Ohhh...shiney!

I'll be tired later today because I stayed up last night and got up early this morning. Couldn't help myself. When I got home from work last night I still wasn't sure I wanted to put more clear on or start rubbing out the almost two cans I had on there. My goal in all of these refinishes is not a perfect finish, more of a mild relic. A guitar that somewhat reflects it's age and doesn't look plastic like and new. That's partly my own personal aesthetic choice and partly because I like to keep these finishes as thin as possible.

I'm not sure which of the trees that surround the condo give off the puffy white little balls this time every year, perhaps cotton wood?...but they where in full force yesterday. It's almost like a mini-blizzard when it happens. They pile up in drifts in the corners outside and the air is full of them floating around. Since I have to paint outside, their presence meant no painting yesterday. I decided to treat that as a omen and proceeded to sand out the paint.

I used mineral spirits for the lubricant (the "wet" part of wet sand). It works very well as I use the low odor stuff, it's got good lubricating properties and I don't have to worry about it getting into holes and swelling the wood. 3M's Imperial wet or dry (the good stuff) in 600, 800, 1200, 1500 then 2000 grits and a small art eraser as a sanding block.

I went slow, started with the neck and headstock, then moved to the body. Took till just short of midnight to get everything sanded out. But, by in large, I was very happy with how smooth it came out and that I only had one area of sand through about the size of the first joint of my little finger. I considered that a success!

So, this morning I got up a little early and got out my Titan 6" buffer I had bought a couple years ago at Auto Zone (something like $30), my bottles of Meguiars cleaner #1 and polisher #2 and started buffing. The little Titan makes short work of this step!

From Astro Jet Work 2

It took maybe an hour to get it where I wanted it more or less. I think I may get some of the Gibson guitar polish and work on it a bit more...not sure yet. Rumor has it it's good stuff for a lacquer finish and "even has a little bit of finish in it" what ever that means.

Here's a close up giving you an idea of the level of shine I like:

From Astro Jet Work 2

And a terrible overall...bad lighting this morning due to clouds....and a terrible photographer as well...

From Astro Jet Work 2

So, I stripped the tape off the fret board, cleaned up some adhesive residue and gave the ebony it's first coat of raw linseed oil. It was thirsty! I might give it another drink after work today, I'm not sure.

Still lots of work left to do, but the "hard" part is over. Perhaps if all goes well I can finish it for the weekend. I need to get three pots, a switch and maybe a capacitor to wrap up the electrics though, so I may need to make a trip to Sam Ash tonight or tomorrow...