enhance wood grain

[Macarel31]

Hi,

i'm finishin my guitar body and i want to enhance the wood grain (swamp ash) with a black grain filler. After, i'll apply a blue dye.

I made a lot od research about the preparation of the wood and most of the people sand the wood sucessively with 150, 180 and 220 grit.

However, when i look the wood into the light i can see little scratches made by the 220 sand paper. Is this a problem?

I already finished the neck and the sanding was with an higher range for the sand paper (600/800).

thank you for your help.

[ScottR]

1 hour ago, Macarel31 said:

Is this a problem?

Yes and no.

If you can see scratches in the raw wood you'll be able to see them easier when the wood is dyed. On the other hand you are going to grain fill, probably several times before you get all the pores filled. And you are going to sand that filler back off so that it only remains in the pores. So you can grain fill now and do your final scratch search prior to dying. You may want to sand up to 320 or even 400 and then dye. Conventional wisdom says don't sand any finer than that before finishing. I personally sand way finer than that. What you are planning to use for clear has a bearing on whether there will be any issues will gong finer, but 400 grit will still be fine for pretty much anything.

SR

[Bizman62]

1 hour ago, Macarel31 said:

i can see little scratches made by the 220 sand paper. Is this a problem?

Every scratch you can find tends to show even better with every layer of finish so it is a problem if your aim is a perfect finish.

The most important thing when sanding is to avoid pressure. Compare it to mowing the lawn instead of using a steamroller. If you press too hard the dust will roll to hard lumps much bigger than the grit of the paper, making scratches.