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Finish inside cavity?
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Finish inside cavity?
Hey there folks – putting together a couple of StewMac ukulele kits and my partner asked a great question about whether to apply finish to the inside surfaces like we do the outside. We will be staining and applying wipe on poly for protection.
The logic seems reasonable – protect from moisture inside and out. Only concern I could think of was trapping moisture between the layers but that was it.
Anybody have experience with applying a finish to the inside surfaces of their stringed instruments before glueing up the top and back to the sides?
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3 Replies
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I’ve seen it done here and there. I haven’t seen anyone produce anything scientific on the subject, so it’s hard for me to say anything other than it seems like a good idea. It’s also a little bit more mass I guess.
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Jeff Jewitt does it and so does Tom Bills. My thoughts are that shellac would be better than poly as it is easier to remove/ sand off if a glue repair on the inside is required. I don’t do it because of the repair/ glue concern.
I once sealed the top side of a 3/4″ thk plywood work bench that was mounted over 1×2 “cleats” attached to the wall. The non=supported corner of the plywood top had a 3×3 leg attached. A day after applying poly to the top, that 3/4″ plywood curled up like a potato chip on the unbound edge, lifting the leg off the floor a good 3″. A woodworking buddy told me that’s what happens when you seal only one side of ply board. I trust that doesn’t apply to guitar tops, backs and sides, but it’s an interesting phenomena.
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I do a light coat of Zinser spray shellac on the back and sides, mostly to keep it clean and make the wood pop a little bit. I don’t do the top and I would suggest not doing it. It’s going to add a minuscule amount of weight and dampening and I don’t think there’s a good reason to do it.
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