Gloss Lacquer
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| This guitar is about to get a coat of lacquer on the soundboard. The blue device is a furnace filter used to catch overspray and keep it off the exhaust fan behind it. |
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| The lacquer I apply to my guitars is probably the most
universally used guitar finish nowadays among luthiers in
the U. S.
It is specially formulated for guitars by The
Lawrence-McFadden Co. in Philadelphia. After final sanding and application of material to fill the pores in the wood of the neck and back & sides, a coat of sealer is followed by several coats of lacquer: five coats on the back & sides, three coats on the soundboard and neck. After drying overnight, the lacquer is processed in several ways. The back and soundboard are leveled with a woodworking scraper, then sanded and polished. The neck is sanded smooth but not level and then polished; this leaves a little porosity in the surface which is actually preferable playability-wise than a mirror gloss. The processing removes a substantial amount of the original sprayed-on lacquer, which makes for a thinner finish. The back & sides are left with approximately three remaining coats, the soundboard with about two. That's nice and thin for good sound. |