Thoughts on the different types of guitar finishes and how to care for them

I used a lacquer varnish, for my first 30 or so guitars, minus a couple here and there. I knew that French polish was considered the ‘gold standard’ in classical guitar making, but had become obsessed with mastering one finish before moving on to the next. However, I have recently started offering French polish and an oil finish on my guitars. All finishes has different advantages and disadvantages going for them, none are perfect but some can be more suitable for a particular person’s priorities.

Lacquer:

Lacquer can be buffed to a beautiful mirror gloss. (Writing this post has reminded me that for a while I have intended to read a book called Lacquer: An International History. I know that the earliest lacquerwork dates back to thousands of years ago in China and Japan.) For me, the advantage of lacquer is that once it’s finished and looking good, if a guitar is looked after, the lacquer should stay looking just as good many years down the line as it did on day one, with minimal fuss for the owner.

It is easy to care for; a wipe down with a slightly damp paper towel or cloth should be enough. The lacquer I use is really hard wearing, and a player won’t have to worry about using a cloth between their body and the guitar or anything like that.

I think it’s commonly known that French polish takes a long time and is hard to learn; that’s true but off the back of that comes the implication/assumption that a lacquer finish is easy. It’s not! Both are a tricky skills to learn and take time to execute, also both are easy in a way once the skill is truly learnt.

The disadvantages of lacquer: for the builder, getting the finish thin enough takes some time to learn, and it will never be quite as thin as French polish or oil; players often feel that a thick finish on the soundboard will inhibit the vibrating of the soundboard. Lacquer is also difficult to repair invisibly without a complete refinish of that particular surface.

I apply lacquer with a brush. After it’s dry I level with fine sandpaper. Then I buff by hand. Overall the process is quicker than French polish, but those last two steps take a good couple of long days and the buffing in particular is SO EXHAUSTING. In this way, there is definitely room for my lacquer process to be refined.

French Polish:

French polish is a method of applying a material called shellac. Shellac is dissolved in alcohol and then applied with a “rubber”, then the alcohol evaporates and you’re left with a very thin layer of shellac. It’s a very organic process. I have recently completed two French polished guitars and am feeling the French polishing vibe. I like the particular gloss I have gotten, it has a slightly softer more natural look to it than lacquer. It does look slightly more beautiful than lacquer, however as I mentioned there are downsides to be considered with any finish. For some people it might not be entirely practical, as a lacquer or oil finish would be.

The particular French polishing process I use is spread out over a month (there are many different methods), working an hour here and there sometimes in the morning or evening. So guitars can be built while another is being polished. It’s quite chill, especially when I think of the hectic couple of days at the end of my lacquer process.

I can speak less about the potential issues which might occur as I have more experience with lacquer and oil right now, however following general guitar care guidelines, as well as keeping and cloth between your right arm and the guitar, and occasionally wiping the guitar with a slightly damp paper towel/cloth; do all that and I don’t see there being any big issues.

For players who live in countries with really high humidity or who travel/tour around, a French polished instrument might just be too delicate.

Many luthiers offer a finish touchup after 6 months to a year on a new guitar. This is because the shellac will shrink considerably in the first year, however after it has done so this provides a good base for a touch up. French polish continues to develop and harden over the years.

Oil Finish

I’ve often thought that when I finally get round to building myself an instrument, I will finish it with a couple of coats of oil. Minimum fuss for the maker and the player, nothing to get in the way of the tone. There is never any danger of an oil finish cracking or blistering, as is possible with lacquer or French polish in certain conditions

I still prepare the wood the same way as I would for French polishing or lacquer. This means the grain of the wood is filled on open grained woods, and the end result is a smooth satin finish. I also seal the wood slightly to prevent the oil penetrating into the wood too deeply, minimizing any problems with oily rosewoods, and stopping an excess of oil of dampening the tone of the soundboard.

Again simply follow general guitar care guidelines should keep the guitar in ship shape. With an oil finish a guitarist may wish to keep a cloth between his right arm and the guitar to prevent it getting grubby.

