DrChrisMD Posted August 12, 2004 Report Share Posted August 12, 2004 A couple quick questions: After the finish is on and all dried...what do you use to polish the body once in a while afterwards? I'm doing an acoustic and I just stained the body two hours ago... Also, as for the fretboard...I was a little rough with the sanding (actually, pretty rough...) and I scuffed the board right up as I was fixing up my frets and inlays...any ideas as to making it look *normal* again? Oh, and out of curiousity...would you ever paint a fretboard, or leave it plain, stained, etc? What's the best option? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morben Guitars Posted August 12, 2004 Report Share Posted August 12, 2004 Chris, I'll try to answer your questions, but I need a little more info to really help you. 1.) what type of finish are you using on the guitar? 2.) what type of fretboard do you have? When you say you just stained the body - are you applying a stain over the finish? Once the finish is dry, you will most likely need to go through the steps of "finish sanding"...the last step is a polish, for which I prefer to use 3M Machine polish (swirl remover). From time to time to keep it in good shape, I'll just use a Gibson spray to clean her up - just make sure it doesn't contain silocoln. It sounds like you did your inlay work with the frets in? Not really recommended as you can't sand the fretboard evenly afterwards. But you probably don't want to remove them and start over. I'd suggest using a lighter sand paper and trying your best to clean it up. If it's a maple fretboard, you'll be putting a finish on anyways, so to add toner to the finish wouldn't be an issue. For rosewood/ebony/pau ferro boards, you don't want to apply any finish or color to them. Hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a bicycle made of anarchy Posted August 12, 2004 Report Share Posted August 12, 2004 i'm thinking of buying a random orbit polisher/buffer... would this be useful in shinin' things up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morben Guitars Posted August 12, 2004 Report Share Posted August 12, 2004 i'm thinking of buying a random orbit polisher/buffer... would this be useful in shinin' things up? In my experience, using a power sander of any type leads to issues when leveling/polishing a finish. It would probably be helpful in the "3M" final step, but guitars are such small pieces of work that it only takes a few minutes and a little elbow grease to make it shine. A buffing arbor is the best purchase to expediate the buffing/polishing step. But orbital sanders are very useful tools as well.. Just got a grizzly one in the mail yesterday! Under $20! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a bicycle made of anarchy Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 hmm.. yeah.. this polisher is just on sale from $69.99 down to $19.99, so I thought I'd pick it up. What type of issues? Uneven polishing? it wouldn't damage the finish at all, would it? what about using it for already-finished factory guitars? is this thing even worth getting? hehe so many questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morben Guitars Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Using it on factory finished guitars?! what are you trying to achieve? The reason they can create issues is becasue they are to powerful for the leveling/polishing stages of finishing. You'll take too much finish off too quickly. Other than using an arbor, wet sanding by hand and checking the surface frequently is the only reliable method. It's a real pain in the a**, but that's why you don't see many *well* finished guitars by home builders. Everyone wants a shortcut. The fewer power tools that touch your guitar the better. If you want an orbital for some of the sanding steps, that would be fine, or if you're removing a finish it would work as well.. but as a finishing tool? Buy a gallon or two of elbow grease instead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a bicycle made of anarchy Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 yep, makes sense! thanks for the response... it was more a case of "wow, something is on sale!, should i get it?" if it is advertised as a "polisher/buffer" i'm thinking there isn't really a way for me to mount a sanding base on it... schbah! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackyB Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 I just use turtle wax (The same stuff I use on my car) and it works quite well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morben Guitars Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 I just use turtle wax (The same stuff I use on my car) and it works quite well. We're talking about two different steps. I was discussing obtianing the initial polish on a newly finished guitar (which a wax will not do). You're discussing how to keep that shine. Wax will work, however wax has many additives that will often create headaches down the road to the refinisher. Most guitar companies sell a little bottle of spray stuff designed for the guitar...just use that. Actually McGuiers cobranded a guitar maintence kit with fender recently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Also that randon orbiter is not good for the final polish... You need a polisher that goes in circles, the cheap ones, the rotating mass just stays put and the n is "shaked" in random orbits, the other ones rotates in an circle like the arbor that Morben pointed out, I do my guitard by hand, after wet sanding to 2000, you can buff clean with a cotton towel or cloth and you can actualy begin to see the shine on the surface, then get a fine finishing compound from Meguiars or whatever, I have been using Kit Swirl and Scrach remover and polishing by hand. Here is an example of my last guitar, this was done by hand with the kit stuff and a roung cotton terry tampon.and some elbow grease. this link show you the 2 different types, the 1st one is the circular motion one and the 2nd the orbital. The have new ones that do the 2 movements at the same time but are a lot more expensives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a bicycle made of anarchy Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 thanks for talking me out of it! hehe.. seriously.. the last thing i need to be doing is wasting money on useless tools... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrChrisMD Posted August 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2004 Hey, thanks for the advice. For the finish, I'm using a stain/gloss (stain/polyurethane) combo in an antique walnut color made by Polystain...I believe that's the name. I got it at a Canadian Tire store up here in Canada. As for the fretboard...I'm not completely sure, but I wouldn't say it's an expensive or *colored* wood like Ebony, rosewood...hope that clears it up. Unfortunately, I don't know my woods well. I'd be willing to bet it's maple, by comparison with my electric samick's neck... Now, the fretboard was originally painted black...would it be wise to get all of that out and, providing it can clean it up efficiently, stain it the same color? Should I not get the stain on the inlay? I made them myself with solder, from a tutorial I read on the site. Thanks to the Author...that worked out nicely for me I guess what I'm worried about the most is, if I were to put anything on the fretboard, could it chip or rub off onto the hands...I wouldn't like to see a mess on my girlfriend's fingers when she plays it then proceeds to touch my white T-shirt, haha. Oooh, boy, another question: the stain that I'm using is a liquid brush-on and it's giving me troubles in that, when I set the guitar on it's side to allow the stain to dry, when finished, the stain acts like water: Some parts are evenly glossed, where others seemed to pool a space of 'no-gloss'...like how water collects on some surfaces...but that's a bit too extreme of an example. Any ideas on how I can get it to turn out a little more evenly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.