In The White

This week, before any polishing takes place, I got Alan’s twin-point playing (and very nice it is too!). Once I’m happy with the way the mandolin plays, I take it apart again and start the finishing process.

Regular blog followers will know that this process starts with grain filling. It never ceases to amaze me how well pumice works as a filler. You can see quite clearly how deep the grain is in cocobolo.

And here it is after being filled.

 Good eh? Of course the grain isn’t just filled up with the pumice. Pumice is a fine abrasive, so whilst you are rubbing it in, it picks up fine dust from the wood and also the shellac sealer coat. The meths (or alcohol if you’re reading this outside the UK!) also picks up the natural dye from the wood which colours the pumice else you’d see white filler in the grain. 

I thought that I’d just high light this video that Phil (Hare) uploaded recently- you must check out his other videos, if you haven’t already. He really is quite a remarkable player!