shellac obviously one of the most versatile finishing products available to us today has been around for thousands of years it is a natural resin secreted by the lac bug on certain trees in mainly India in Thailand it is used in many industries including the textile agricultural pharmaceutical and of course wood finishing originally it was used as a dye but since the mid 19th century has been used as a clear varnish unfortunately with the rise of synthetic resins it became less popular however in recent years it's being used more and more shellac comes in several themes and variations in its most unrefined form it's known as seed Lac or button Lac and has a deep red color in its most refined form it's known as blonde and can be almost clear basically there are three shades of colors garnet orange and blonde all of these are available in waxed or D waxed versions shellac can be sprayed brushed or patted onto a surface it is very durable and was even used on flooring in the past some of the pros are in its D waxed form it can go over or under any other finish it's organic you won't poison yourself or blow yourself up no special equipment is needed to apply it thus it saves you money you can purchase it pre-mixed and even get it in a sprayable recipe it can be high-gloss or rubbed out to a satin for us luthiers it also has a tonal aspect in that it can be applied very thin so as not to inhibit the total vibrations of the instrument depending on the color used it can be clear or add color to the wood shellac also touches up nicely making instrument repairs easier are you sure like quite often in my shop and what I do I prefer to mix it myself from flakes so let me show you how I do that when mixing shellac we use the term pound cut for example a one pound cut would be one pound of flakes to one gallon of alcohol a two pound cut would be two pounds of flakes to one gallon of alcohol three pound cut three pounds of flakes to one gallon of alcohol and therefore more concentrated what I'm going to do is show you how to mix a one pound cut this is what I use in my shop for repairs and for finish work if I were to mix one pound of flakes to one gallon of alcohol I would have more than I could use before it goes back so I'm going to divide those proportions down and mix 1 ounce of flakes to 8 ounces of alcohol this will give me a 1 pound cut in the proportions that I use in my shot here's a little trick to help your flakes dissolve quicker place them in a coffee grinder and grind them into a fine powder I then place this mixture into a container that has liquid measurements written on the side I then add 8 ounces of alcohol to the container I then place the lid on and allow the mixture to dissolve this could take a day or two if you put it in the coffee grinder sometimes it takes a little less but you want to make sure it's all dissolved before you work it I also like to write some information on the bottle first of all the pound cut the flavor and the date that way I know how fresh the shellac is you'll notice that I'm using pure grain alcohol to mix my shellac flakes and there's some reasons for that one it's not poisonous denatured alcohol gives me a headache so I don't even like it in my shop second if there happens to be any wax in your flakes a certain amount of that may dissolve into the denatured alcohol giving you a softer finish and third the grain alcohol flashes off quicker and for my method of French polish this allows me to get a quicker build once the shellac has dissolved I like to filter it before I use it once mixed your shellac has a shelf life and here's how you can tell if it's gone back place a little bit onto a hard surface like a mirror a tile CDE anything like that and let it sit overnight come back the next morning from your fingernail into it from your thumb if it's gummy it's gone bad if it flakes off it's dried it's hard it's good enough to use now I almost never throw out shellac in my shot even the stuff that's gone bad I'll use it for wash coats and things that I know this could be taken off the guitar later shellac a very versatile and often-overlooked finish next time you need to finish your instrument keep shellac on your list of possibilities