Love your videos. Love your work. If this was my guitar, I wouldn't touch the finish. I love the way an old Martin or old Gibson sounds all dried out. The best sounding acoustic guitar I ever played was a 1945 D-18 which had dried out so badly that the top had a dozen cracks in. Best sound ever- old, dry wood:)
I noticed that your man did not prime the headstock before he painted it and that you didn't mention using a lacquer sanding sealer before applying your finish. Why don't you use primers and sealers? The stain not being sealed prior to finishing may be why your sandpapers are building up on you.
I would epoxy grain filled it then stain and probably 5 thin nitrocellulose coats and that would be that. It will be just as thin as the factory finish so no impact on sound. Just finished a old Gibson myself and it turned out fantastic and the customer thought I'd given him a different guitar back. I will never go back to the old grain fillers after using this new stuff it's incredible and because you sort of scrape it on it doesn't go on thick and takes almost no sanding to get a smooth filled finish.
Stu, did you use Z-poxy or another vendor's product? I'm getting ready to grain fill on a couple acoutics with epoxy for the first time. I've used a ton of polyester filler on electric bodies and necks over the years... Followed by acrylic urethanes. The acoustic finishing world is a bit new to me... I'm currently planning to use nitro over epoxy for these.
@@SkyscraperGuitars z poxy is a great fill and I'm using a very similar product. It's the best thing I've ever used in 20 years of repairing and building guitars as it has almost zero shrinkage as it binds with the fibre and is also a adhesive so best of both worlds. It is also quick drying so saves on time and the amount you actually use is very small. The benefits are you scrape it into the grain as end up with a almost perfect finish and only needs a small amount of sanding. If you need to add colour just add it to the product before you fill. It's great.
Hey Jerry. Love your stuff and your perspective. I think on that one, I would have tried a French Polish instead of spray. Using a little pumice on the first coat would have filled the grain and soloed all of that pitting crap. I think it was the Tru-oil varnish that your intern used in the beginning that caused all of your problems, because it's an oil finish and will fight with lacquer, and penetrates into the wood....
Mr. Rosa the finish you got in the lacquer clear appears to me to be fish eyes which is caused by contamination on the surface which could be caused by wax or oily hands. Not thinning the lacquer enough could cause the problem. Waiting in between coats also helps. I always spray a few coats of wood sealer to fill the grain by Stewmac. Good luck. Just keep in mind that thinner coats are better than thick coats. Also using a sanding block with your sandpaper is also a plus. I have refinished many guitars and in the beginning I had the same problem, but no more.
You are preaching to Tom's choir. No he has not fought as hard as you in this instance, but it's not easy being Tom either. The guitar did turn out great though eventually.
I believe a luthier friend of mine uses a sand sealer after grain filler is put on. It sinks in and fills the grain that lacquer would otherwise keep sinking into. Sand sealer sands beautifully. Once you get that done , the lacquer coats go on very smoothly. At that point , minor sanding and buffing can bring out a mirror finish. I'm no pro, I just thought I'd chime in and I hope my 2c is.of.some use to you ! You do amazing work. I hate to see your disappointment.
It's a very poor job on this old guitar and such a shame indeed and Caleb made an absolute mess of it. The problem is ( Jerry has said it before) he isn't very good at re finishing and if I wasn't capable I would have found someone who was. Its a customers guitar and if it was mine I would be very very disappointed.
@@stu-j couldn’t agree more. I’m sure that the cost of this job was pretty astronomical, based on a $100 per hour charge. I’d reckon for $1000 you could have had a real professional guitar finisher do a job that would have been ten times better. I want to be clear, I’m not necessarily knocking Jerry, it’s just clear that he isn’t a professional guitar finisher. He’s a builder/repair man.
@@stevedimebag I agree and don't want to bash his abilities at all but the quality of this is just very poor indeed and I'd be ( as a repair person for 30 years) embarrassed to have this on UA-cam so he's got balls that's for sure. I've had things get away from me a few times over the years and I've had to get someone else to sort it as it was taking to long. I've just finished a 60s Gibson acoustic that needed a refinishing job and I've been using epoxy fill now for a few years and it's fantastic at filling the wide grain in mahogany. One pass of fill then sanded back and 5 coats of nitrocellulose. The customer thought it was a different guitar and was so happy. Jerry is a bit stubborn and won't change to modern ways to do things. Sorry Jerry I am still a fan tho.
@@stu-j yep - we’ve all been there. I’ve had one or two repairs where I have done my best, (and even though the customer is happy), I’m not, so I haven’t charged them for it. I always look at what I do and think - “would I be happy if I sent it to a shop and received that back?”. If the answer is no, (or even, “meh”), then I’m not proud of that, and it’s ‘on the house’.
Too bad you hate pore fillers so much. Mahogany is not as bad as padouk in terms of oily open pores. For sure, a good water-based filler would have saved you a lot of work and pain.
