JackLuis
Well-known member
I purchased several Caramel Zebra wood Ukes to have a set. However the finish on them is very lightly applied and some are much lighter in shade than I'd prefer. I want to darken them up a bit and fix some of the rough edges. Nothing too drastic but just make them prettier.
So I have a couple of questions.
1. The rosewood bridges have no finish at all on them. Should I mask them off when I refinish the bodies, or would it make any difference if I did apply a finish to them? The Concert's bridge is pretty rough has a couple of chips on the string tie bridge and is pretty light colored. I was planning on using steel wool to buff it up to not remove much material.
2. Should I use acetone to remove the old finish and start from scratch or just apply the poly-wipe on top of the old finish? They are satin finished now and I will use a satin polyurethane that I wipe on and buff with steel wool between coats.
Last year I refinished two of the Rubin 'butterfly' ukes,(mahogany lam's) a concert that came with a horrid orange stain and a sopranino with what looked like one coat of shellac. I used gloss poly-wipe and they came out looking pretty good, but I completely removed the previous finishes first on them.
I'm hesitant to use acetone on the Zebras as they have (probably) plastic bindings (the butterflys were unbound) and if I screw the Zebras up I'd be ... upset.
3. Should I remove the nuts or just mask them off with the fret boards?
So I have a couple of questions.
1. The rosewood bridges have no finish at all on them. Should I mask them off when I refinish the bodies, or would it make any difference if I did apply a finish to them? The Concert's bridge is pretty rough has a couple of chips on the string tie bridge and is pretty light colored. I was planning on using steel wool to buff it up to not remove much material.
2. Should I use acetone to remove the old finish and start from scratch or just apply the poly-wipe on top of the old finish? They are satin finished now and I will use a satin polyurethane that I wipe on and buff with steel wool between coats.
Last year I refinished two of the Rubin 'butterfly' ukes,(mahogany lam's) a concert that came with a horrid orange stain and a sopranino with what looked like one coat of shellac. I used gloss poly-wipe and they came out looking pretty good, but I completely removed the previous finishes first on them.
I'm hesitant to use acetone on the Zebras as they have (probably) plastic bindings (the butterflys were unbound) and if I screw the Zebras up I'd be ... upset.
3. Should I remove the nuts or just mask them off with the fret boards?
