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French Polishing

with Michael Collins

Upcoming Classes: 

FALL CLASS 2011 – January 9, 10, 16, 17, 18

SPRING CLASS 2012 – June  11, 12, 18, 19, 20

Monday  7:00 – 9:00 pm  All other evenings 7:00 – 10:00 pm

Cost: 

$365 

REGISTRATION FORM CLICK HERE

Workshop Description:

Students will receive lecture, demonstration and hands-on experience with French Polish finishing technique.  Students will use all traditional materials, learn historical information and techniques of applying an  ‘old world’ French Polish to a premade guitar body. Students will have a choice of using a tele or strat body (swamp ash or other ‘pourous’ wood) to apply the finish and will keep the guitar body for future use or as something they can resell. 

The first three days students will receive all materials to make a shellac mixture, create a cotton ‘pad’, and have all the other bottles, eye droppers, etc., that are used in the process.  Michael will demonstrate, and have each student apply a ‘wash coat’ , use traditional pore filling techniques utilizing pumice, ‘bodying up’, and applying multiple coats of shellac.  The final day, Michael will teach spiriting techniques used to finalize the french polish finish. 

Michael Collins graduated from Roberto-Venn in 1992, and worked for seven years building harpsichords and forte pianos with Hubbard Harpsichords in Boston.  He built pipe organs for a year, in Canada, while establishing his workshop to build Maccafarri guitars.  Michael has built Maccaferri – gypsy guitars – for the past 10 years and has written the only book on the construction of the Maccaferri guitar, which has sold over a thousand copies.  Michael often uses the French polish on guitars he builds for various clients.  

Cost of workshop includes a guitar body (strat or tele – wamp ash or other) and all material used in workshop (shellac flakes, alcohol, pad material, olive oil, eye droppers, salt shakers, sand paper, etc.

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