Questions: Best French Polish Procedure

by Cyndy Burton

Originally published in American Lutherie #109, 2012

Enrico Schiaffella from Rome, Italy asks:

I am still looking for “the best way” for my French polish procedure. I would like to be assured about one point. Is it correct that French polish expert Cyndy Burton performs the pore-filling step using epoxy? What kind of epoxy? Is it possible to have a short version of her pore-filling procedure?

Cyndy Burton from Portland, Oregon replies:

Yes, I use Devcon five-minute epoxy, which is readily available in the U.S. A description of my method was published in AL#51 and is available in The Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Five on p. 496. If you have difficulty locating it, please drop me an e-mail (cyndyb@hevanet.com). Caveat: not all epoxies are compatible with shellac.