I've got a Les Paul from the 70s that was involved in a tragic accident involving a floor furnace and lots of beer. Acetone worked pretty well removing the old finish without many issues with the plastic binding. Until I got to the headstock. The Les Paul silk screen went away INSTANTLY. 😳🤣
You got Lucky. Acetone is what is used to bind, multilayer, plastic bindings together. Whether it be PVC or the old nitrocellulose, it will attack it instantly.
3M make sanding sponges from 600 to 1200 super fine. I've had mine for 20 years and they're still good. Just wash them out after use. They're about 4 x 6 inches. My father taught me how to French polish with shellac. Applied by hand with a rubber you don't get that orange peel finish, as you wipe off the top surface with each coat, which fills the grain. Last coat mixed with a tiny bit of spirit to soften it a little, then buffing makes it like a mirror.
i like 3m's red scotchbrite 600, comes in all sorts of form factors, from rolls, to pads, to discs and more. for a little more coarse, greens, a little finer, purples for a whole lot finer, white. greys are in there someplace as ultra-fine. the ones labeled blending pads are slightly more coarse, if i recall, while the hand pad variants are finer. note: they also have a super coarse purple stripped under the scotchbrite name, different stuff. they make some good abrasive product. i also use reds to get light rust off metal surfaces in old computers.
Hi Jerry, I am a Chemist in the Automotive depart at South Africa's biggest paint company. I feel you are having problems with your nitrocellulose finish because your spray viscosity is high. I suggest you invest in a Ford Cup 4 viscosity cup (or similiar) to thin your finish to 18 to 22 seconds 21 - 23 Celcius before application. Try this, just my way of trying to help. Enjoy your videos
Not sure why anyone would refinish a vintage guitar. It’s earned it’s battle scars and that adds to it’s character and no doubt it’s tone as well. Refinish and seal that wood up and no doubt your gonna lose some of it’s warm tone.
By refinishing you also thin the wood and thus reduce the structural integrity of the top. Great guitars are, in part, good sounding because the top is just thick enough to be flexible while countering decades of string tension. Every time you remove finish and refinish, you move towards thinning the wood to the point where the top/back/sides too fragile to be used without risking serious bellying, warping, and cracking (this can permanently ruin a guitar if done severely enough, and can also reduce the value of a vintage guitar to almost nothing). Indeed, a good number of vintage dealers and longtime collectors will attest that new finish on an acoustic is a tone-killer.
Fisheye eliminator is mineral oil. You can use any kind of oil to counter act fish eyes. I've been using a couple drops of transmission fluid instead of paying $35.00 for 2 ounces of mineral oil/fish eye eliminator. And yes that's fish eyes.
Some folks just love to throw those axes at you Jerry. Pay no attention to them, they are not working on instruments or have a youtube channel. They think they can do better, but if that was the case, why are they watching? I have to say that you did back up and punt, and I think the lacquer was coming out fine, it was just going to take many more coats. Also you do not give up, you wasn't happy so you tried something different. I said it before, you are the best thing that happened to that instrument, regardless of the smoke some of these folks are blowing. I bet it turns out beautiful in the end, and you will have a very happy customer.
I don't mean any disrespect to him, but after watching many of his videos, I don't think he has the kind of expertise in touching up nor completely refinishing a guitar in these kinds of finishes to get the results he's after.
You might get a smoother coat using lacquer if after you spray with lacquer, you spray with 4 parts lacquer thinner to one part lacquer. It melts the lacquer and helps get rid of orange peel and smooths out the finish better.
Since shellac comes off with denatured alcohol, you could try just wiping it back down with alcohol. Also older shellac not only takes longer to cure but does not cure to as hard a film. This might explain the gumming up on the sandpaper. Not sure why your shellac was not clear in your little bottle. Other than being amber in color, shellac should be clear. Yours was oddly milky looking. Some people mention using fine sand paper while the shellac is wet to help fill pores.
The nitro lacquer is sanded after each sprayed and dry layer, and then, after sanding with fine paper, it is polished with a sanding paste. It is a lengthy process.
There is one masking tape you may not have tried. It's made by Tamiya and is used for modeling, it's very fine and has a very accurate adhesive designed not to allow the applied paints to seep underneath. It's not real cheap but if it saves you hours of scraping...
the problem is the vapor pressure of the solvent it is the same mechanic that carries wine up the inside of the glass it happens with any solution where one component has a significantly lower evaporation point than the others..
Hey Jerry, I’m not a luthier, builder, or repair person but I just wanted to comment on how much I enjoy your videos. My wife walks into the room and sees me watching your videos on the TV on UA-cam and just shakes her head. This particular one was a challenge For sure. Apparently you worked on this guitar for several months. Again, I can’t explain it but I love your videos
Jerry, if you don't wear a respirator and safety glasses when you spray like that, you'll be dead in a year.... oh wait, you've been doing it like that for how long???... Nevermind.
