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I am refinishing an old nitro guitar. The owner requested stripping and French polishing.

After scraping the bulk of the nitro off, and thanks to wood distorsion there are still some low spots on the back and sides, still covered by a thin layer of nitro. If i continue scraping i will thin the binding or the higher wood, which I don't want. If I sand them, I will end up with valleys which will look bad under the final gloss, again not good. I've added a few seal coats of orange shellac and the color blending is OK between the clean wood and still lacquered areas. I am thinking that if well scuffed (220 right) there shouldn't be any adhesion problems if i start the French polish now. Also since the nitro is very thin, and harder than the shellac, there shouldn't be any issues caused by future humidity-related movement.

Your thoughts? Thanks!

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There should be no adhesion problems. So as long as you are OK with the differences in color caused by the leftover nitro, then go for it. Using orange shellac for the FP will most likely help mask that even more.

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Brian

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

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Thanks. After a few seal coats the leftovers are not really visible. The wood is yellow/orangeish too and figured (light flames and interlocking) which helps as well. The worst visual issues I ever had were with leftover CA spots from pore filling. They were visible under the seal coats but i thought more coats will make them vanish, but no. I had to wash it all off and sand.

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