French polishing for guitar makers

I have been making classical guitars for many years now, and most of these guitars have been French polished. It took me several years to get to the stage where I was confident of regularly achieving a satisfactory finish, and a few more before I could claim that French polishing was no longer a black art, and that I would be happy with the results (almost) every time.

This course will give you the necessary knowledge and skills to be able to apply a shellac finish using the traditional French polishing method.

The course is divided into eight sections:

• Materials - descriptions of materials required and possible suppliers

• Preparation - how to prepare the guitar for polishing

• Basic polishing techniques - how to apply shellac using traditional techniques (off the guitar)

• Grain filling - filling the grain on open-pored woods

• Bodying up - building up the finish on the guitar (this section is presented in two video sessions)

• Final polishing session - how to achieve a flat, gloss finish

• Burnishing - bringing the surfaces to a mirror shine.

The course uses mainly videos, which are essential when teaching such a practical skill, but the course also includes some written notes to back up the video content, and to give more details where necessary.