Grit for sanding out scratches?

[Urumiko]

Hi all.

Normally im not to precious about scratches and dings on guitars but i got a 2nd hand epiphone dot in black / ebony, and it has some really bad scuffed up areas on the top i'd like to improve.

I tried some turtlewax red rubbing compound applied by hand. which helped a little bit with the scuffs but there are much deeper scratches this is not going to shift.

I'm assuming cautious use of wet and dry is the way to go? can anyone suggest what grits to use? or another method entirely?

 

Cheers.

 

Dave

[ADFinlayson]

It depends how deep the scratches are Dave, I would suggest start high, 1500+ etc and if those don't work then you could try going a bit lower. Don't be tempted to buy cheap sand paper though, the likes of Titan sandpaper from screwfix has an appealing price but the end result won't be good.

I got some good quality paper from tonetechlutheirsupplies which goes up to 2.5k and is £1/ small sheet, worth looking that.

[ScottR]

What Ash said.

SR

[Bizman62]

Yep, that's the way to do it. Good quality wet'n'dry. A friend just showed a lesser quality paper where the sand had worn off at the edge of his block.

Let it soak thoroughly before using, that will both elongate the life of the paper and eliminate scratches caused by a bent edge of the paper. A drop or two of dishwashing soap can also help in keeping the water film uniform under the paper.

Also use a semi hard block instead of just your finger. That will help keeping the surface level and the curves contiguous.

Edited April 17, 2019 by Bizman62