Sometimes despite taking the greatest care a guitar will get dinged or scratched; one thing I like about oil finishes is that a scratches/dings don’t stand out so much on a surface which isn’t so glossy. I think that anything which harms an oil finished surface, would have done more noticeable damage to French polish; as far as durability goes lacquer is the winner. As well as lacquer, I think oil finishes would also be suitable for guitarists in high humidity countries where French polish can be problematic.

I will update this with some guidelines on general maintenance of an oil finish. I feel like an oiling once a year would help, and occasional wiping down with a slightly damp cloth. For cleaning serious grime, I will have to learn/come up with a method and update shortly.

The Development of my Concert Model Guitar

I have recently gone through a period of serious study, working really hard on a developing and finalising a design for my ‘Concert’ classical guitar model. The design I have come up with is the culmination of years of working to understand what makes a good concert worthy guitar. I have found that the qualities which make a quality concert instrument, such as volume, projection, strong trebles have been particularly difficult for me to pin down consistently, which is why, out of my other models - the Recital, flamenco and steel string - the Concert is only just now appearing.

Initially I started by building instruments quite inspired by a builder called Ignacio Fleta. I used a plan of one of his guitars as a starting point years ago, however - based on the feedback of players and guitar dealers - many changes have been made since then. However, it is still a tradition fan braced classical guitar, rather than lattice braced or double top.

One of my favourite things about my Concert model is the shape/outline, also called the plantilla. I feel it’s a quite difficult thing for a guitar maker to get just right. This is because when making guitars you spend over one hundred hours on each instrument, and by that time, whatever shape your guitar is, that’s what feels normal and looks right; from that standpoint, its difficult to make changes for the better objectively. I think I solved this problem. When sitting down to design the Concert model I decided that the plantilla I had been working with was too large, so it was time to design a new one. Well, you see, I have a storage room beneath my workshop. In it, amongst other things are some discarded guitars I built but wasn’t happy with, but haven’t gotten round to completely getting rid of them. They all have different plantillas, but there’s one, my fourth or so guitar, which I’ve always thought had a lovely shape. So I traced the outline, made a template and use that now! The thing is, the shape of the guitar is quite particular to the maker. Since its difficult to design a nice shape, one solution would be to copy another maker whose outline is definitely good. But I prefer my own solution which was to copy my past self!

I mentioned that it was quite a serious period of work to get this Concert model designed into existence. What prompted it was a visit to a guitar dealer, and trying a guitar I built, and then some other guitars by other guitar makers, and finding that my own wasn’t my favourite! In terms of sound and feel. What a humbling experience! As well as working on the model itself, I have also been fine tuning my French Polishing and developing a method for oil finishing. I finished my first 30 or so guitars with a kind of lacquer. I don’t think lacquer is worse, perhaps french polish for the top is more suitable. Either way, being able to do them all is great; they all have their ups and downsides and this particular topic probably deserves a post of its own.

In recent years I have developed a flamenco guitar model, a ‘Recital’ model which I designed to be a handmade guitar at a reasonable price (which I also used as a vehicle for gathering feedback from players and dealers), and steel string model. I’m proud to have my Concert model in the mix too now, which combines all my experience and is my ‘ideal’ instrument.

Classical Guitar Academy - A exciting haven for all things classical guitar

I first visited Classical Guitar Academy in Derby in the summer of 2021. It was an interesting time because we were in the midst of the pandemic. I was just beginning to explore the possibility of selling my guitars to dealers and took two guitars - a spruce and cypress classical and also a flamenco guitar - to get some feedback and explore some business ideas.

Derby seemed like a cool, vibrant, small city! CGA is located in a building called Banks Mills Studios, that kind of building you get in cities, once an industrial workhouse or something, refurbished into art studios for creatives. Inside the building there was an exciting youthful ambitious creative vibe, and I felt jealous actually, as my town Bedford is conspicuously lacking any art space.

