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I use the term coat lightly since I understand the concept of FP to be thousands of coats. But none the less, the first application of FP to the guitar in the white is at question. I am using this wonderful tutorial from Milburn Guitars: http://www.milburnguitars.com/fpbannerframes.html.

My question is for the first spit coats. Just like any finish it seams that the very first one is absorbed greatly by the wood. I tried rubbing it on with a cloth as in the tutorial and it came out spotty. I can't help to think that it would be better to just brush it on with a fine 2in brush or even one of those cheap foam brushes.

Bad idea? Good idea? Forget about it?

Frankly, I don't think it matters. Spit coats rarely look even to me. I generally put it on with a rag, but I put it on pretty wet, and make sure I get good coverage. Seems to even out when body sessions begin.

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Waddy

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It's not a bad idea at all. Somewhere from long ago I have an article by a specialist Guitar French Polisher who brushed on the first 2 coats. You just have to make sure that there are no serious build ups/overlaps, otherwise you will have to rub down. No problem with that, except that you are removing what you have earlier put on.
If you can brush it on in a fairly even manner, then you may as well carry on and give it another 10 or 12 coats with the brush. Rub it down and then let everyone marvel at your French Polished surface. You will save yourself at least 10 hours work!
I won't say a thing.

Let me put in a plug for Ron Fernandez' french polishing video, available from LMI for about $50. For my first FP job, I had both the video and the Milburn tutorial, and I followed both as I did the job (albeit a little confusing when you follow two methods at once). After that, I decided on relying on the video alone - Fernandez is a great teacher - just look at the refretting video on his home page and you will see his style. There's nothing like seeing somebody actually DO it - short of taking a good french polishing course like Marshall Brune's, that is.

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"I must let my soul be my own judge."
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Just in case anyone's interested, I have the Fernandez dvd for sale in the classified section.

Steve

I also found Ron Fernandez' french polishing video useful. His way to pore fill with shellac and pumice is different than the method presented by Milburn. I tried both methods on my first classical guitar and had real good results following Ron's description.

I have recently watched Robby O'Brien's online description of French polishing and really improved the quality of my FP technique. He shows the technique for each part of the guitar, top, sides, back and neck.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Ok thanks for the reply. I think I will brush on the first one or two coats. There is no harm in level sanding is there?

I have watched some videos on youtube including this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsGTJlLACYg which was indeed helpful. IT was good to see the swirl technique and to actually see how hard he is pressing, you can see the top deflect under pressure. I would never have guessed that is how hard you should push from just reading. Also on another video the guy really showed the vapor trails very well.

Anyway it will be a learning experience. I've been brushing water base finish for ten years or so now so I should be fairly good at using a brush.