Is anyone here at The Nation fond of waxing/polishing their builds after completion? I'm planning a build that will be painted and then clear-coated, but I haven't much solid information online about what to do afterward. Some places have said automotive rubbing compound, other places said white polishing compound... Anyone here have some advice they'd like to share?
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Right. Keep the neck and body finish in balance or they won't look right together.
Jason Taulbee said:
I know i'm rather low tech lol, but i usually use 5 or 6 coats of hand rubbed Tung oil on my builds (really brings out the natural beauty of the wood)... and this includes the top and the neck. Then i do at least 3 coats of caranuba wax, buffing each one with a soft cotton baby diaper type cloth in betweeen. This way, my guitar looks more 'raw', but the wax enables me to wash the grubby fingerprints off it that i'm bound to leave when i play :) I've never finished the cheesboxes that i use for the body, but i always figured if they've made it this many years without help, then i'm probably alright.
I know i'm rather low tech lol, but i usually use 5 or 6 coats of hand rubbed Tung oil on my builds (really brings out the natural beauty of the wood)... and this includes the top and the neck. Then i do at least 3 coats of caranuba wax, buffing each one with a soft cotton baby diaper type cloth in betweeen. This way, my guitar looks more 'raw', but the wax enables me to wash the grubby fingerprints off it that i'm bound to leave when i play :) I've never finished the cheesboxes that i use for the body, but i always figured if they've made it this many years without help, then i'm probably alright.
Nitro with a shellac base is easy, looks slick. You're supposed to let it cure for a month before buffing, but I rushed, and wet sanded with 1500 as soon as the last coat of lacquer was dry, looked great, mile deep mirror shine. Shrank into the oak pores, though. Should have sprayed on two cans for insurance.
French polish shrinks a lot less, if at all. It's laborious, but when you put down the pad after spiriting off the oil from the last glaze coat, you're done, no need to buff or wax.
If I was going to just spray four to five coats of clear on the guitar regardless of paint type then I let it dry over night and come back and scuff it up the next day. Then let that sit 30 days. Why four or five coats? Because I would be sanding the guitar finish flat with very fine sandpaper and the guitar has to have enough paint on it to not sand down through to bare wood. If I was not going to wet sand a finish down like this then I would only put two coats of clear paint on the guitar or until it looked good and shiny. I would apply all four or five coats of clear in up to 1 1/2 hours or so. You apply one coat of clear and then let it flash/dry just enough before you apply another coat of clear(the clear paint is still wet, but becomes tacky because the thinner has been evaporating out of it). I'm probably waiting 10 to 15 minutes between painting each clear coat. I use an old neck to hold the guitar body while painting it and I can touch the clear paint on the old neck to see how tacky it is before painting the next coat of clear on the guitar body. Painting things too fast results in the paint running. No sanding between coats was done because all the work I did was in a professional clean spray booth. Spraying clear coats this way results in the clear building up to a good thickness and all the separate clear coats end up being 'one' because they blend into each other. You are spraying wet paint on tacky wet paint.
For solid colors a primer is usually applied and that has to allowed to shrink then be sanded flat also before painting on the final color and clear coats.
Scotty C. said:
By which I mean: do you lightly paint, let dry, clear coat, and wait the requisite 30 days, or paint, wait a month, and then add the clear coat?
Scotty C. said:
Glaze, in this process, in what step does the clear coating/lacquer part figure in?
Glaze, in this process, in what step does the clear coating/lacquer part figure in?
Glaze said:
I would paint the guitar parts then lightly sand them with 1000 grit sandpaper just to knock off the high gloss of the finish (helps the thinner evaporate faster) and then I would let the painted parts sit around for 30 days to let the thinners evaporate out of the finish. The finish will shrink until all of the thinner has evaporated out of the painted parts. Once that is done then you can wet sand the painted parts with finer grits and polish them up. If the thinners are not completely evaporated out of the finish and it is cut and buffed too soon then the finish will shrink back into the grain of the wood and it will not look perfectly flat and glossy like a mirror anymore.
I forgot about Guitar Reranch. I did visit their website a couple of years ago, but I have never bought anything from them. Micro Mesh sounds like a fantastic product.
I would paint the guitar parts then lightly sand them with 1000 grit sandpaper just to knock off the high gloss of the finish (helps the thinner evaporate faster) and then I would let the painted parts sit around for 30 days to let the thinners evaporate out of the finish. The finish will shrink until all of the thinner has evaporated out of the painted parts. Once that is done then you can wet sand the painted parts with finer grits and polish them up. If the thinners are not completely evaporated out of the finish and it is cut and buffed too soon then the finish will shrink back into the grain of the wood and it will not look perfectly flat and glossy like a mirror anymore.
Anderson guitars uses a UV curing booth for their finishes so they do not have to wait 30 days like I mentioned above.
I've done a lot of spraying, buffing and polishing over the years too. The best thing I've ever found for hand polishing to a flawless high gloss finish is Micro Mesh. You don't need any compounds, you just wet sand it through all the grades. One final coat of polish at the end will bring the finish out even more. Meguiar's is a good brand of polish.
Micro Mesh was originally developed to buff out scratches from aircraft windshields so they're optically clear.
I've done a lot of spraying, buffing and polishing over the years too. The best thing I've ever found for hand polishing to a flawless high gloss finish is Micro Mesh. You don't need any compounds, you just wet sand it through all the grades. One final coat of polish at the end will bring the finish out even more. Meguiar's is a good brand of polish.