The owner of CGA is Ed Peczek is a pro classical guitarist and a teacher. I believe the academy was born out of Ed’s teaching, however he soon started selling high end guitars too, and now CGA seems to me like a hub for all things classical guitar. Ed described how the guitars just seemed to gradually build up, and indeed one side of the room is lined with guitars and cases. Brilliantly for a guitar dealership, there is a huge art studio style window, and the daylight makes the instruments look all the more enticing. I was delighted when I met Ed; extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the guitar with that fantastic energy which seemed to permeate the whole building. I was not only able to receive some great feedback on my guitars but also compare them to guitars by other British luthiers, such as Oren Myers and I tried Ed’s own guitar by Michael Gee. (I really liked the clarity of that Michael Gee guitar.)

I was also able to broach the topic of an idea I’d been having. The idea, which has somewhat begun to come to fruition now, was a model of guitar called the Recital which I would build to be an affordable option compared to other handmade guitars. It would be a simply built Torres style guitar with Rosewood or maple back/sides, with an elevated fingerboard and unique rosette as features. Ed has some factory guitars has well, and it was quite informative to try those, as the most expensive factory guitars are at a similar price point to my Recital model.

The first Recital guitar is available here: https://www.classicalguitaracademy.co.uk/guitar-shop/guitars/

I forgot to take my own pictures of that guitar, but the second Recital, which is the same except for the rosette, is shown on my website.

Visiting the Guitar Maker Stephen Eden

When I was younger, about 14, and had decided I wanted to be a guitar maker, I wrote to (bothered and harassed) as many luthiers as I could and sometimes visited them in their workshop. My favourite visit was actually not to a guitar maker but to Dave Rodgers, a tuning machine maker. His workshop was quite a small room through his kitchen, which had two large lathes on one side, and workbenches lining the other side under windows. From where he produced these masterful tuning machines, which ‘back in there day’ were sent off to master engravers, he said, in Italy to be engraved by hand, which is now usually done by CNC machines.

After I began making, I held off visiting more makers, focusing on just improving my own building. Recently, however, feeling like I was reaching a turning point in my business - feeling pleased with the standard of my guitars but feeling slightly lost regarding what direction to take things as a business - I decided it would be useful to seek out someone who had been in my shoes not so long ago: I wanted to visit a guitar maker I’d heard of and admired called Stephen Eden, if he would have me for an hour or so.

Stephen lives in Bexhill, a coastal own near Brighton. I was delighted to meet Stephen and his partner Sabrina, who I felt were both incredible forces of guitar nature, and kindred spirits. They were both kind enough to take a look at a couple of my guitars and talk about their experience in the business of making guitars. Stephen has the same fastidious and efficient approach to building that I associate with makers like Paul Fischer, Robert Ruck, Daniel Freidrich - makers who produced a large output of really high quality guitars. It’s an approach I would like to emulate. I left feeling extremely inspired by Stephen’s guitars and his process and attitude towards his craft; and with lots of new ideas regarding the business side of things.

Unfortunately I only had two steel strings available to show the esteemed classical/flamenco guitar maker. I’ll just have to go back at some point with a classical.

Shipping Guitars Around the World

Here are some pictures of the packing process for a guitar I sent to America. It’s brilliant to have guitars in other countries. And since there are pockets of huge interest in classical and flamenco guitar in various different parts of the world, mastering and fine tuning the packing process including insuring the guitars is crucial.

It’s an exciting if slightly nerve racking thing! It seems luthiers and dealers can send hundreds of guitars out without anything going wrong, however it only needs to go wrong once, and that’s one disappointing experience for a client, especially if it involves a commissioned guitar. So I’m trying to take as much care as possible, and in this case surrounded the case with lots of bubble wrap and sheets of plywood. The strings are detuned, and the guitar, and the whole package is completely immobile within the box.

Flamenco Music

I began to fall for flamenco music after going on a couple of trips to Spain two years ago. For those who don’t know, flamenco is a traditional Spanish music/dance which is accompanied by guitars. To me flamenco music always sounds extremely emotive, melancholic, mysterious and makes me wish I could understand Spanish.

