Fear And The Bocaster

[Mickguard]

All right, the Bocaster passes the sniff test...it's been a couple days more than a month...

I've got sheets of 1000, 1500 and 2000 soaking in a tub of soaped-up water right now. Picked up a polish kit..;

So tomorrow's the big day!

Okay, so I know I'll probably screw up a bit, but with all the help from this forum, maybe it won't go so badly.

I'm a little concerned because I didn't want to go too heavy on the clear-coat --I like the way it looks thin like this. I put on 5 or so coats, instead of 10 like most people recommend.

The finish looks pretty good-- the orange peel is very fine, not even noticeable from more than a foot away. So I'm wondering if I should bother with the 1000 grade?

Or should I start lower? (I have some 800 and even 600 wet n' dry)

I'm using the sandpaper kit from Stew Mac, by the way.

Any final thoughts before I go?

[Doc]

Some questions first.

1) What kind of finish are we talking about? Type and make.

2) How much did you have to thin it out each coat?

Normally for a high gloss finish I start with 600, But it just depends on the amount of orange peel. You can rub out a finish with 6000 start to finish but it will take you forever and you'll have a bad case of Popeye's foreams when you're done. Since you're not doing this on anyone else's nickle or clock use the finest grit that you have the patience to use. What you're doing is leveling out the coats, then removing the scratches that this put in. The finer the grit the smaller the scratches that you have to remove.

[Mickguard]

Some questions first.

1) What kind of finish are we talking about? Type and make.

2) How much did you have to thin it out each coat?

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I used automotive paints in rattle cans...don't really know what the clear coat is made of, so that's Carlux brand for everything, primer, color, clear.

I didn't thin the coats, just didn't put as much on as you're 'supposed' to. I want to get a kind of Highway 1 type of effect--where the finish will relic by itself.

Thanks for your description-- I think I'll start with the 1500 grade, and drop down to 1000 if I have to. I'd be too nervous to go to anything under that...rather spend the extra time and build up my forearms!

[Mickguard]

I've been working on this all morning...sanded it down to 2000 grade and that went pretty well...

Well, okay , there's a very thin stripe of sandthrough on one of the edges, I'm just going to patch that, no one will ever know (shh!)

I've moved onto polishing, using a drill for that.

The drill on my drill stand just died on me, I've switched to my handdrill...I think it's easier to control, actually.

What I'm thinking now is that I shouldn't be using the stick compound AT ALL --all the guitar really needs is to be buffed with the felt wheel.

Maybe the polishing pastes (couldn't find that here) work better --with the stick compound I get a lot of tracks. I can buff those out with a chamois cloth though--lots of elbow grease there.

Okay, back to it!

[LGM Guitars]

You want to use the compounds, they aren't just there for cutting, they're there for lubrication as well, the wheel by itself will burn the finish, then you have to resand and possibly even respray. You should be able to find polishing compounds in any automotive paint shop, body shop, or even in a store like a Napa or something. There are also different grits of wheels, I don't like felt or wool wheels myself, I like the foam pads unless you're using a big industrial type buffer. Your hand drill wont' turn a felt pad really quite fast enough to make good use of it.

[Mickguard]

You want to use the compounds, they aren't just there for cutting, they're there for lubrication as well, the wheel by itself will burn the finish, then you have to resand and possibly even respray.  You should be able to find polishing compounds in any automotive paint shop, body shop, or even in a store like a Napa or something.  There are also different grits of wheels, I don't like felt or wool wheels myself, I like the foam pads unless you're using a big industrial type buffer.  Your hand drill wont' turn a felt pad really quite fast enough to make good use of it.

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Hi,

Well, I've decided that the stick compound I was using isn't appropriate --it might work okay on metal, but it just ends up burning the finish anyway (got lots of little burn spots!). At first I thought it was because the finish had cured enough --that's still a possibility, maybe in these areas the finish build up was a just a bit thicker?

For the next guitar, I'll definitely track down some paste-type compounds, even if it means ordering from Stew Mac. Seems to me they'll be much gentler. And I like your foam pad idea too. Obviously the gentler the better.

Still, the guitar looks pretty good-- looks like a near-factory finish on a guitar that's been played and gigged for about five years already-- not quite old enough to get relic'ed, but enough time to look like it's been bumped around all over the place.

And I have to say this: how come no one talks about the MAGIC of polishing? I mean, I've been waiting for this guitar to cure for more than a month, looking at it and wondering how that drab looking paint job is ever going to get anywhere near the look of a 'real' guitar...

And then the polishing wheel touched the surface...and the thing just started to GLOW! Very cool!

Looks like it'll be nice today, I'll post a pic in the Projects in Progress section.