Official Luthiers Forum!

I love the Guitar Finishing Step-by-Step book by Stewmac. It has been my go to for years. One thing I still can't understand is why do you have to treat the wood with Mineral Spirits to remove silicone on a new build (according to SM directions). I totally understand if this is an old guitar that may have had polishers with silicone used on it. But why on a new build? Is there some source of silicone that I am not aware of?
Interested in your thoughts.
Thanks,
Bill

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Formerly know as Mandodiddle.

Maybe they're just trying to be careful since some folks may not know what's in their shop. I have never done that but I build in a closed shop that only sees guitar like objects.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Amongst other thing about that statement I'm suspect mineral spirits will remove silicone. I'm actually pretty confident it wont. No doubt about wax though.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Removing contaminates is a good idea in any finishing process - I don’t have any source of silicone contamination in my shop but tend to wipe down with naphtha or similar immediately before applying finish anyhow, just in case.

I don't see the point either on a new build, I never did that. Agree with Jim as well and would question the ability of anything really to remove, completely silicon. The primary reason why it's so important to not contaminate with silicon is it's a nightmare to remove completely.

I also wipe down with naphtha but that’s to get the last bit of sanding dust off before I start finishing.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Naphtha wipedown is always a good idea to remove contaminates. It's a great mild solvent. I buy it by the gallon as 'camp fuel'.
When I was working as a contact lens specialist, I used it to remove deposits on rigid gas permeable and hard PMMA contacts. Great for cleaning all surfaces on guitars, including tuner buttons.

Brent