Micro Mesh was originally developed to buff out scratches from aircraft windshields so they're optically clear.
I can do that. I would show it in a way that anyone on here could do it if they were determined enough to do it with spray cans, using some very fine grit wet sanding paper and some cheese cloth to buff it up with by hand using Meguiars polishing compound(does not sound easy and it isn't). I noticed Stu Mac has spray lacquer in spray cans, but the nitro lacquer they offered was not sold in spray cans. If I could find the right nitro lacquer in a spray can that would be the perfect solution for everyone wanting to do it at home. I do like working with nitro lacquer especially if it is like the old school brittle hard lacquer of the 50's and 60's which will crack over time. I will try and find the perfect spray can solution for everyone, so if anyone already knows a good supplier please mention it. There are other products that will work, but a good nitro lacquer is a classic finish that is easy to work with.
Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) said:
It would be awesome if you did. Would love to get that added somewhere in the plans section. Specifically lacquer/varnish work, wet sanding, and polishing without the benefit of spray equipment. All that I've ever really used is a FP. It prefer it and am pretty good at it but the people around here want alternatives, you know?
Replies
Right. Keep the neck and body finish in balance or they won't look right together.
Jason Taulbee said:
I know i'm rather low tech lol, but i usually use 5 or 6 coats of hand rubbed Tung oil on my builds (really brings out the natural beauty of the wood)... and this includes the top and the neck. Then i do at least 3 coats of caranuba wax, buffing each one with a soft cotton baby diaper type cloth in betweeen. This way, my guitar looks more 'raw', but the wax enables me to wash the grubby fingerprints off it that i'm bound to leave when i play :) I've never finished the cheesboxes that i use for the body, but i always figured if they've made it this many years without help, then i'm probably alright.
HTH,
J
Nitro with a shellac base is easy, looks slick. You're supposed to let it cure for a month before buffing, but I rushed, and wet sanded with 1500 as soon as the last coat of lacquer was dry, looked great, mile deep mirror shine. Shrank into the oak pores, though. Should have sprayed on two cans for insurance.
French polish shrinks a lot less, if at all. It's laborious, but when you put down the pad after spiriting off the oil from the last glaze coat, you're done, no need to buff or wax.
Scotty
If I was going to just spray four to five coats of clear on the guitar regardless of paint type then I let it dry over night and come back and scuff it up the next day. Then let that sit 30 days. Why four or five coats? Because I would be sanding the guitar finish flat with very fine sandpaper and the guitar has to have enough paint on it to not sand down through to bare wood. If I was not going to wet sand a finish down like this then I would only put two coats of clear paint on the guitar or until it looked good and shiny. I would apply all four or five coats of clear in up to 1 1/2 hours or so. You apply one coat of clear and then let it flash/dry just enough before you apply another coat of clear(the clear paint is still wet, but becomes tacky because the thinner has been evaporating out of it). I'm probably waiting 10 to 15 minutes between painting each clear coat. I use an old neck to hold the guitar body while painting it and I can touch the clear paint on the old neck to see how tacky it is before painting the next coat of clear on the guitar body. Painting things too fast results in the paint running. No sanding between coats was done because all the work I did was in a professional clean spray booth. Spraying clear coats this way results in the clear building up to a good thickness and all the separate clear coats end up being 'one' because they blend into each other. You are spraying wet paint on tacky wet paint.
For solid colors a primer is usually applied and that has to allowed to shrink then be sanded flat also before painting on the final color and clear coats.
Scotty C. said:
Scotty C. said:
Glaze said:
I forgot about Guitar Reranch. I did visit their website a couple of years ago, but I have never bought anything from them. Micro Mesh sounds like a fantastic product.
I would paint the guitar parts then lightly sand them with 1000 grit sandpaper just to knock off the high gloss of the finish (helps the thinner evaporate faster) and then I would let the painted parts sit around for 30 days to let the thinners evaporate out of the finish. The finish will shrink until all of the thinner has evaporated out of the painted parts. Once that is done then you can wet sand the painted parts with finer grits and polish them up. If the thinners are not completely evaporated out of the finish and it is cut and buffed too soon then the finish will shrink back into the grain of the wood and it will not look perfectly flat and glossy like a mirror anymore.
Anderson guitars uses a UV curing booth for their finishes so they do not have to wait 30 days like I mentioned above.
Skeesix said:
If you want nitro in cans, check out Guitar ReRanch. http://reranch.com/
I've done a lot of spraying, buffing and polishing over the years too. The best thing I've ever found for hand polishing to a flawless high gloss finish is Micro Mesh. You don't need any compounds, you just wet sand it through all the grades. One final coat of polish at the end will bring the finish out even more. Meguiar's is a good brand of polish.
Micro Mesh was originally developed to buff out scratches from aircraft windshields so they're optically clear.
Josh
I can do that. I would show it in a way that anyone on here could do it if they were determined enough to do it with spray cans, using some very fine grit wet sanding paper and some cheese cloth to buff it up with by hand using Meguiars polishing compound(does not sound easy and it isn't). I noticed Stu Mac has spray lacquer in spray cans, but the nitro lacquer they offered was not sold in spray cans. If I could find the right nitro lacquer in a spray can that would be the perfect solution for everyone wanting to do it at home. I do like working with nitro lacquer especially if it is like the old school brittle hard lacquer of the 50's and 60's which will crack over time. I will try and find the perfect spray can solution for everyone, so if anyone already knows a good supplier please mention it. There are other products that will work, but a good nitro lacquer is a classic finish that is easy to work with.
Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) said:
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