Official Luthiers Forum!

HELP!!!!

I'm bout to get another one out the door and need some help. This guitar is the first I've produced with a urethane finish from Tony F. or otherwise. I had to remove some light scratches with 12000 micromesh but now I have to deal with srirl marks. The products I use on nitro aren't working to restore the mirror finish. What are people using on urethane finishes to get rid of swirl marks.

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Don Sharp
Got Brazilian?
http://www.sharpguitars.com

Be careful Don, Urethanes can be a tad soft and the scratches or swirls are a challenge. The products you normally used with the nitro should work but you may have to change your technique. Do you have any foam polishing pads? I mean 3.5 or larger that you can spin at about 1500 RPM? Do you have any Finesse It foam polishing liquid? Even the Finesse It white polishing paste works great with swirls but not a foam pad. Very light lambs wool and again 1200-1500 even slower will work if you have a nice touch with your buffer. Work slow and don't get frustrated. Walk away if you do, urethanes can get soft from the heat of buffing too much then you have another problem to deal with.

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jw ( o)===:::

I use polyurethan on all my guitars. I've used urethan once and didn't notice much difference, so I guess my experience and knowledge can help.

I've had exactly the same problems you are describing. The best solution I've found is to sand up to 1500 (don't know the micromesh equivalent though...) and then lay 2 coats of wipe on poly. Once it's dry, I take it strait to the buffer. Very light pressure (indeed, it gets soft if heated) and that's it. That gets me a spotless finish!

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

Don't ask us, ask the finisher what HE used for the final polish.

Grumps nailed it there, Tony should be able to walk you through any scratches that need a little attention.

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jw ( o)===:::

Thanks for the tips Joe and Alain. They gave me some good insight!!

Grumpy.. as usual, you prove to be a master of the obvious.

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Don Sharp
Got Brazilian?
http://www.sharpguitars.com