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I'm french polishing # 4 and 5, and was wondering about finishing the bridge. FP? Oil? Natural?

Any opinions are welcome.

Thanks

Steve

I've been debating this one too. A wipe of oil would match the fingerboard better, and shellac would match the rest of the top. Too many nooks and crannies in my carved bridges to French polish, but I could brush on shellac. Leaning more toward oil though. But then bare is more traditional for steel strings, and it looks fine like it is.

I sand smooth up to at least 1000 grit then power buff before gluing on and oil with fingerboard oil when the guitar is completed.

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

A few coats of paste wax on a bare, polished rosewood or ebony bridge can be beautiful, too. Easy to buff with a soft cloth. Of course, you'd probably want to mask off the guitar top first. I waxed/buffed an ebony floating bridge, but that was done OFF the guitar. And I don't have a power buffer, but I sanded it down to 800 grit first. It acquired a near-buffed appearance. Wax made it really stunning. I should probably add that I did NOT wax the underside of the foot. I think any of these solutions will work great. It's sort of up to your personal preference.

What kind of guitar are you making, Steve?

Traditionnally, bridges on steel strings don't have any finish on them. Most of us do as Fred described. But nylon strings usually have bridges that are finish in the same fashion as the rest of the guitar.

In any case, you can do as you like. Your guitar won't be any less a good instrument no matter if you finish the bridge or not.

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

Sometimes I use thinned down linseed oil, or tung oil,or shellac, FP or zip. Othertimes oil and sand to 600 grit and use a beall buffer , red tripoli, white rouge and buff with carnauba wax.It all depends on the overall look you are trying to achieve good luck with it.

I'm doing my first FP on a Flamenco right now and I just wiped on some shellac with a cloth, looks good to me. I tend to like the look of a finished bridge for a classical guitar oil finish on a SS.

+1, sand it out to 6000 and buff with a good quality paste wax.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/