1.Use wood filler. 2 use sealer 3.spray lacquer (SPRAY WITH A RESPIRATOR ON.) 4. wet sand with 600 in circular motion( USE A PADDED SANDING BLOCK UNTIL GENERALLY FLAT 5 spray lacquer a few coats 6. WET SAND AND POLISH UP WITH WITH POLISHING COMPOUND THIS VIDEO WAS HARD TO WATCH.
Sir, I had trouble watching this Part 2. 6 string agony. I just about freaked when you started scraping the new finish off the neck. I believe that after refinishing this guitar, that our maker will escort you directly into heaven. Keep Smiling (cause it is finished)
I will say nothing looks as amazing as a perfect lacquer finish. But the I could seldom get it right on anything bigger than a jewelry box. But with (bugjuuce) shellac. And maybe a french rub I could always make something everyone liked and admired and over time if it got compromised or damaged it could be repaired with much less hassle.
Mister Rosa, I'd like to share an experience with you and every other acoustic guitar player. Check this out! Grab a nylon string guitar and tune it well. Then, put your ear on the headstock and strum the first five strings, muting the big E. Let it ring for a few seconds, and you'll hear a very low D bass note as a result of the harmonics. You'd think that the A would be the logical winner in that battle. But no, it's the D, about 2 octaves down which determines the root of that chord. Please try it! It's very cool. And about as amazing as you are, Sir.
Refinished hundreds of grand pianos as I was in that business for 45 years methylene chloride takes finish off well i prefered Savagram kutzit I just refinished my Taylor I used it it takes finish off without having to sand the wood away which is important if you dealing with laminated back and sides or if you need to refinish again and again through the years because you wont be sanding the wood away each time you refinsh Warning the only thing you have got to stay away from that plastic binding lay the guitar on its back tape the white plastic off apply the stripper where it runs away from the plastic it takes a little care but definatly doable if you have wood binding not a issue. Also Sherwin-Williams cab acrylic you can put four or five coats on a block of Oak hit it hard with a claw hammer you will Dent the wood but you won't actually mar the Finish try that with any other Lacker. Its a little pricy 45 a gallon for regular nitro 75 for the cab acrylic same thinner to thin with. Follow directions on lable happy refinishing
2:09 "...it's just a technique thing..." sayeth the guy with a scalpel in one hand and a $5,000 guitar in the other .. Love it... I had no qualms over taking a scalpel to a human to trim the margins of a jagged laceration before stitching it up, but as adventurous as I am doing my own guitar repairs, I draw the line just before the need for a scalpel arises.... These days when someone asks how I can turn a corroded and dinged up piece of stainless steel trim into a perfectly flat, mirror polished surface in an afternoon, my stock line "It's nothing that a 10 year old can't do - with 11 years of experience..."
Please don’t spray with nitrocellulose without taking precautions of breathing apparatus. I see you spraying without a mask which is probably just fine for water based materials. For anything else take care of your health and use an approved method of air filtering. Nitrocellulose fumes kill people. Many luthiers have died from spraying materials without appropriate equipment.
"Keep chemical away from the plastic" but soak it up with stain. "You have to scrape it across the grain" and after two minutes: "If you want to avoid schraces you have to go wit grain". And "Huh, hah, huh, hah" like you're digging a trench. Bunch of noncenses. Be happy, watch if you want, but this is making a theory from ordinary things and making everything looks harder than it is. I made my 101st guitar this month from scratch and it seem to be easier than him wiping guitar with a cloth.
My buddy and I used to sand the shit outta our guitars to put artwork on them and god were we stupid,sanding and sanding and sanding!! Nobody ever enlightened us though so I guess the result was all the more sweet after having ignorantly poured so much elbow grease into! Lol. Holy cow! Youre hip to the CA glue conspiracy too!!
For anyone watching this spraying Nitrocellulose without a mask is a terrible idea it will damage the Central Nervous system, and is highly carcinogenic.
Need to use grain filler before your stains, that's why your nitro didn't work. I've learned the hard way as well........ I've done the refinish work for some local builders since it's a whole different world.
As to sandpaper and your problems: Loading, as you call it, is the result of a "closed coat" paper as opposed to "open coat" which both refer to the placement of the media and the angularity as it presents outward. Further you do not offer what type of media is being used, which the manufacturer would indicate on the back of the paper or in their catalog. As to the media: there are many choices, each has properties which behave in specific ways. Harder media breaks down slower, yet cuts faster. Facing refers to the media. Learn more about sandpaper and your options increase: three components are present in sandpaper, 1) the backing material, 2) the binder which holds the media and attaches to the backing, 3) the media, silicone carbide, aluminum oxide, zirconia, etc. I also suggest your painting is the first place you should consider for that sets up the sanding requirements. I noticed your spraying...can an old dog learn new tricks? To bad you are finished with this type of work, I could have offered to teach you some "new tricks of the trade" for a reasonable amount of money as a consultant.
