Finishing the guitar

20180710
After 2 years of playing the guitar, I finally get around to start finishing the guitar.
The string broke so I removed the string and started the finishing process properly.

The sound has developed to be very good.
In terms of sonoriy I would rate it the best amongst my guitar. (2nd is followed by Guitar #5)
Other guitars were generally great at the trebles but OK at the bass sonority.
This guitar has both clarity, separation and great bass sonority.
I attribute this to the bracing and the low air resonance.

First I sanded the top even with various grits: 150, 240, 320, 400, 800, 1500.
Then I pore filled the rosette ring with CA glue.
I tape up those areas which I don't want to coat with shellac.
Finally I coated the surface with thin coats of shellac without any oils.
I noticed some patches of unevenness on the rosette area which means I did not sand it even after the pore filling.
Likely I will need to remove the base coat of shellac in particularly the rosette area.
But the grain really pops out after the shellac is applied

After sanding the top with various grits

Pore filled the rosette with CA glue

Applied a the base coat of shellac.

20180713
More FP in progress the shellac building up slowly.

Slowly building up the shellac. Look at the silking on the top (medullary rays)

Another view

Look at the rosette, the grain starting to pop out

More FP in progress, beginning to get some shine

Starting to get the shine

20180724
Some more polishing to go.
The shellac build is good but after spiriting off I lost some of the shine.
Hmm I am supposed to burnish the surface to compact the shellac but with the bridge in place it's kind of hard to do that.
The excess oil were removed with paper towel.
Those hard to reach area (e.g. bridge area, area besides the fingerboard) are easier to reach if I put a coin into the mueca during the polishing.

Shine is there but I will need to level sand the surface

20180731
I level sand the surface using oil and 800 grit.
Then I followed up with more polishing.
The effect looks much better

After level sanding with 800 grit and oil

The surface is smoother after the level sanding.

More polishing

20180920
I began to finish the back.
I stopped a while as I was thinking what to use to finish the back.
In the end I decided to use shellac.
Pore filling with dust wasn't working out too well.
In the end I use pumice.
The trick to use pumice is not to apply too much of it.
If too much is used it will get tacky and discoloured.
When that happens use more alcohol to level it out.

After a few bodying session, the coat builds up fine.
I polished a bit and things looking good.
I level sand a bit in between.
Some pores are still quite visible so I just a bit more pumice to fill them.
That's the good thing about using FP and pumice to pore fill; you can always go back and do it any time.

After a few bodying sessions.

Pumice

20180927
After a few sessions of polishing this is how it looks.
I level sanded a few times.
There are some along grain graduations though so when I do spirit off I did it in a traverse direction.
It did level it a bit so i think i will continue a few sessions to level them.

After a few sessions of polishing

Can see the reflections