French Polish or not?

strumming · #1 04-01-2015, 03:58 PM

Maybe this thread has already been discussed, but I'm having a custom acoustic built and was wondering if it would be a good idea to request that the top be french polished. Does this make a big difference in tone and is it generally considered a good approach for the finish for a sitka spruce top?

Ned Milburn · #2 04-01-2015, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strumming

Maybe this thread has already been discussed, but I'm having a custom acoustic built and was wondering if it would be a good idea to request that the top be french polished. Does this make a big difference in tone and is it generally considered a good approach for the finish for a sitka spruce top?

Will you have beer and other alcohol nearby?!? If yes, than no. Otherwise, discuss and defer to your builder's confidence zone.

strumming · #3 04-02-2015, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ned Milburn

Will you have beer and other alcohol nearby?!? If yes, than no. Otherwise, discuss and defer to your builder's confidence zone.

No. The guitar is not in danger of alcohol being spilled on her. I owned a guitar with a french polish which sounded great and I know that they are not resilient to scratches and dings but I'm not too concerned about that as long as the guitar sounds great. :-)

Ned Milburn · #4 04-02-2015, 05:09 PM

Sitka is a good stiff spruce so you should be fine with FP. You may wish to consider an oversize invisible pick guard.

redir · #5 04-02-2015, 07:36 PM

I don't buy the whole worry about alcohol thing. I know it's possible but I'd be more worried about the people who have been drinking alcohol then the alcohol it's self. Unless of course you like to crowd surf with your guitar or otherwise get right up in front of your audience then how often does alcohol spill on a guitar?

I've been meaning to do a study of that too. My hypothesis is that beer, the most common bar room swill, is not strong enough to damage a finish. Wine might, but I have not done the experiment.

Having said that, FP is a delicate finish. I cannot claim taht it is better tone wise then for example lacquer which is much more durable but it is extraordinarily thin and really quite beautiful and also easy to repair.

I started French Polishing most of my instruments now and I think the guitars I build today are better then ever. Causation and correlation... The more guitars you build the better you get at it and I have adopted this finish recently. So I don't know. But a lot of well established Luthier shops claim it is.