I built my first flamenco guitar years ago almost by accident, before I really knew what flamenco was, by following a plan for a Santos Hernandez instrument (a renowned builder of both flamenco and classical guitars). It had a spruce soundboard with cypress back and sides, and was built alongside three other guitars. When I presented them to a classical guitarist, to my surprise after playing them he handed the cypress one back saying “this is a flamenco guitar”. The biggest difference is that flamenco and classical guitarists have different sound requirements. The different sounds are brought about by adjusting the thicknesses of the wood and bracing. Cypress is usually used for the back and sides, and a tap plate glued onto the soundboard.

My first proper exposure to flamenco music was at a guitar building competition, where there were flamenco guitars being judged, and I heard the same pieces being performed on each guitar. The guitarist was Alberto Lopez and the song that stuck with me was ‘Balcón de los Sueños’, on his album ‘Detras de la Verdad’, which I really enjoyed and still revisit often.

The next experience came visiting a particular wood dealership in Valencia called EAG International. It was a brilliant visit, and I’ll have to devote an entire blog post to it at some point. I was able to speak extensively to the truly lovely owner, Eve Armenteros. He comes from the south of Spain where flamenco music originated and is most alive. He gave me a list of flamenco guitarists and singers to check out which I’ve written out below. And he told me that the reason people truly love flamenco is because the words really speak to the soul, with the guitar usually taking a relatively backseat role, and that solo guitar flamenco music is actually quite niche. From the list he gave me, I found Vicente Amigo immediately accessible and it turns out he is indeed extremely well loved by everyone. The flamenco list: CAMARON, VICENTE AMIGO, MIGUEL POVEDA, DIEGO EL CIGALA, NIÑO JOSELE, TOMATITO, ENRIQUE MORENTE.

I’ve added a couple of examples of flamenco music. Hopefully this has given some context to my building of flamenco guitars. At some point I’ll write more about my trips to Spain and other flamenco related ventures.

A close up of the latest flamenco guitar.

A marvellous and historic instrument

A name often mentioned alongside Antonio De Torres - himself regarded as the founder of the modern classical guitar - and equally esteemed by those in the know, is Vicente Arias, who was Torres’ contemporary. People have consistently been drawn towards Arias’ work. I saw his work for the first time when I visited Granary Guitars ten years ago. I also had the pleasure to measure a particularly special Vicente Arias guitar - the subject of this blog post - with a view to making a copy.

The guitar was a marvelous instrument which had eight strings, was magnificently large and had a brilliant, rather intimidating and loud sound. Sitting down to play it was like sitting in front of a grand piano. The spruce top, after over a hundred years of eight-string tension, I remember thinking was waved like the surface of water. As can be seen from the few photos I took, it’s also a guitar of innovation, with an extremely elegant extra soundhole and a tailpiece of sorts, along with a new bridge design. Indeed, apart from the flairs of workmanship which seem to give many older guitars more soul than guitars in this era, one of the main points I took away from this guitar was Arias’ confidence and flair for innovation.

This innovative spirit is something so key to guitar making, and everyone’s favorite makers have had it. The motivating factor behind it is finding one’s unique sound. All the old masters did this and many modern masters have succeeded too; I hope to follow their example, although building copies is an interesting exercise which can ultimately help. My upcoming guitar is a rather experimental instrument, where not only is it my first nomex double-top guitar, but it has an elevated fingerboard and other innovations too.

Below are pictures of the Arias guitar and I have also included a recording by the brilliant guitarist Raphaella Smits; she recorded a whole album on the guitar, playing the works of Antonio Jiménez Manjón, a composer of the same period as the guitar. If you haven’t heard of Raphaella Smits, I would recommend her whole catalogue of work, and I particularly enjoy her ‘Ave Maria’ album. On that album, she has a suite by Henry Purcell, a very famous English composer, which I guess she must have laboriously transcribed from the original music which was meant for harpsichord - the harsh and grating harpsichord - and I can’t say how much I thought the music was truly improved for being played on the 8 string guitar instead and with Raphaella’s particular moody gravitas. Just the prelude of which I have included below.

