Jonathan
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 7-27-2004
Location: Los Angeles
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French Polish
I have heard people refer to older ouds as often having a French polish.
Is this actually the case, or is it simply a matter of them having multiple thin layers of shellac?
Do people still French polish, or is this simply a lost art? When the term is currently used, is it simply being used to indicate multiple thin
layers of shellac?
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journeyman
Oud Junkie
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I have a nylon string guitar with a French polish on the top. The builder, Kenny Hill, claims that it allows the wood to vibrate more. I suspect that
unless you compare it with a heavily lacquered top it would be hard to notice the difference. It does look nice though, and ages with a lovely hue. It
is soft, but can be touched up easily with the right technique. As for ouds, I had a Shehata once that I ordered with a French polish. It appeared to
have that same "soft" luster that my guitar top has. It is a resin finish that is mixed with thinners and applied with a cloth and a LOT of rubbing;
very labour intensive so I am told. Kenny Hill also likes it because he feels it connects him to an "old world" form of craftsmanship. Perhaps there
are people on this forum who do French polishing.
Roy
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Jonathan
Oud Junkie
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I appreciate the info. I have tried in the past to find people that do traditional french polishing, but have not had much success. I have a couple
of older ouds that really need to be refinished, but I want to stick with a traditional finish, such as a french polish.
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SamirCanada
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Registered: 6-4-2004
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I have used french polishing for ouds that I worked on.
it makes you break a sweat though... but I find enjoyable to do and the result is very nice.
I use the techniques described in this online tutorial. if you follow the steps there you will have a perfect finish.
http://www.milburnguitars.com/fpbannerframes.html
If I can do you can master it Jonathan!!
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