Shellac finish for ukulele

[Nelson Howe]

I am finishing a pair of ukuleles I built with (mostly for) my son and me. One has walnut sides with curly maple back and old growth douglas fir sound board. The other has the same sound board with birds eye sides and back. Necks are mahogany, fret boards pau rosa. I have them finished with shellac, rubbed out and waxed to a nice matte gleam. Just about to glue on the bridge, which is the last convenient point to change my mind about the finish. I can spray Target em6000, but I hadn't planned to. (I would have to be pretty careful about removing the wax, and probably lay down one more layer of shellac if I went with the em6000.) I like shellac, and wanted to keep the finish as thin as possible. But I'm starting to think it won't be durable enough. Opinions please?

Thanks,

Nelson

[roger wiegand]

Shellac is easy to repair and easy to add to later. Try it as is and see how it goes.

Would love to see some pics of your ukes!

[Nelson Howe]

Thanks. I think I'll stay with the shellac, but go for a gloss finish. I found an interesting article (http://www.stansellguitars.com/const...shellac-finish) on a technique for this. I'll post some pictures in a little while.

Nelson

[John Coloccia]

Zillions of instruments have been finished with shellac...usually using a French polish finishing schedule, but whatever! Padded on, sprayed on, etc... Personally, if I were leaving the guitar with just shellac on it, I would probably use shellac that hasn't been dewaxed. Unless you plan on using it as coaster for your beer, I think the waxy shellac makes for more durable finish.

Careful with EM6000 over shellac. You didn't use Zinnser SealCoat, did you? There have been reports of EM6000 "crazing" over Seal Coat due to some sort of pH incompatibility. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I don't think it's a problem over freshly mixed shellac. Also, EM6000 over dark woods (like the walnut) can sometimes take on a bluish hue. It's a great finish, but in the long run it just had a couple too many negatives that I didn't really like it for an instrument finish, if I'm to be honest...but it's still not bad instrument finish, and I know at least one builder finishing mandolins with it with great results.

Is this your first mandolin? Did you mask for the bridge, or do you intend to go the manly route and score around it and then remove the finish with a chisel? I look forward to the pictures.

[Nelson Howe]

Yeah, they are my first ukes. Manly, for sure, though I used a radiused scraper instead of a chisel. First one was good. I had a little misalignment before scraping the second one, so now I am making a slightly larger bridge to cover up that booboo.

So I will stick with the shellac. After looking in a little deeper to Mr. Stansell's process, I might just be happy with a matte finish. The shellac is mixed from flake. It is dewaxed, and I have had luck with the em6000 over it in the past. But I would prefer to stay with the shellac, if that's ok.

Obviously, I'm a bit out of my element here (heck, I can't even play it--my son can), but it has been a fun project.

Nelson

[Nelson Howe]

Here a few pictures of the one with the bridge attached. Maple, doug fir, sapele, and pau rosa (I think, though this log had more red and yellow than the other one). Amber and platina shellac rubbed out with 0000 and waxed with the Renaissance wax.

Nelson

[John Coloccia]

That's really well done. Is that Cocobolo on the headstock? I've done that several times also with cocobolo, where I've book matched and used the heartwood to set it off. Nice touch.

IMHO, instruments you have to hold to play, like guitars and ukes, shouldn't be too shiny. A nice, satin patina is just right. The guy that decided guitars need to have perfect, glass like finishes should be taken out back and beat up with whips and chains. It's bad for the builder, and ultimately it's bad for the musician that's constantly concerned about the slightest mark on their music making tool. I think you got it just right.

[Nelson Howe]

Thanks, I appreciate that. As far as I know, the wood is pau rosa. A friend has a stack that looks like cordwood her late husband brought back with them from Africa. The first one I opened up was id'd here as pau rosa. This one is similar, but has more red and yellow when first milled out--beautiful. It darkens some pretty quickly. I used it for headstock, fretboard and bridge.

Nelson

[roger wiegand]

Wow, beautiful work-- now we need some sound samples! I think the finish looks perfect as is, I wouldn't mess with it.

Are they baritone size? (look a lot bigger than a soprano) I'd love to build a uke, someday when I get around to finishing the mandolin that's been in process way too long.

[Nelson Howe]

Thanks. Tenor. When it's done, I'll get my son to play a little something.

Nelson