I have used an oil based stain and oil based high gloss polyurethane and it worked quite well with only 4 or 5 coats ! If you use a stripper then use fine stell wool and water to clean away any stripper residue and leave it dry overnight and then stain etc ! You might be sanding too much! I use open coat 1200 grit they use in body shops and it works for me !
Hi Jerry, I was just curious about using paint stripper and posted here asking why they can not be used. Well, after watching further you answered my question on that subject so I had to edit this note! lol. Guess I should wait until I watch the entire video before asking anything in the future. Lesson learned! lol
That Looks Like an auto paint problem called fish eyeing. It comes from car wax. Some people claim silicone. I don't know. But the only way to stop it is to get a good sealer as your first coat. Though that's on metal and old paint. Who knows on wood.
Have you tried using a brush on resin,, varnish,,,it applies alot thicker so you won't sand threw,it also fills in the wood grain faster and iys not waxy when it drys
A few words of caution when sanding our good old friend CA glue. The dust is really nasty so I now use a good quality respirator. The first few times I thought I was catching a cold and then realized it was the CA dust
My neighbor finishes fine, antique furniture and all I have ever seen him use was extra fine grades of steel wool. steel wool gives your nodules a place to go, and the build-up will go away :)
Maybe the 220 grit was to fine for the job, if the 150 is a better choice to start with on the lacquer finish. The shellac just proved the point, because the 150 got the ball rolling on the finish.... maybe
If you do not like using sanding blocks as you state try using a small rubber squeegie that is used to apply thin coats of finish glaze. i have a saying when in doubt, shout out to someone.As long as I have been refinishing guitars I still seek out advise.
If you’re “blue in the face”, are you turning into Papa Smurf? 🙂😁😆. I’m seriously thinking about doing stuff like this as a hobby. The open pores thing frightens me a little. Your videos are very educational. Thanks much! 🌞✌️🎻
I’m curious why you didn’t remove the pickguard?
Painful video to watch. I would try to find someone locally to do your finishing.
How is it painful? He uses finishing techniques that many people do.
Have you done one?
@@pmscalisi he has arthritis in his hands.
I love Stew Mac but get your 3M Gold from your auto parts store. You get a bigger roll for half the SM price
Check out eagle abrasives Super Assilex paper…dry sanding…the best…by far.
Love your videos. Love your work. If this was my guitar, I wouldn't touch the finish. I love the way an old Martin or old Gibson sounds all dried out. The best sounding acoustic guitar I ever played was a 1945 D-18 which had dried out so badly that the top had a dozen cracks in. Best sound ever- old, dry wood:)
I noticed that your man did not prime the headstock before he painted it and that you didn't mention using a lacquer sanding sealer before applying your finish. Why don't you use primers and sealers? The stain not being sealed prior to finishing may be why your sandpapers are building up on you.
I would epoxy grain filled it then stain and probably 5 thin nitrocellulose coats and that would be that. It will be just as thin as the factory finish so no impact on sound. Just finished a old Gibson myself and it turned out fantastic and the customer thought I'd given him a different guitar back. I will never go back to the old grain fillers after using this new stuff it's incredible and because you sort of scrape it on it doesn't go on thick and takes almost no sanding to get a smooth filled finish.
Stu, did you use Z-poxy or another vendor's product? I'm getting ready to grain fill on a couple acoutics with epoxy for the first time. I've used a ton of polyester filler on electric bodies and necks over the years... Followed by acrylic urethanes. The acoustic finishing world is a bit new to me... I'm currently planning to use nitro over epoxy for these.
@@SkyscraperGuitars z poxy is a great fill and I'm using a very similar product. It's the best thing I've ever used in 20 years of repairing and building guitars as it has almost zero shrinkage as it binds with the fibre and is also a adhesive so best of both worlds. It is also quick drying so saves on time and the amount you actually use is very small. The benefits are you scrape it into the grain as end up with a almost perfect finish and only needs a small amount of sanding. If you need to add colour just add it to the product before you fill. It's great.
I think Jerry would reply but I hear he's still sanding that old Gibson.
Hey Jerry. Love your stuff and your perspective. I think on that one, I would have tried a French Polish instead of spray. Using a little pumice on the first coat would have filled the grain and soloed all of that pitting crap. I think it was the Tru-oil varnish that your intern used in the beginning that caused all of your problems, because it's an oil finish and will fight with lacquer, and penetrates into the wood....
