o 3 hours should be fine. When you touch it it must feel very dry.

Oil is just used as a lubricant. One of the later stages of polishing is to remove all the oil to be able to gloss up the surfaces, so I don’t think it would make much of a difference if any.

Hi Thomas, yes, I seal all the surfaces with a thin coat of shellac before I start polishing.

Hi Harry, the brush I use is just a good quality artist brush 25 mm wide. In therms of Behkol, I have never used it so I don't know.

Rich Verdugo, no, only on the rosewood.

how did you go? im about to start a refinishing project of a guitar with Nitro.. only gonna do the soundboard. need to ensure that its all come off first. he did mention that the top does not need any filling, but use up to 400 grit. he also told me to use paint stripper to get rid of the nitro first, then start at 180 grit, 240, 320 then 400. will be starting this weekend. would be nice to know how you went with the pomice stone powder. cheers.

@@hni7458 this is valuable insight. I will be FP my soundboard once i was done with getting the Nitro off, but i understand what you mean by the paint stripper being aggressive. I appreciate your comment, best wishes. id like to go and build a spanish guitar with Pablo one day, need to save up lol. ciao.

@@MastersOfTheHeart Thank you kindly for asking Mauri. I know you aren't asking about French polishing, but I'm giving you the lot still; it may help someone here. Perhaps you are getting into French polishing ahead. Sorry for being so talkative, but here we go. I've heard from very reliable sources here, w/o disclosing what sources, that one should be using pumice; I didn't in the end, but that is only becasue I went pass that stage when I at last found a 6/0 (very fone grit) mix in Italy. Please observe that I didn't have to use any stripper; that's what I found initially, I could skip that filthy agressive stuff, and I just ground off the thin polish, whatever chemistry it was. Beware from going down into the soundboard, that's a stiff NoGo, just eliminate to old surface coating. My initial problem from last summer was that I started with waaay too wet a shellac cloth. I think partly this was due to what I say in my initial comment above, but not only that, please see bullets below, and I regret to say that Pablo has not commented there. Anyway, I've put in much effort here and my findings for French polishing, FP, are as follows - however, it must be emphasized, this very much in line with Pablo's professional directions, for which I have a high opinion: - don't overdo initial grinding for removing old coat, don't go above some 400 grit (takes long to explain, but I had some ghost patterns that formed at the plain soundboard surface that formed at some 600 grit; I asked at the Net, no one could explain) - I won't ever once more start from applying a heavy shellack solution directly into a dry soundboard, and if you do, be wary of imperfections since this will be the base to build further upon, and EVERY imperfection will show in the end - newbies generally ALWAYS use too wet a cloth, wet with respect to shellac-spririt solution, not necessarily shellac concentration - the cloth can't be too dry; FP is more about tribology than really a surface coating process, this is sooo important, and this is not intuitively appreciated - I didn't, even if I had been strictly warned; and indeed had seen Pablo's YT series - this fact cannot be overly stressed, and is the most important part of all FP if you ask me - use oil in the manner it's directed by Pablo, esp important in the beginning - stop with maximum two polishing sessions a day, if even that, well separated in time, and end EVERY session with a concluding step where you taper off the shellack portion in relation to spirit in order to get off oil; but always with a comparatively dry cloth - with advantage use tiny compressed (not to leave debris) pure-cotton cloths, suggestively such 50mm diametre circles our ladies use for make-up work. Works great esp around crammed areas as around headstock, bridge etc. The risk here is sctraches from nails; never ever have a beer and go FP, this is about pure concentration; one deep scratch and you are screwed, and this - remember - over months (?) of work - so you aren't allowed to get into any hurry here; this takes time, so let it take time then, this is sheer contemplation, relaxation, valued time for one's mind - some work with the FPing of a guitar during several months; we newbies have generally never understood that fact.

@@MastersOfTheHeart Thank you Mauri, In fact I gathered enough experience last year to get me the courage to now having fixed small dings in a vintage expensive guitar of mine from 1993, using a water-soluble filler à la Robert O'Brien, this onto, and into, the old FP. Great result if I may say so myself, and I encourage you to sweep the Net and then to mainly stay to Pablo for directions according to his vids. But you please remember what I say as well 😁

Jason Brown no I don’t, I know many makers do but I believe it is more beneficial not to polish the inside of the instrument.

No, sorry, the oil I use I bought it a long time ago and the company I bought it from closed up years ago. All I can tell you is that it is engineering oil, synthetic and completely transparent.

Allright i’ll find mine! Thanks for your reply and your videos of course. Happy new year Charles

You can mix it with sandarac and gums but it isn’t necessary. I have done this in the past but nowadays I only use shellac.

It is a synthetic brush, but it is a good quality one, you can find them in an artist shop.

@@redkitekk Thank you very much Pablo !!!

I use refined mineral oil.

@@redkitekk thanks grandfa and that's refine also shine forever?

This is just so that it is easier to polish the top without the obstacle that the bridge is. This means that as you glue on the bridge the polish around it goes all the way to the bridge. The tape is the exact dimension of the bridge.

@@redkitekk ok thanks you Pablo but why do you stick dobble masking tape one above the other?

I usually don't put masking tape on and when the top varnish is finished, I cut around the bridge then scrape the varnish under the bridge with a small scraper. it is quite difficult to do and requires a lot of attention to detail. on my guitar in progress, I stuck the bridge on the table before varnishing to try and I regret ...

That’s right, you don’t use epoxy on the top.

HayBob French polish takes time to master, I still find that it doesn’t always go as I wish and I have been doing it for years. Don’t give up, keep trying and you will get it. By the way, a mat finish is also a great on a guitar.

@@redkitekk Thank you, Pablo, for your kind words😊 . I have an old side table that I am going to practice on and the mat finish does look good on the guitar...👍

@Jean David Breyman Go home to sleep - And please stay there and don't come back - you are just disturbing!

How do you say idiot in French?

Go home!