• Guys, we've spent considerable money converting the Les Paul Forum to this new XenForo platform, and we have ongoing monthly operating expenses. THE "DONATIONS" TAB IS NOW WORKING, AND WE WOULD APPRECIATE ANY DONATIONS YOU CAN MAKE TO KEEP THE LES PAUL FORUM GOING! Thank you!

can I use P3000 thru P10000 to buff my nitro?

magicGrailLog

New member
Joined
Jan 6, 2019
Messages
16
I already wet sanded the nitro (Cardinal brand from lmii) on my les paul that I'm building up thru P2000 grit, and found some sandpaper on amazon from P2000 thru P10000 ( www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D29Z738/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=AWX2NT1OCXA0K&psc=1 ). Can I get a good glass type finish using the amazon sandpaper instead of using liquid buffing polish? Is liquid buffing polish better/easier? I'm new to this, but have read that using liquid buffing polish as another way to get the axe to shine, however since I'm comfortable wet sanding with naphtha I thought I'd *maybe* continue using it to get a glass finish instead of using the liquid polish. So far the wet sanding up thru P2000 has gone well. :peace2
 

magicGrailLog

New member
Joined
Jan 6, 2019
Messages
16
I'll skip the sanding and use the buffing compounds, however I'm wondering which one to use. I'll be rubbing with my hands since I'm super scared I'll work/burn thru my thin finish with a wheel. Is 3M's Finess-It a really good one? I see it has no waxes or silicones. Its chemical base is mineral oil which I assume is ok, right?
 

mattnew33

New member
Joined
Jul 14, 2016
Messages
138
I think, if this is your first time doing this.... start on a cheaper guitar. Its very doable and learnable, but screwing up on your pride and joy sucks big time :) I know.
 

magicGrailLog

New member
Joined
Jan 6, 2019
Messages
16
I FINALLY finished my guitar builds this week.
applause.gif
I started building both guitars together from raw wood about 18 months ago. I had to learn everything (hide gluing, sanding/grain-filling/finishing/buffing, bridge/stud installation, wiring/electronics...), so I took my time, but I think I'll be happy I took my time. I still need my luthier to cut nuts for them, but since I had some spare nuts around the house, I taped the nuts on the guitars (literally using masking tape since downward pressure from the strings holds them on fine) and played them a bit & they sound dynamite.



I'll post some pics hopefully over the next so many days, but I have pickup questions & some comments about the process in general which I may post here &/or in a new thread.


Regarding finishing...


The TV Yellow finish (from my Les Paul Junior DC) looks so much simpler in comparison to the finish on the other guitar I built (Les Paul Standard clone that I did in orange-red burst on its flamed maple top), however that TV Yellow was extremely hard to do (possibly harder than the burst). I struggled with the grain fill & tried in 3 passes. The first pass was mahogany Cardinal Pore Filler which turned the pores grey afterwards, then I switched to zpoxy which I ended up loving but on the initial pass of it I added transtint to it which didn't work, then on the final/third pass I used 100% clear zpoxy which perfectly turned the pores black afterwards. Getting the TV Yellow grain to clearly show through was tricky too because the grain fill got messed up a bit after the limey white wash and because the yellow toner from my sample wood didn't translate to a good color on the guitar so the toner was applied a bit thicker than I wanted which covered the grain a tad more than I wanted. The back & neck ended up looking perfect, but the front only looks "good" (not perfect).


The other thing I wanted to point out is that my 10 clear coats ended up being super thin (0.0040 inches) which I think is a good thing. I calipered a few tiny pieces of clear nitro from the guitars a few days ago that flaked off after I was screwing in the hardware. That flaking taught me to score around holes with an xacto knife before installing hardware.


BTW, I ended up only using the Menzerna 2500 since the polish from it was glass clear, so I returned the Menzerna 3800.
 
Top