Mr. Rosa the finish you got in the lacquer clear appears to me to be fish eyes which is caused by contamination on the surface which could be caused by wax or oily hands. Not thinning the lacquer enough could cause the problem. Waiting in between coats also helps. I always spray a few coats of wood sealer to fill the grain by Stewmac. Good luck. Just keep in mind that thinner coats are better than thick coats. Also using a sanding block with your sandpaper is also a plus. I have refinished many guitars and in the beginning I had the same problem, but no more.
Fill the pores with pore-filler before the lacquer coat and you don't have to sand nearly as much.
You are preaching to Tom's choir. No he has not fought as hard as you in this instance, but it's not easy being Tom either. The guitar did turn out great though eventually.
I believe a luthier friend of mine uses a sand sealer after grain filler is put on. It sinks in and fills the grain that lacquer would otherwise keep sinking into.
Sand sealer sands beautifully. Once you get that done , the lacquer coats go on very smoothly. At that point , minor sanding and buffing can bring out a mirror finish.
I'm no pro, I just thought I'd chime in and I hope my 2c is.of.some use to you !
You do amazing work. I hate to see your disappointment.
It's a very poor job on this old guitar and such a shame indeed and Caleb made an absolute mess of it. The problem is ( Jerry has said it before) he isn't very good at re finishing and if I wasn't capable I would have found someone who was. Its a customers guitar and if it was mine I would be very very disappointed.
@@stu-j couldn’t agree more. I’m sure that the cost of this job was pretty astronomical, based on a $100 per hour charge. I’d reckon for $1000 you could have had a real professional guitar finisher do a job that would have been ten times better.
I want to be clear, I’m not necessarily knocking Jerry, it’s just clear that he isn’t a professional guitar finisher. He’s a builder/repair man.
@@stevedimebag I agree and don't want to bash his abilities at all but the quality of this is just very poor indeed and I'd be ( as a repair person for 30 years) embarrassed to have this on UA-cam so he's got balls that's for sure. I've had things get away from me a few times over the years and I've had to get someone else to sort it as it was taking to long. I've just finished a 60s Gibson acoustic that needed a refinishing job and I've been using epoxy fill now for a few years and it's fantastic at filling the wide grain in mahogany. One pass of fill then sanded back and 5 coats of nitrocellulose. The customer thought it was a different guitar and was so happy. Jerry is a bit stubborn and won't change to modern ways to do things. Sorry Jerry I am still a fan tho.
@@stu-j yep - we’ve all been there. I’ve had one or two repairs where I have done my best, (and even though the customer is happy), I’m not, so I haven’t charged them for it.
I always look at what I do and think - “would I be happy if I sent it to a shop and received that back?”.
If the answer is no, (or even, “meh”), then I’m not proud of that, and it’s ‘on the house’.
As much as you live super glue you should be doing super glue grain fills
Too bad you hate pore fillers so much. Mahogany is not as bad as padouk in terms of oily open pores. For sure, a good water-based filler would have saved you a lot of work and pain.
Even with pore fillers you still have to sand.
Why not take off the bridge and pickguard before sanding?
I've got a Les Paul from the 70s that was involved in a tragic accident involving a floor furnace and lots of beer.
Acetone worked pretty well removing the old finish without many issues with the plastic binding.
Until I got to the headstock.
The Les Paul silk screen went away INSTANTLY.
😳🤣
You got Lucky. Acetone is what is used to bind, multilayer, plastic bindings together.
Whether it be PVC or the old nitrocellulose, it will attack it instantly.
3M make sanding sponges from 600 to 1200 super fine. I've had mine for 20 years and they're still good. Just wash them out after use. They're about 4 x 6 inches. My father taught me how to French polish with shellac. Applied by hand with a rubber you don't get that orange peel finish, as you wipe off the top surface with each coat, which fills the grain. Last coat mixed with a tiny bit of spirit to soften it a little, then buffing makes it like a mirror.
i like 3m's red scotchbrite 600, comes in all sorts of form factors, from rolls, to pads, to discs and more. for a little more coarse, greens, a little finer, purples for a whole lot finer, white. greys are in there someplace as ultra-fine. the ones labeled blending pads are slightly more coarse, if i recall, while the hand pad variants are finer.
note: they also have a super coarse purple stripped under the scotchbrite name, different stuff.
they make some good abrasive product.
i also use reds to get light rust off metal surfaces in old computers.
@@kenabi Good stuff 👍
What are you doing? Are you luther? Hahaha wtf
Hi Jerry, I am a Chemist in the Automotive depart at South Africa's biggest paint company. I feel you are having problems with your nitrocellulose finish because your spray viscosity is high. I suggest you invest in a Ford Cup 4 viscosity cup (or similiar) to thin your finish to 18 to 22 seconds 21 - 23 Celcius before application. Try this, just my way of trying to help. Enjoy your videos
It look's like you used not dewaxed shellack. I filtered mine with coffee filters, and it sands great.
Not sure why anyone would refinish a vintage guitar. It’s earned it’s battle scars and that adds to it’s character and no doubt it’s tone as well. Refinish and seal that wood up and no doubt your gonna lose some of it’s warm tone.
