More Polishing Questions

[Dotneck]

The finish on your Larrivee is the toughest in the industry.  Resitant to almost everything including water, oil, alchohol..........doesn't mean you should pour water on it.

So to clarify,  a damp cloth will do everything in keeping the guitar clean.

If something sticky is on it , a cloth with some naptha (lighter fluid) should do the trick.  Beware of goof-off since it contains xylene.  Also naptha can take off the pick gaurd, dissolving the adhesive.

step 1 = lightly mowing down the particulate on the surface with 0000 steel wool.  rub with the grain............lightly.

step 2= Scratch X (step 1 of Mequires)or the equivalent.

Thats usually plenty.  Step 2 Mequires is optional.  ps, i can acheive the full results with just wool.  But only experience makes that possible.

Be careful with the wool.  And make sure these polishings don't cancel the warrantee.

Giving finishing advice on a forum is a bit dangerous.  I hesitate to do it but the demand seems to be very high.  and people seem to think they are adding finish or a coating.

So "Scratch X" is Step One? I have some scratch X.

Mebbe I'll give this a try one day.

[Peter Cree]

No competition from me , my friends.  Orsino, you can still have the title.  Please take it.  Can i be the little poohbah?

Finishing and restoration is such a pain!!!!!!!!!!  Though restoration is alot more fun.  good thing that the matte-poly finishes are so strong.  all these people running around with steel wool............

then the other day i ran across a guy in my local shop playing great guitar.  Sat in with him and another with a banjo.  i grabbed a mando off the wall.  after playing he was talking about taking a knife and scraping the finish off the necks of all his guitars.  Man, i hope that doesn't catch on like the polishing!

Then found out he's a pretty famous picker.  Must be alot of bluegrass guitars out there with no finish on the neck.

We all have info to share.  in every wood shop ther's a different group of opinions.  We tend to be a pretty opinionated and free-spirited group.  face to face , it's fun.  On the internet we tend to argue.  I've gotten to hate that.  this forum has the least of it and i like that alot.

cheers mates,

Peter

[unclrob]

Ah Peter a good heated discussion is fun.Do you really want to be known as little poohbah? :D  

[LaminateBoy]

The process will henceforth be known as cree-orsinizing.

I cree-orsinize
You cree-orsinize
He/she/it cree-orsinizes
We cree-orsinize
You cree-orsinize
They cree-orsinize

[Caleb]

after playing he was talking about taking a knife and scraping the finish off the necks of all his guitars.  Man, i hope that doesn't catch on like the polishing!

Then found out he's a pretty famous picker.  Must be alot of bluegrass guitars out there with no finish on the neck.

Peter

i don't know if i'd do that to an acoustic, but i do sand off all the finish from the back of the necks on my electrics. i just hate that gloss that they pile on there.
 

[orsino]

The process will henceforth be known as cree-orsinizing.

I cree-orsinize
You cree-orsinize
He/she/it cree-orsinizes
We cree-orsinize
You cree-orsinize
They cree-orsinize

PERFECT! I love it. Sounds downright sci-fi.

[Big Martin]

If you have ever seen the things Peter Cree has done to polish / create art on guitars you know that its

MISTER little poohbah

amazing beautiful work - WORLD CLASS really

Back to topic, someone recently recommended Stewart MacDonald's PRESERVATION Polish as a final step after Meguiars 2.  This is my favorite guitar polish (for gloss finishes)

Has anyone used this yet?  

[Peter Cree]

Ah, shucks...............you made me blush.  You really did.......

Little poohbah beats ........jerk.

And no , I hate to argue anymore.  When i first began posting on forums I did it too much.  so , usually, i avoid it like the plague.  although if you check out my lastest thread ont he AG forum, luthiers section, you might not think so.  But that's a professional point.  And it'll be the last time i post any contentious ideas. I hope.

I have to learn how to post picts here.   I'd love for you guys to see what I'm doing with finishes.   Soon.  Very soon.    

Matt's going with one to celebrate the sitka tree that's so important to Larrivee.  it's an honor to work with such a good guy.

[Randy_R]

Peter,

If you have an ISP that gives you a personal web page (most do), then you just copy an image from your computer to the web page storage (may use the term ftp). Then edit in a link to it surrounded by image tags. It should look something like this:



If your ISP doesn't give you a place to put images of your own, then use one of the public image hosting sites like:
http://www.photobucket.com
or
http://webshots.com/

[Philphool]

My om-03r doesn't get here till Saturday, but I wanted to try the polishing technique.   So I got out my Taylor with a matte finish.  I just couldn't make myself lay steel wool to the finish, so I just used Scratch X with an old soft rag.  

It took a good bit of elbow grease, but I was amazed at how well the Scratch X did to change the matte surface of the mahogany to a pretty nice semi-gloss in just a couple of hours.  Of course my hands hurt now, but my eyes feel real good looking at the shine.

Phil

[sawdustdave]

Deb:
I polished my Rosewood Larry, here's a pic:



I only used one coat of step two. That was enough for me. I like to look.

Pete - as a woodworker hobbyist I appreciate your comments. The hardest part of any project I've done is finishing it. Takes as long, or longer, than the construction.