Rubbers (British English) usually do the trick for me, i.e. getting pinkie spots off the soundboard.
Mathias > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of > Martyn Hodgson > Sent: Monday, July 28, 2014 8:53 AM > To: Herbert Ward; [email protected] > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Bare spot on soundboard. > > To restore the appearance to its new form, assuming this is sought, > much depends on the finish originally employed by the maker. > Early lute (and guitar) bellies show no significant signs of any > obvious surface coating, such as a shellac spirit based finish or even > an oil varnish. However, as was pointed out many years ago, old bellies > do no exhibit the sort of major dirt ingress which you mention. And > this cannot simply be put down to natural ageing and darkening of the > wood which to some extent may reduce the contrast between dirty spots > and surrounding wood. > One suggestion (originally by Ian Harwood in FoMRHI Quarterly) has been > egg tempera - a mixture of linseed oil and egg - which was certainly a > known coating at the time and much used by painters but can, over time, > leave a greenish tint and areas of sheen. Another is the use of Stand > Oil - also well known from earliest times. This is partially oxidised > linseed oil which is very viscous and does not penetrate the wood but > results in a matt finish which soon fully oxidises to a hard, but > flexible, coating. > Avoid commercial 'Stand Oil' which is generally nowadays produced by > adding chemicals to linseed oil to give some of the effects of true > Stand Oil. Simply pour linseed oil into an open dish and allow to stand > for several weeks (stirring occasionally to avoid skinning) until it > reaches a consistency of a thick treacle. > Apply sparingly with a rubber, wipe off any excess and leave for > several weeks to more fully oxidise and harden. Of course, you should > clean the affected spot(s) before doing this and if any other finish > has been applied (eg spirit shellac/French polish, modern matt > finishes, etc) this would need to be removed first. > MH > > __________________________________________________________________ > > From: Herbert Ward <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Sunday, 27 July 2014, 21:51 > Subject: [LUTE] Bare spot on soundboard. > I've worn a spot on the soundboard with my RH pinkie. > The bare wood is starting to show through the finish. > Should I do anything? > To get on or off this list see list information at > [1]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > -- > > References > > 1. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
