fernandraynaud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1865
Registered: 7-25-2009
Location: San Francisco, California
Member Is Offline
Mood: m'Oudy
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Soundboard/face protection?
I have been graced by 2 brand new Sukar ouds with traditional unfinished faces. Fascinating instruments. Frankly I feel paralyzed. I don't know what
to do. We've played them here with the factory strings, including the OudaPalooza guests passing them around, and for all the ritual hand-washing, a
haze of Patina (crud) is slowly making itself known.
I just don't like it, I love the clean look. I don't want to just install new strings, play away, and then realize that they DO look like doghouses,
and I REALLY should have sealed the faces. They are still easy enough to clean back to virginity with a "plastic steel wool", but I stare at them,
wash my hands, then stare some more. I can't decide on a method to seal/coat the faces.
I went with French Polish (Shellac in alcohol) on my first Sukar, but it turned out as "Belgian Polish". The wood was thirsty and the shellac not
perfectly even. I need to add more coats on that one, but it's a more stultifying way to pass time than it looks, and I'm getting lazy. Two more
soundboards? A big 4" brush looks mighty tempting. I find myself dreaming of spray guns, aerosols .. and wild subway car graffiti. Or letting
somebody else do it.
That suggests I should try the egg white approach. Maybe try that first. Just how good a coating is that?
And what I don't know is this: if I find the egg white insufficient, can I still apply Shellac on top, or are the two incompatible? Any other varnish
or coating is almost universally considered detrimental to the sound. Oils are deadly. Or are there other approaches? Scotch-Guard ?  Maybe those plastic shrouds grandparents keep on their sofas?
Help! Suggestions (other than psychiatric help)? 
Has anyone applied egg white and then applied shellac/French polish?
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jdowning
Oud Junkie
Posts: 3485
Registered: 8-2-2006
Location: Ontario, Canada
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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Apparently a number of luthiers today apply egg white (egg wash) to the sound boards as a grain sealer prior to application of shellac (French
polish), varnish, lacquer or whatever.
The application of the egg white raises the grain of the wood which must then be rubbed down with fine sandpaper and the process repeated until a
smooth finish is obtained. The final finish is then applied over this prepared surface.
So you should be able to first prepare the sound board with egg wash and then apply a finish coat of egg white or shellac.
Here is one Spanish guitar maker - Monica Esparza - providing some information on the technique. Click on the Articles button at
http://www.monicasguitars.com/
Fresh egg white alone was used to 'varnish' paintings and wood and stone carvings according to the 15th C "Il Libro dell' Arte' by Cennino d'Andrea
Cennini. It was also recommended as a glue ('Albumen Paste') for paper labels by some 19th C sources - a glue that when dry "will not loosen even when
immersed in water for some time and which is almost proof against molds or ferments"
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fernandraynaud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1865
Registered: 7-25-2009
Location: San Francisco, California
Member Is Offline
Mood: m'Oudy
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A brush, a brush! Yes! Thank you, maestro, you are a Prince! Evidently that's a compliment. Though if you hear them cursing the instructions, looking
for "pulley assembly B" and "left release bar C", as they assemble an IKEA guillotine out back, it's smart to grin and shake your proletarian head:
"Me? a prince?" 
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jdowning
Oud Junkie
Posts: 3485
Registered: 8-2-2006
Location: Ontario, Canada
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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For those feeling some sense of confusion here, fernandraynaud has asked the question
"Has anyone applied egg white and then applied shellac/French polish?"
The answer would appear to be affirmative?
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fernandraynaud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1865
Registered: 7-25-2009
Location: San Francisco, California
Member Is Offline
Mood: m'Oudy
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Excuse any confusion. I applied shellac on one oud and, following your comments, applied egg white on 2 others, reasoning that I could always apply
shellac on top. For now, I'm watching what happens with egg white alone, but increasingly considering it inadequate. In a while I'll probably find out
just how well shellac layers on top of egg white, but YOU already answered the basic question, as in "a number of
luthiers today apply egg white (egg wash) to the sound boards as a grain sealer prior to application of shellac (French polish), varnish, lacquer or
whatever."
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jdowning
Oud Junkie
Posts: 3485
Registered: 8-2-2006
Location: Ontario, Canada
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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You chose to omit the qualifying "apparently" in my response fernandraynaud.
Applying egg white to sound boards is not something that I have ever condoned but I am, nevertheless, interested to learn from those luthiers that do
have first hand experience with this material.
So - if you have gone ahead and applied raw egg white to all of your oud sound boards 'following my comments' then that is your choice not mine.
However, I do hope that the results will work out satisfactorily for you.
Your experiments should at least confirm (or deny) if the experiences of those luthiers who do claim to use use raw egg white successfully as a sound
board sealer are valid. This would be valuable information.
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