I've got an old Martin in the shop in need of TLC. I should check on its progress.
By refinishing you also thin the wood and thus reduce the structural integrity of the top. Great guitars are, in part, good sounding because the top is just thick enough to be flexible while countering decades of string tension. Every time you remove finish and refinish, you move towards thinning the wood to the point where the top/back/sides too fragile to be used without risking serious bellying, warping, and cracking (this can permanently ruin a guitar if done severely enough, and can also reduce the value of a vintage guitar to almost nothing).
Indeed, a good number of vintage dealers and longtime collectors will attest that new finish on an acoustic is a tone-killer.
Have you ever tried the "french polishing" technique with shelack?
Is that "Fish Eye" in the lacquer? If so there's an additive for that. I can't tell what that is from the video.
Fisheye eliminator is mineral oil. You can use any kind of oil to counter act fish eyes.
I've been using a couple drops of transmission fluid instead of paying $35.00 for 2 ounces of mineral oil/fish eye eliminator.
And yes that's fish eyes.
Some folks just love to throw those axes at you Jerry. Pay no attention to them, they are not working on instruments or have a youtube channel. They think they can do better, but if that was the case, why are they watching? I have to say that you did back up and punt, and I think the lacquer was coming out fine, it was just going to take many more coats. Also you do not give up, you wasn't happy so you tried something different. I said it before, you are the best thing that happened to that instrument, regardless of the smoke some of these folks are blowing. I bet it turns out beautiful in the end, and you will have a very happy customer.
I don't mean any disrespect to him, but after watching many of his videos, I don't think he has the kind of expertise in touching up nor completely refinishing a guitar in these kinds of finishes to get the results he's after.
@@400_billion_suns He will tell you he is not the best, but he does pretty dang good.
You butchered this guitar.
Do you get sick from all the fumes?
That’s why the old timers used a French polish for shellac finishes. I prefer true oil myself.
You need to use a Sanding Block when you are sanding.!
You might get a smoother coat using lacquer if after you spray with lacquer, you spray with 4 parts lacquer thinner to one part lacquer. It melts the lacquer and helps get rid of orange peel and smooths out the finish better.
I don't understand why it's so hard to finish a piece of wood?, surely there are well proven and known methods by now?
Every one is different. I've done dozens of them. This one was uniquely difficult.
A Finish Too Far. Like the movie A Bridge Too Far. Great video Jerry.
Since shellac comes off with denatured alcohol, you could try just wiping it back down with alcohol. Also older shellac not only takes longer to cure but does not cure to as hard a film. This might explain the gumming up on the sandpaper.
Not sure why your shellac was not clear in your little bottle. Other than being amber in color, shellac should be clear. Yours was oddly milky looking.
Some people mention using fine sand paper while the shellac is wet to help fill pores.
The trick we use when shellacing a guitar is to use acetone as a thinner its flashes off faster and is twice as shiny
I love your complaints about it while you do such a good job. makes me laugh
The nitro lacquer is sanded after each sprayed and dry layer, and then, after sanding with fine paper, it is polished with a sanding paste. It is a lengthy process.
There is one masking tape you may not have tried. It's made by Tamiya and is used for modeling, it's very fine and has a very accurate adhesive designed not to allow the applied paints to seep underneath. It's not real cheap but if it saves you hours of scraping...
finish is easy...just paint it purple.
What kind of varnish are you gonna use Jerry 🤔 ?Dont let that thing get the best of ya !
Jerry uses Tru-Oil, from Birchwood Casey.
Send 3M your comments with a link to your praise of their product in this vid. You might be surprised what comes of it.
the problem is the vapor pressure of the solvent it is the same mechanic that carries wine up the inside of the glass it happens with any solution where one component has a significantly lower evaporation point than the others..
Lots of good OCD comments. Very entertaining.
When the shellac is grayed by light sand, use a shellac rub and it returns to clear.
Hey Jerry, I’m not a luthier, builder, or repair person but I just wanted to comment on how much I enjoy your videos. My wife walks into the room and sees me watching your videos on the TV on UA-cam and just shakes her head. This particular one was a challenge For sure. Apparently you worked on this guitar for several months. Again, I can’t explain it but I love your videos
I would also worry about the chemicals getting into joints and remain there to reek havoc later on.
I’ll drink a toast to that bottle of stain for ya 🙂
Jerry, if you don't wear a respirator and safety glasses when you spray like that, you'll be dead in a year.... oh wait, you've been doing it like that for how long???... Nevermind.
1.Use wood filler.
2 use sealer
3.spray lacquer (SPRAY WITH A RESPIRATOR ON.)
