Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello everyone,

I am new to the site and a complete newbie to guitar building, I am building my first acoustic guitar following directions from a book although I have come across a stumbling block.

when it comes to cutting the channels for the rosette and eventually the sound hole the book says I must wipe the area on the soundboard with Shellac or Sanding sealer before I do any cutting, I am just wondering if this is a "must do" because I don't have any of the aforementioned items or can you do the cutting out without it?

I intend to cut the rosette channel and sound hole with a small mini router, I also have a big router too but it is powerful and I don't want to risk messing up the soundboard/cutting with that. I have seen people in books and videos not use Shellac or Sealer when cutting the channels out but I'm usually one for doing things by the book. if anyone can advise me on the subject and if its safe to do the cutting without the Shellac/Sealer or if there is an alternative I would be most grateful.

the eventual finish on my guitar is a French polish finish as described in the book I have, so I don't know if any alternative I use will have an effect on that.

I come from the England and shellac/sealer is only available via internet and select places, I have a free weekend this weekend so was hoping to do a lot of work on my guitar, if someone can help I would be most appreciative.

thanks, Jason.

It is supposed to help with getting a clean cut. Some prefer it some not. I can not give anymore advice than that. Hopefully a more experienced fellow can help you.

_________________
久保
美智え

Hi I am in Nailsea just south of Bristol. I know lots of places local and not so local so if you want to drop in and see me some time I can help get you started.

Cheers, Bob

Jason I can tell you what can happen if you don't use shellac before you route the channel. Your circle cutter can actually dig into the top very slightly but noticeable. Then you have to sand it out. I too did not use shellac before hand and that happened. In John Bogdanovich's book he recommends useing the shellac. After I scratched my top(western Red Cedar) I sanded it out and applied two coats of shellac. Man that stuff is tough. So it's basically for protection of your soft wood top. After your are ready for finishing a little steel wool or sandpaper will take it off then you have a nice uninjured top for your finish. French Polish BTW is actually a combination of shellac and denatured alcohol applied together at the same time. So you best go ahead and score yourself some shellac flakes as you will be needing it down the road.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You can also use white glue (titebond) or hide glue or any other substance that will harden completely rlatively quickly.
You can also just make sure your cutters are very sharp and go very slow.