DYI Removing or toning down the shine of French polish?

bohemewarbler · October 2

Does anyone on this forum know a DYI method of removing or toning down the shine of French polish? I don't want to take off the color tint of the guitar. Just want to get rid of the glossy shine. To me, the top looks too much like polished furniture. Thanks in advance.

ChrisMartin · October 3

What I have done in the past is just a gentle rub down with a fine grit wet&dry paper, 1200 or 1500 grit, light pressure rub along the grain, don't go too hard as shellac is quite soft and you will take off more than you want, but that will leave a matt finish if that is what you want.

bohemewarbler · October 5

I'll also need to take off the clear, glossy pick guard. I should be able to do that with a hair dryer I was told. Any recommendations on that?

Buco · October 5

What Chris said should work. I heard that's what people do to make the glossy necks smooth and matte. Yes, hair dryer should do the trick for the pick guard. That's what I used to remove the mustache pieces when I was refinishing my guitar. By the way to take off the old finish I used sanding rubber blocks. They're heavy so they gave me a steady and uniform pressure. That way I was sure I'm consistent with the sanding.

Something like this though I picked up mine at the local car parts shop

https://www.amazon.com/3M-9292-Rubber-Sanding-Block/dp/B00004Z4CY/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?crid=1HT98FY0FNROY&

paulmcevoy75 · October 5

Apologies for unrequested advice, feel free to ignore entirely:

If you have a nice guitar that's been French polished, you will likely devalue the instrument by messing with the finish. French polish is really delicate stuff.

Usually only high quality guitars are French polished, it's a real bitch of a thing to do...I have given up on it. It's not a very durable finish but very beautiful but I don't know how I'd knock back the gloss without damaging the finish. It's the thinnest finish around.

Definitely don't get alcohol or any sort of solvent anywhere near it...

I guess if I was going to do this I'd go with ultra fine steel wool making long even strokes with the grain.

wim · October 5

Squirt some mosquito repellent on your hands and pass the guitar around at Madison gypsy jazz fest jam. Takes the finish right off.

paulmcevoy75 · October 5

And I had a hissy fit for someone giving me unrequested advice so I apologize for being discouraging. Having French polished guitars and experienced deep personal loathing during the process, if someone took the gloss down that I'd put so much effort into, I might have to end it all. I'm moving forward into a shellac free life.

Your guitar, you can do whatever you want with it :)

voutoreenie · October 5

According to Shelley Park, the main distinguishing feature about my 2006 Encore is that it has a French polish shellac finish, otherwise normal/standard specs...gotta say, I absolutely love that finish - it's lighter/more "breathable" for the wood than polyurethane but also a bit more substantial and far better looking than a matte finish. So all that to say, if it's actually a French polish shellac that was hand applied many times over by the builder and not a single coat high gloss polyurethane, OP, I'm 100% with Paul that you might wanna reconsider a bit before stripping it off...that said, hope whatever you end up doing turns out well tho!

Gouch · October 5

Don’t do this unless you want to both instantly slash the resale value of the instrument by 50%, and never ever have any further communication with the best GJ luthier in the hemisphere.