French polish seems to take forever. Application after application and hardly any progress shows, and then suddenly the finish seems to jump. Then each application adds depth and luster until finally you know it is enough. These ukuleles have reached the jump stage, still lots to do.
Caroline's tenor is on the left, Floyd's on the right. They are beginning to shine.
Caroline's in the foreground with the dark binding, Floyd chose a figured maple binding. Love em both. That Sycamore is crazy.
the Western Red Cedar isn't bad either. notice the medullary rays, that means it is perfectly quarter sawn.
And the top begins to shine at last.
now it is time to level the frets and smooth up the fret ends. This tiny file is rounded and smooth on one side to avoid damage to the fretboard as the fret ends are worked on.
beyond the 14th fret it would be very easy to damage the top with a tool. I don't think AARP intended that their plastic promotion cards would be used this way, but they make very handy protective shields.
