Ever taken a gloss poly finish down to satin/semi-gloss?

[Bardagh]

I already found a lot of info (sometimes conflicting) on this kind of thing over on TDPRI and strat-talk, so I have an idea of what I think I’ll try to start out. It isn’t complicated or anything but I was curious if any of you guys had tried this.

Basically I’m doing another partscaster because, well, I have parts, and what I really want is a British Racing Green body. Ultimately I want to get a hardtail strat body from KNE and some dartford nitro lacquer BRG spray cans and try and get the finish I’d really like myself, but for now the only ready made options I could find were at Guitar Fetish, which doesn’t even look like BRG, it looks like Kelly Green, and Allen Eden. I went with the Eden because it’s actually alder (GFS no longer tells you what wood they’re using) and it actually is the right color.

Well, for something on par with GFS prices it’s not as bad as I might have feared. The neck pocket seems to be right, and actually pretty snug to the neck I’m going to use. The depths of the cavities all seem right on a perfunctory check. The finish of course is a gloss poly and not quite as extremely heavy on the gloss as I might have feared either…actually the issue is for a poly finish it scratches way too easy, and it’s got a lot of visible swirling.

Now, for the price I paid and considering the other aspects I’m not really complaining, but if anything, because it’s not a pristine and super durable finish in the first place it got me thinking about messing around with it a bit.

I have seen where guys use various high grit abrasives, from sandpapers to scotch brite pads to steel wool, to take gloss finishes down to matte or satin. From there if needed you can use a polishing compound (I have some Meguiar’s Ultimate Compound that I think would work) to bring some gloss back if desired. I by no means think it will look like an old BRG finish, as old nitro BRG seems to fade into the black undertones of the color. In fact, I have no idea what it will look like.

But I have 1500, 2000, and 3000 grit 3M sandpaper (the grey stuff) as well as 000 and 0000 steel wool here. I was thinking of starting with the 2000 and seeing what a wet sanding does. I’m not sure why the gloss coat isn’t harder, but I expect from what I’ve seen so far that it will sand easily.

 

[Bardagh]

One thing I’m wondering is if the gloss coat is fucked for some reason, seeing as it scratches real easily, once I sand it, would it be an option to use a wipe on or spray on poly satin or semi-gloss over it? The hardware store by me carries Watco and Varathane products, and they have various brush on, wipe on, spray on options.

I’ve never done any of this before, my experience with working with any wood finishing is all in the run of the mill handyman kind of territory.

 

[Kelly]

Not sure exactly what you're trying to do from the post. If you want a satin finish it's easier to spray the body with a matt clear coat. Sanding it will never give a uniform finish. You can always buff it to shine it. If the body you bought scratches easily it may be lacquer, not poly. Asia still uses a lot of nitro for furniture. BTW, I recommend Mohawk aerosols, they're easy to work and much better than hardware store junk.

 

[midnightlaundry]

1500 wetsand will do it..

 

[Bardagh]

Not sure exactly what you're trying to do from the post. If you want a satin finish it's easier to spray the body with a matt clear coat. Sanding it will never give a uniform finish. You can always buff it to shine it. If the body you bought scratches easily it may be lacquer, not poly. Asia still uses a lot of nitro for furniture. BTW, I recommend Mohawk aerosols, they're easy to work and much better than hardware store junk.

Basically the point is a more roughed in, less shiny look, especially on some guitars that have the super thick candy shell poly. That’s what I expected this body to have and I’m a little surprised at how soft the finish is.

This below is from a thread on TDPRI. It was a regular high gloss black poly strat. The guy basically just wet sanded with 0000 steel wool or the equivalent 3M pad (the almost white one).

 

[Bardagh]

I highly doubt this was nitro lacquer. If it was the seller would have sold it as such and probably charged $20 more. They do sell some bodies advertised as nitro finished though…really badly relic’d ones.

 

[Racerxrated]

You can find out by using a small amount of paint remover and see if it takes some finish off..if Poly, it won't...Nitro it will.

 

[Bardagh]

You can find out by using a small amount of paint remover and see if it takes some finish off..if Poly, it won't...Nitro it will.

Yeah, zero effect from a good dab of acetone and I even rubbed it in. I don’t know much about these kinds substances beyond the basics of using them so I don’t know why this poly finish mars so easy but it sure does. People often complain about asian gloss poly finishes being too thick and virtually impenetrable. Not the case here, for better or for worse (seems for worse )

I may keep it as is for the time being and see just how screwed up it gets once I start playing it before deciding what to do to it. I was just looking at a guy who got a real nice satin result with wet sanding a Gretsch to matte and then buffing with the zymol wax cleaner, which shined it up just a touch.