Soundboard Shims

Mark Story mstory@ewu.edu
Tue, 14 Nov 1995 11:17:53 -0800 (PST)


Hi Paul,

In the old days, boards were finished with orange shellack as a sealer.
This along with the natural darkening of varnish and wood with age is
what gives old SBs their distinctive yellow tone.  I finish my boards
(new and old) with lacquer.  I have found that by adding some yellow and
orange dye stain to the sealer coat, I can duplicate the original color,
which has the side benefit of blending, or at least minimizing color
differences in your repairs.  I now finish new boards this way as well,
since some of the boards I get have "less than perfect" color matching of
the individual flitches.

Mark Story, RPT

mstory@ewu.edu
Eastern Washington University Music Department
Cheney, Washington, USA

On Sun, 12 Nov 1995 Wippen@aol.com wrote:

> That work completed, the board is all sanded,etc., ready for finishing.
> EXCEPT... the beautifully installed shims stand out like a sore thumb, visual
> evidence of the necessary surgury.
>
> Now, I know that it is impossible to make the new shims invisible, but, do
> any of you have any special secrets you'd like to share? Or, do you not worry
> about it and just leave them alone?



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