Official Luthiers Forum!

Now that U-Beaut hard shellac is available from LMI and maybe othe places as well, does anyone have insturments finished with it that have been in use for a while? How does it hold up (compared to nitro) to the usual assualts - nicks, dings, sweat, temperature changes, etc?

thanks, Paul

I don't have direct experience but I've been following accounts of U-Beaut Hard Shellac becasue the idea of a "hard shellac" certainly has a lot of appeal. From what I've read so far, there still seems to be some challenges to overcome with respect to checking in the longer term. Read here, for example: http://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/2009/12/once-bitten.html

So I'm still cautious.

Pat

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There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

As the author of that article I want to stress that it wasn't my intention to simply blame the product, rather to report my personal experience with it. I know others have had success - particularly when used as a french-polished finish - and it may be that the finishing schedule is particularly critical.

In my own case, I pore-filled with epoxy and applied three coats of dewaxed white shellac (U-Beaut brand) as a tie coat and sealer. I reduced the top-coats of hard shellac to a 2lb cut and sprayed what I thought were thin coats, an hour or more apart. After 12 months or more, crazing is apparent over much of the guitar.

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Cheers
Pete