I did it! I glossed my D03R!

[Brodie001]

I decided that rosewood was just too pretty to hide under that satin finish.  I used the Orsino method, steel wool for step 1 and Turtle Wax Premium Grade Polishing Compound for step 2.  I very happy with the results!

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[bhika]

Very Nice Ben,

It looks like it turned out real well.

[jimmy buffett]

Although I've never owned an 03 series Larrivee, I'd like to some day.  I always thought they looked nice the way they are, and figured that I'd leave it "as is" when the day comes.

Having said this, it looks like you've done a beautiful job on that guitar.  It looks awesome...

jimmy

[Stephen Basil]

I'll second the awsomeness! I like the matte finish but these photos have me thinking...

[obe-wan]

Wow Brodie, that looks fantastic ! I think you've got a few of us -03R owner thinking. Did you remove the pickgaurd before the steel wool treatment? Maybe instead of rehashing what Im sure theres plenty of threads related to this. Could just provide me with a link to the Orsino method?


Cheers, Scott.

[gluve1]

I'm impressed very job.

[fongie]

Fantastic! Glad you knew what you were doin'. 
cheers
fongie

[Brodie001]

Here's the link to the Orsino method:

http://www.tomyoungguitar.com/OrsinoizingPage.html

I didn't do anything with the pickguard.  The steel wool only put very light scratches on it, similar to the ones that are already there from my playing, and these mostly buffed out during the polishing.  I see no significant difference in the appearance of my pickguard.  However, polishing around the pickguard (and the fretboard and bridge) was difficult, especially that little space between the pickguard and bridge.  If I were a fingerstyle player and didn't care about having the pickguard there anyways, I'd go ahead and remove it before polishing.  If you're gonna want to keep the pickguard on, though, it's probably not worth removing it for the polishing process.  There is some "shadowing" around all these things on the top, though.

Some other details: I did about 4 rounds of polishing - the first two with a "microfiber" application pad (had a terry cloth-like texture), and the last two with a t-shirt.  I couldn't find the Meguiar's step 2 product, but the turtle wax product I used is silicone-free and seems to be pretty much the same thing.

[lyric_girl]

Good job! Looks amazing.

[L-fan]

That is such a great job.  Makes me want to get a D-03R and try it myself (without a pickguard).  Thanks for sharing your pics.   

Oh, and about how long did this take?

[WileE]

That looks great! And, thanks for the link -- I see it in my future.

[Big E]

Why did you have to go and do that to perfectly nice guitar Brodie?
All I have to say is WOW!. You made it even better ( in my opinion) My satin finish is sitting right beside me and now I can't help but think about making it a glossy. It's been a few years since I messed around with any small refinishing projects. (small in scale that is) and it has me thinking I might like to start again.

[gusto5]

Why did you have to go and do that to perfectly nice guitar Brodie?

[obe-wan]

Here's the link to the Orsino method:
http://www.tomyoungguitar.com/OrsinoizingPage.html

Thanks brodie,

The link doesnt explain the steel wool use, do you do it dry? Does it produce any dust that can get inside the guitar?

Cheers, