Shellac
What is it? What is it used for in the instrument repair business?

Luthiers will use it to put a French Polish on guitars.

Woodwind repairers will use it as glue.


There are three forms of shellac: 1)Flake shellac, both waxed and de-waxed. 2) Liquid shellac, flake shellac mixed with denatured alcohol. 3) Stick shellac, flakes melted into a stick or round.

Before we had contact cement and "hot glue" (the type used in crafting), shellac was it. The repairer would spread a thin layer of liquid shellac onto cork for key work and let dry. By heating the key, when placed onto the shellacked cork, the heat would reconstitute the shellac and when cool would adhere the cork to the key.

For pads, the liquid shellac would be brushed into the pad cup, then heated with a flame to burn of the alcohol.Once the alcohol was burned off, the pad would be placed into the cup which then cemented to pad to the cup. It would be necessary to bend the cup to get the pad to cover the tone hole with this method.

Another method of pad retention using shellac is the melting of the stick shellac into the cup. This provides a thicker "bed" of shellac which facilitates the "floating" of the pad on the shellac to obtain a level pad in the cup over the tone hole, without the need to bend the cup to get the pad to cover the tone hole..

You might be surprised where shellac comes from! It is total natural and "green!"

Watch this video to see where it comes from, and how it is produced.

Video

Another fascinating fact about the shellac, besides how long it has been used in musical instrument building, is that in 1922 , a 2oz. tube of soft shellac cost $4.50. That same year, you could have bought a silver plated, gold lined bell, bass saxophone for $275.00! This shows how difficult it was to obtain and manufacture in 1922.

At CIOMIT, we value this fine natural glue. Enjoy the video!

Dr. D