Shellac finish on a Stansell flamenco

[Dennis Duross]

I wonder if anyone has any observations about the finishing technique shown on the youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk8wmr-N ... ure=fvwrel

It's about a 10-minute clip, in fast motion, no dialog or subtitles.

Here's what the process appears to be:

• 3 coats of shellac, brushed on (to build up the finish)
  hit the surface lightly with a scraper, presumably to take down any runs or drips
  block sand with 220 paper
  wipe on 1 coat of shellac
  scrape if necessary
  block sand with micromesh (1500/1800/2400/3200/3600/4000/6000/8000/12000)
  Novus plastic polish 2

How does this compare to French polishing with respect to durability, repairability, aesthetics, etc?

[Waddy Thomson]

Hard to tell, but I counted at least two wipe on coats after scraping and sanding at 220. His shellac must be thicker than mine! Nice working with wood with no pores too. I don't know about durability, but it sure seems to work.

[Mark Swanson]

And many folks use brush-on coats to build before they begin wiping.

[Dennis Duross]

I may have blacked out and missed the second wipe on coat. Good catch, Waddy.

I don't know whether his shellac is any thicker (or for that matter if you were kidding about that), but I noticed that when he was brushing on the sides that there were runs when he first hit the side with the loaded brush---which he cleaned up of course, but I didn't see anything that looked any different than what I would expect to see happen in that regard.

[michael walsh]

It's a lot more long winded than the video suggests:

http://www.stansellguitars.com/shellac-finish