4. wet sand with 600 in circular motion( USE A PADDED SANDING BLOCK UNTIL GENERALLY FLAT
5 spray lacquer a few coats
6. WET SAND AND POLISH UP WITH WITH POLISHING COMPOUND
THIS VIDEO WAS HARD TO WATCH.
Sir, I had trouble watching this Part 2. 6 string agony. I just about freaked when you started scraping the new finish off the neck. I believe that after refinishing this guitar, that our maker will escort you directly into heaven. Keep Smiling (cause it is finished)
I will say nothing looks as amazing as a perfect lacquer finish. But the I could seldom get it right on anything bigger than a jewelry box. But with (bugjuuce) shellac. And maybe a french rub I could always make something everyone liked and admired and over time if it got compromised or damaged it could be repaired with much less hassle.
Heisenberg and Nils Bor playing with the C.A. glue ?
Pretty much that way with everything, apparently.
Mister Rosa, I'd like to share an experience with you and every other acoustic guitar player. Check this out! Grab a nylon string guitar and tune it well. Then, put your ear on the headstock and strum the first five strings, muting the big E. Let it ring for a few seconds, and you'll hear a very low D bass note as a result of the harmonics. You'd think that the A would be the logical winner in that battle. But no, it's the D, about 2 octaves down which determines the root of that chord. Please try it! It's very cool. And about as amazing as you are, Sir.
Cheeses man! Why don't you wear a facemask, gloves, eye protection using sprays?
If that was a painted car... I would recommend the 3M Trizact. God Bless.
I've had good luck with 3M Gold open coat sandpaper and other lubricated stearate papers. the open coat resists clogging much.
I refinish my acoustic guitar I suffered so much that I will never ever do it again lol
After sanding did you decontaminate with mineral spirits or naphta if not that's where the fish eyes come from
Refinished hundreds of grand pianos as I was in that business for 45 years methylene chloride takes finish off well i prefered Savagram kutzit I just refinished my Taylor I used it it takes finish off without having to sand the wood away which is important if you dealing with laminated back and sides or if you need to refinish again and again through the years because you wont be sanding the wood away each time you refinsh Warning the only thing you have got to stay away from that plastic binding lay the guitar on its back tape the white plastic off apply the stripper where it runs away from the plastic it takes a little care but definatly doable if you have wood binding not a issue. Also Sherwin-Williams cab acrylic you can put four or five coats on a block of Oak hit it hard with a claw hammer you will Dent the wood but you won't actually mar the Finish try that with any other Lacker. Its a little pricy 45 a gallon for regular nitro 75 for the cab acrylic same thinner to thin with. Follow directions on lable happy refinishing
2:09 "...it's just a technique thing..." sayeth the guy with a scalpel in one hand and a $5,000 guitar in the other .. Love it... I had no qualms over taking a scalpel to a human to trim the margins of a jagged laceration before stitching it up, but as adventurous as I am doing my own guitar repairs, I draw the line just before the need for a scalpel arises.... These days when someone asks how I can turn a corroded and dinged up piece of stainless steel trim into a perfectly flat, mirror polished surface in an afternoon, my stock line "It's nothing that a 10 year old can't do - with 11 years of experience..."
Brush the shellac. Superfine pumice with linseed oil. Rubbed in. Basically a French polishing technique is required.
Please don’t spray with nitrocellulose without taking precautions of breathing apparatus. I see you spraying without a mask which is probably just fine for water based materials. For anything else take care of your health and use an approved method of air filtering. Nitrocellulose fumes kill people. Many luthiers have died from spraying materials without appropriate equipment.
"Keep chemical away from the plastic" but soak it up with stain. "You have to scrape it across the grain" and after two minutes: "If you want to avoid schraces you have to go wit grain". And "Huh, hah, huh, hah" like you're digging a trench. Bunch of noncenses. Be happy, watch if you want, but this is making a theory from ordinary things and making everything looks harder than it is. I made my 101st guitar this month from scratch and it seem to be easier than him wiping guitar with a cloth.
My buddy and I used to sand the shit outta our guitars to put artwork on them and god were we stupid,sanding and sanding and sanding!! Nobody ever enlightened us though so I guess the result was all the more sweet after having ignorantly poured so much elbow grease into! Lol. Holy cow! Youre hip to the CA glue conspiracy too!!
For anyone watching this spraying Nitrocellulose without a mask is a terrible idea it will damage the Central Nervous system, and is highly carcinogenic.
Did you sand between the coats of Shellac? It looked like you sprayed three coats without sanding unless you did it off camera?
Need to use grain filler before your stains, that's why your nitro didn't work. I've learned the hard way as well........ I've done the refinish work for some local builders since it's a whole different world.
