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Polishing Bonnets

bobsessed

Junior Member
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I have a 2-speed polisher, (looks like an angle grinder) ...it's a fairly inexpensive one that is marketed as a car polisher. Is anybody out there using one of these to polish your new finish on a guitar body? I've got a good idea what polishing compounds to use, but which bonnet? Wool or synthetic, pile or microfiber? I want to put a good shine on my nitro when the time comes...
 
I have a Makita buffer that sounds similar to what you're talking about...

makitabuffer.jpeg

...and it works as advertised. However, it's a variable speed as opposed to two-speed, which I think may be important based on my experience with it.

When buffing out new finishes, you're not using wax - you're using various grades of buffing compound. It relies on its abrasive qualities to do its polishing. Because of that, it tends to "grab" at the surface. That does at least two things. One, the buffer wants to throw the part you're buffing, which will just ruin your day. Two, it tends to heat up, which can melt your finish, also ruining your day. Note that those two things can happen even with a stationary floor-standing buffer where you have two hands free to hold the body, which kinda tells you how real the phenomena are.

With the variable speed unit, you can go slowly enough to somewhat mitigate those two things, assuming you have a willing partner or some sort of non-marring/non-destructive way to firmly hang onto the body while you buff it. I'm not sure the lower of the two speeds a polisher has will be slow enough to do that. It'd be worth doing some experiments, as buffing a finish out by hand is no fun at all.

Another experiential note - get a couple trash bags, one for you and your partner in crime, and cut out head/arm holes so you can use them as disposable aprons. Even at low speeds, that rubbing compound is gonna go everywhere  :laughing7:

As for pads, I've been using these wool pads. I notice StewMac and LMII both sell foam pads for use in variable speed drill motors.

Stewmac%203414%203410%20and%203411%20Foam%20Polishing%20Pad.jpg

So, apparently either material will work. The buffing compound impregnates the pad pretty thoroughly, so maybe it doesn't matter.

edit: I should also mention that you can't mix compounds on the same pad, which means you need a pad for each grade of compound. So, maybe coarse depending on how good your finish sanding is, but definitely medium, fine, and polish.
 
I'm gonna try the wool pads. StewMac & Dan E. say the foam pads are inexpensive, but they don't seem so cheap to me.
 
Wool pads are VERY aggressive! 

These, coupled with a rotary buffer (and nitro especially), require extreme finesse, as they produce a ton of heat on the finish and can quickly result in very bad experience. You must know how to read the residue, lest you destroy your clear!  Do NOT use an abrasive polish or compound with them unless you have the required experience. 

For simple scratch removal use Megs ultimate polish with a black or white foam pad.  I'd prob go white.  For slightly heavier defect removal, switch to an orange pad.  If  you have heavy damage, then you can move over to megs ultimate compound with a softer pad, such as the white one I mentioned.  Then move over to the polish and a white pad. 

Nitro is very, very sensitive to the heat produced by polishing - and orbital polishers, if not kept moving, will focus their energy into a very small area, producing intense heat, which will destroy your clear.  If you must go wool with the tool you have, then go med-low speeds and make sure the polish you use is very fine (diminishing abrasives are best).  Keep it moving and as soon as you see no product left on the surface, remove the tool and let it cool.

Edit: Foam pads can be reused and wool pads tend to disintegrate, leaving material under the pad that can damage the finish.  I would absolutely go foam - look for megs or lake country.  Don't skimp on this. Better to do it by hand in that case.

Cheers!

Here's a resto I did on black guitar that sat around in someones trunk for 4 years.  It was never finished by the manufacturer (BC Rich's son's failed venture).  The finish was severely damaged, but nothing through the clear (which was matte).  Was part of a purchased lot of guitars that never made it through production. 

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bobsessed said:
I'm gonna try the wool pads. StewMac & Dan E. say the foam pads are inexpensive, but they don't seem so cheap to me.

Sometimes StewMac is the best or only place to get some highly specialized things - fretting tools come to mind - but quite often what they sell is just general purpose stuff that's readily available from other suppliers for dramatically less money. So, definitely shop around.
 
fdesalvo said:
Here's a resto I did on black guitar that sat around in someones trunk for 4 years. 

Damn! That's super sharp! Excellent job! Maybe I'll start sending my bodies to you to get buffed out.
 
Cagey said:
fdesalvo said:
Here's a resto I did on black guitar that sat around in someones trunk for 4 years. 

Damn! That's super sharp! Excellent job! Maybe I'll start sending my bodies to you to get buffed out.

Thanks!  This was the single most rewarding job I did.  A real beast, but she came out alright!  Feel free to send em over.  I use my rig from my detailing days and can turn things around quickly.  Here's another resto or two I did that required a more aggressive approach (wet sanding).  Warmoth paint is tough as nails, so it requires a certain touch, but it has a really nice layer of clear to work with.

Warmoth: Removed scratches/hazing.
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Ibanez: Completely leveled old, factory finish.  This was a nail-biter.  Super thin clear.  Better than factory result.  Look at the rough reflections in the before image. 
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Wow. Very impressive.

So, what if the body has been lacquered, but not finish sanded? Still interested?
 
Cagey said:
Wow. Very impressive.

So, what if the body has been lacquered, but not finish sanded? Still interested?

I haven't touched lacquer since my antique restoration days - like 20 years.  It's doable, but that makes me sweat just thinking about it.  Whatchagot? 
 
fdesalvo said:
I haven't touched lacquer since my antique restoration days - like 20 years.  It's doable, but that makes me sweat just thinking about it.  Whatchagot? 

It's an old Warmoth PRS-style VIP body. I refinished it almost three years ago and have gotten back to it since.

FreshFinishOblique.JPG

It's well clear-coated over cream nitro. There's a chip at the neck pocket I need to repair (not shown), and it needs finish sanding and polishing. But, there's black and various shades of blue dye underneath it all, so a finish sand/burn through would be highly visible, which is probably part of the reason I haven't done anything with it. Kinda scared of it.

But, I suppose since it's all nitro, stripping it for a new finish wouldn't be the end of the world.
 
Rgand - thank you sir.

Cagey - That looks like good times to me.  I'll message you.  Another great example of the type of sandbaggery I've come to expect of you and Baggy.  You guys are sitting on goldmines!    :laughing7:
 
As they say, chance favors the prepared. Sometimes you see something nice you don't have time to deal with at the moment, but you know you will someday. So, you snatch it up and stash it.
 
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