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Bedford Music Club

I absolutely love Bedford Music Club. It organises ‘chamber music’ concerts; music for small groups of instruments, such as string quartets. I found them because as a teenager I was briefly interested in composing music, and discovered I liked Beethoven’s late string quartets in particular. They were not only amazing, but felt secret because I found them, and they were written while he was deaf. So around 2015 I was drawn towards a performance of one of them at the Bedford Music Club.

They usually hold six or seven concerts per year I believe, with a variety of musical ensembles. Such is the nature of the classical music scene, that it is possible to attract world class musicians to even Bedford. 

The regular audience is an impressive size. The venue I’ve been to is Bunyan Meeting and usually the seats on the floor are full, though there is also an upper floor so there’s room for more.

I usually try to catch the string quartet concerts. My highlights include: Beethoven’s late quartets, mentioned above; Dvorak’s American quartet, written while the composer was in America longing for his Czech home; Britten’s 2nd string quartet, inspired by the second world war; finally, a concert which was this year though it seems an eternity ago (before covid), which was a lutenist called Matthew Wadsworth along with a soprano singer. As a guitar maker, it was brilliant to see not only the lute in action, but the impressive theorbo, which is in the lute family but has an enormous swan neck and more strings. His smaller lute had amazing projection with a penetrating tone which hung in the air. The tone of the lute sounds like something raw and ancient. There is an example of Matthew Wadsworth’s work below.

While I was researching for this blog post, I found The Bedford Music Club has a new website and are live-streaming some concerts in the new year which I recommend:

https://www.bedfordmusicclub.com/

Provided to YouTube by The Orchard EnterprisesToccata VI · Alessandro Piccinini · Matthew WadsworthLate Night LuteReleased on: 2017-06-23Auto-generated by Yo...

Colibri Duo Concert Recollections

This guitar duo concert was in a village in Bedfordshire a few years ago. It was winter so it was dark and I took the train. Walking from the village station I had the sensation of exciting disorientation since I didn’t know the place, even though - looking at Marston on a map afterwards - I was still pretty close to Bedford. 

There was a respectable amount of people there. Despite the guitar being a very old and popular instrument in general, a classical guitar concert is still fairly niche. I think its popularity as a concert instrument ebbs and flows at different times in different parts of the world. Its prevalence is because as a solo instrument which anyone can learn at home it is rather perfect. 

The stand out pieces, which I still remember quite well a few years later, include parts of a suite by Olga Amelkina-Vera, a piece by John Dowland and it was also the first time I’d heard the popular Asturias by Isaac Albeniz. I should mention that although now years later I’ve probably over-listened to that Asturias piece, this first time felt momentous. It’s a solo piece, so Valerie played it alone, with her duo partner Rod sitting amongst the audience to listen which gave it an extra sense of gravitas. Valerie also has a wonderful lattice braced Greg Byers guitar, which seemed to project really well and seems a grand powerful instrument.

I loved the banter between the two guitarists - is it me or are even classical guitarists cooler than the other musicians? 

I am always curious about classical guitarists in general. I do consider professional guitarists and luthiers to be two sides of the same coin. I’ve thought that ever since I met luthier Yuris Zeltins in Spain, who mentioned that both luthiers and guitarists have to be quite mad to go professional in this field. I could already attest to that regarding guitar makers, but it increased my curiosity and admiration for players. Although come to think of it, the same is probably true for all musicians, and most crafts.

I believe I was just about to move into a new workshop in Bromham, and this concert inspired the first guitar I built there - a spruce/birdseye maple classical, which was Torres/Romanillos inspired - and probably pushed me over the edge into complete dedication towards guitar building. 

https://www.valeriehartzell.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/rod.faulkner.5494