As to sandpaper and your problems: Loading, as you call it, is the result of a "closed coat" paper as opposed to "open coat" which both refer to the placement of the media and the angularity as it presents outward. Further you do not offer what type of media is being used, which the manufacturer would indicate on the back of the paper or in their catalog. As to the media: there are many choices, each has properties which behave in specific ways. Harder media breaks down slower, yet cuts faster. Facing refers to the media. Learn more about sandpaper and your options increase: three components are present in sandpaper, 1) the backing material, 2) the binder which holds the media and attaches to the backing, 3) the media, silicone carbide, aluminum oxide, zirconia, etc. I also suggest your painting is the first place you should consider for that sets up the sanding requirements. I noticed your spraying...can an old dog learn new tricks? To bad you are finished with this type of work, I could have offered to teach you some "new tricks of the trade" for a reasonable amount of money as a consultant.
I have used an oil based stain and oil based high gloss polyurethane and it worked quite well with only 4 or 5 coats ! If you use a stripper then use fine stell wool and water to clean away any stripper residue and leave it dry overnight and then stain etc ! You might be sanding too much! I use open coat 1200 grit they use in body shops and it works for me !
Chemical Strippers... would be a cool punk-rock band name :)
Hi Jerry, I was just curious about using paint stripper and posted here asking why they can not be used. Well, after watching further you answered my question on that subject so I had to edit this note! lol. Guess I should wait until I watch the entire video before asking anything in the future. Lesson learned! lol
BTDT, see something, ask a question and then 2 minutes later he answers the question, in the video.
DUH! 🤐🙄🙄😳
That Looks Like an auto paint problem called fish eyeing. It comes from car wax. Some people claim silicone. I don't know. But the only way to stop it is to get a good sealer as your first coat. Though that's on metal and old paint. Who knows on wood.
Have you talked to Klingspor? I know they used to make finer paper that performs like the 400 you're talking about. I used to have some of the 600.
Have you tried using a brush on resin,, varnish,,,it applies alot thicker so you won't sand threw,it also fills in the wood grain faster and iys not waxy when it drys
A few words of caution when sanding our good old friend CA glue. The dust is really nasty so I now use a good quality respirator. The first few times I thought I was catching a cold and then realized it was the CA dust
This makes me laugh, and I am so frustrated with the process. I have been using Minwax.
Jerry, I think I foresee a new Jerry Rosa song coming out about that brown stain. 😂
My neighbor finishes fine, antique furniture and all I have ever seen him use was extra fine grades of steel wool. steel wool gives your nodules a place to go, and the build-up will go away :)
Does The Gibson L-00 have a strong sound similar to Martin 00 guitars???
Holy cow, do you have any idea how toxic and flammable nitro is????
How negative can you be. Talk about making a mountain of a mole hill. Don't tell me this Don't tell me that. Obstanance.
MAYBE YOU SHOULD TRY SOME OF THE COMMENTS. YOU COULD EASILY FILL THE GRAIN AND SOLVE YOUR ISSUE.
with wood, over 400grit you're just polishing the wood, and any finish is not going in properly
I’ve got the most wrecked 1932 l-00 you’ve ever seen. Want a challenge?
It was Calib. ..he Done somefin to it. the Back looks like a Orange peel. 🍊..💥😳
Suggested Listening: Elvis Presley ...Return to Sander.
Oh now he said the glue can read your mind, the stain gasses are kicking 😅😂😂😂😂😅
Ill bet you could find some of that sandpaper in finer grits around wherever there is auto body repair supplies.
Maybe the 220 grit was to fine for the job, if the 150 is a better choice to start with on the lacquer finish. The shellac just proved the point, because the 150 got the ball rolling on the finish.... maybe
If you do not like using sanding blocks as you state try using a small rubber squeegie that is used to apply thin coats of finish glaze. i have a saying when in doubt, shout out to someone.As long as I have been refinishing guitars I still seek out advise.
mahogany is like a sponge, hard to fill takes much more labor to flatten out...
Dude that is silicon in the finish should degrease and use a tack rag thoroughly before spraying.
If you’re “blue in the face”, are you turning into Papa Smurf? 🙂😁😆. I’m seriously thinking about doing stuff like this as a hobby. The open pores thing frightens me a little. Your videos are very educational. Thanks much! 🌞✌️🎻
please wear a mask when spraying i know so many people with health issues by not doing so,a master craftman though keep up the fine work.
Use a two component high solids urethane. Lacquer is just too thin.
MR, Rosa;; Thank You so Much For Sharing Your Years Of Experiance In The Rebuilding Process;; It Is priceless;
I like to use razorblades and metal scrapers designed for french cabinet polishing where possible over sanding and tru oil works like a dream.
Jerry working with wood is a pain it in the butt
Working with wood is very easy once you learn how to do it is also very enjoyable once you learn how to do it.
Your a flipping Saint, you have the most fantastic patience
Judging by the age of that bottle of stain it must be the good stuff 🤧
😂🎉🎉🎉🎉😂😂😂
Hi there. That dark stain you used in the back and sides, is water based??
Something tells me you don’t like finishing guitars.😁