Refinish of one of my older classical guitars.

[John Parchem]

I had a nice Brazilian Rosewood/Lutz Spruce traditionally build falcade braced Hauser guitar. It had previously been finish with padded on Royal Lac on top of a zpoxy pore fill. That guitar looked ok but there were placed on the side where I sanded through the zpoxy when leveling the first day of finish. As the zpoxy is amber, it resulted in a blotchy finish in places. This was a nice guitar and I was never happy with the blotchy areas so I used a commercial striper to strip the entire guitar. Royal Lac is tough, it took quite a a few applications to strip the finish and ultimately the zpoxy off. When stripping the top I avoided sanding as the top already had picked up quite a bit of color and I did not really want to sand it anymore. I pulled the bridge, so that I could get as clean of French polish as possible.

This time I used silvertip epoxy for the pore fill and sprayed post cat Royal lac. With my previous problem of sanding through I have changed my process such that the end of my pore fill the guitar is perfectly level; really a finished looking guitar. At that point it is really easy to spray and level a set of top finish coats. I used 8 coats over two days. After that finish cured (one week) I went ahead and did a Robbie O'Brien taught French Polish. I often go with the French polish right of the pad. THis time I waited almost a month and sanded and buffed out the top.

Here is what I ended up with. Striped ready to finish



Back and sides sprayed and leveled



Here is the French polish off the pad. THis is after my final spirting off session.



Here is what I ended up with

[dave d]

That looks fantastic John. I think you've really perfected the process.

[Kenny Wiebusch]

That is a beautiful guitar. Worth the extra effort. I was just reading about zpoxy as a filler. The wenge I am currently working has huge pores. I was considering ca or epoxy filler with em6000 or good ol minwax lacquer over it.

[John Parchem]

That is a beautiful guitar. Worth the extra effort. I was just reading about zpoxy as a filler. The wenge I am currently working has huge pores. I was considering ca or epoxy filler with em6000 or good ol minwax lacquer over it.

Thanks,

I had good luck with zpoxy - shellac sealer and em6000. The zpoxy can fill any pores. It might take a few applications with sand back in between. Zpoxy is thick so you really need to smash it into the pores. I use plastic cards and I do work to push it into the pores. When applying I to see little bubbles coming through the zpoxy while I am pushing into the pores. That way I know I am getting the air out of the pores. It is really easy to apply it and have the epoxy bridge the pores. SO the pores open up as soon as you sand. Zpoxy is amber. I like the amber in combination with EM6000.

I have switched to SilverTip Epoxy. It is water clear and seems to work with a larger range of finishes. I have pore filled with CA, but find a guitar is too big of an area to cover without being overcome by fumes. I use it a lot to fill ukulele's.