Dear Wolfgang,
I don't know what you use to finish your instruments and you of course will
know best how you want to have them taken care of. It is my understanding
from speaking with a number of other luthiers including Don McKroskie at
Stewart McDonald, Jean Larrivee, Bob Taylor and other folks whose opinions
I value that once silicon gets on a finish it can never be repaired. I
have some personal experience with this because a friend of ours has a
beautiful instrument made by Jean Noel Grandchamp. The finish on her
keybox top was damaged and she wanted to repair it. I recommended that
she use shellac because it is compatible with almost all other finishes and
is often used as a binding barrier between dissimilar finishes. The
shellac which was of very high quality would not bond properly and at the
time I was fairly certain that a previous owner had used some kind of
polish which contained silicon on the instrument.
I discussed the problem with several other luthiers and they came to the
same conclusion.
We use top quality woods and other products in our instruments and I want
them to last for a long time. I am simply passing on the advice of the
folks I respect in the industry. Your mileage may vary.
Cali Hackmann
