When I first started building, over 20 years ago, I was taught how to finish my guitars by Cyndy Burton in Portland, Oregon. She and her partner, Jeff Elliott, built some of the most beautiful Classical Guitars I had ever seen. Jeff does most of the building, and Cyndy does all the finish work. Her method is French Polishing, which is a technique of applying shellac, a spirit varnish, by hand with a pad. It’s labor intensive, but it’s less toxic than spraying most finishes, you don’t need any fancy equipment or spray booth, it smells good, it goes on super thin which makes it tonally superior, and it’s easy to repair.
Shellac is an excretion from the lac bug found in SE Asia. It’s processed and sold in flakes. When mixed in alcohol, preferably grain alcohol, it makes the perfect finish that’s non-toxic and 100% natural.
For my first years of building, this is how I finished my guitars. I got really good at it, but it did take a lot of time. One day I was chatting with John Greven, of Greven Guitars, and he talked me into spraying a poly-style water-base finish. Once I got the hang of that, I could complete 4-5 guitars in a couple of weeks. That was crazy to me, and it felt good to actually see some progress. But this finish we were using eventually changed it’s formula, and that left me looking for something else. I then thought I’d get into spraying Nitro, because I liked the idea of sticking with tradition. But with the learning curve, the fumes, the fire hazard, all the equipment, I decided against it.
After some experimenting with other modern finishes, I’m happy to report I’ve made it back, full circle, to French Polishing. It’s a process that takes more time, but I enjoy the quiet meditation. Rather than piling on loads of finish and sanding that out for hours, I now get to lightly layer many thin coats of shellac while watching the color of the wood turn to a beautiful amber tone. Once you figure out the proper ratios of shellac and alcohol, applying it is a dream. Even watching the process can pull you into a hypnotic state. All of my current and future builds will be finished this way. It’s not as durable as some of those modern finishes, but it can be repaired much easier. And honestly, who really cares about a ding or two. One word of caution though, it is alcohol soluble, so be careful with those fancy drinks while playing your guitar!
French Polishing a little Terz Guitar