harp ukulele project - Gluing down the bridge...

John Parchem · Post by **John Parchem** » Tue Dec 04, 2012 12:48 am

I have the instrument back in the finish room with a couple of coats of zpoxy. I am so happy to see the wood again without the blue tint. This weekend I will start to spray, Em6000 instead of EM7000. I have finished 4 instruments with EM6000 and trust my ability to get it right. I will retry the EM7000 but on prepared test panels. I need to develop the skill of spraying coats of the correct thickness.

I took a French polish class with Cyndy Burton and she taught to apply and remove epoxy with a straight edge razor blade turned into a scraper by grinding off the edge. Her point was you only want the epoxy in the pores so remove as much as possible from the plate before it cures. The technique is working very well. Besides cleanly removing most of the epoxy you are are going to have to sand off anyway I found that it was easier to push the zpoxy into the pores with the blade than with a squeegee.

I am so glad that I removed the blue finish.

Dave Bagwill · Post by **Dave Bagwill** » Tue Dec 04, 2012 1:27 am

Excellent, John! I'm glad to see you getting over the blues..:-)

dave d · Post by **dave d** » Tue Dec 04, 2012 11:55 am

It looks amazing!

Kevin in California · Post by **Kevin in California** » Tue Dec 04, 2012 6:54 pm

nice John. I did the same with the razor blade when I pore filled with epoxy. I thought I was doing it wrong because what you usually read is everyone says to leave a layer on the wood!!

Glad you are getting this one back the way you want it.

Kevin

John Parchem · Post by **John Parchem** » Sat Dec 08, 2012 1:02 am

I changed my mind with regard to finish. After I put a wash coat of shellac on the pore filled back and sides I noticed that the instrument has an older time feel to it. So I decided to apply a French polish finish. I like doing FP as each night you can leave the instrument looking better than the night before. Also no Blue tint!

Dave Bagwill · Post by **Dave Bagwill** » Sat Dec 08, 2012 11:58 am

Nothing looks better than FP - just gorgeous.

John Parchem · Post by **John Parchem** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 5:41 pm

I am on to FPing the top. This is a bunch of fun. The pictures below show the top after about 3 hours (about 4 sessions). What I like about FP is that I can get a good even surface with no sandpaper or even polishing compound. I still will probably go a few more sessions but even now I have a good finish.

Also after all of the posts on vacuum clamps and vacuum vises, I bought a setup. It is a lot easier when I have a stable instrument to polish!

Acoustic Guitar Construction

harp ukulele project - Gluing down the bridge...

Re: harp ukulele project - Blue no more :)

Re: harp ukulele project - Blue no more :)

Re: harp ukulele project - Blue no more :)

Re: harp ukulele project - Blue no more :)

Re: harp ukulele project - Blue no more :)

Re: harp ukulele project - Blue no more :)

Re: harp ukulele project - Blue no more :)