Has anyone used Shellac as a finish?

Well I've stripped back the sound boards of two old acoustics I very much enjoy playing live and I've fixed up some dents and deep scratches sanded them back finished with 3000 grit and they're ready for a top coat finish.

I've not done this before!

Spraying is out of the question.

I looked into wipe on Poly Lacquerer but got a bit put off as the instructions says it's a very toxic product.

That's when I checked YouTube and saw Shellac (French polishing) is a popular finish coat.

I've seen nitro finish is available in a can so I could spray that outside to make it safer to use.




 

great advice and I appreciate it. I'm about to refinish a couple of necks and was considering some options.

Thanks! Appreciate the link

Ack. It does say won't ship eh? 

There has to be a way to smuggle it over the border... like I said Ernie Ball has been using it for decades and they're most definitely building guitars in California. 

Maybe try a local sporting goods or gun shop? I've gotten a bottle at places like Dicks but have better luck at indies here in NJ. 

Anyway. EBMM basically applies one quick coat of oil then the wax... for them its a 5 minute process but you can go as deep as ya want. I built a thinline tele somewhere around 2008? Warmoth & USACG parts... applied several coats to a swamp ash body & maple neck. I'll probably wear out the frets before the finish. 

The body, I skipped grain filler but would say it came out something like the old Fender highway guitars or Gibson "faded" finishes. If the body has open grain (like ash or mahogany) you'll feel it... and its not super glossy like a factory spray which is kinda what I was going for. 

I'll say that guitar and a bass I did for a friend? Finish is thin. Hard, chip resistant (kinda just dents) and best? The guitars are LOUD unplugged. Super resonant. 

For an "easy" alternative minwax wipe on poly can turn out nice. Another friend has used it for necks on a few builds. I'm not exactly sure of his process but IIRC its several coats with 600/800 wet sanding every other coat? Something like that. Super slick & high gloss. 

The times I've used poly? Need to be weather aware. No go when its humid. End up with fish eyes that can't be sanded out without blowing through... so at that point its either live with the defect or strip to bare wood & start over. Tru oil is way more forgiving on that front.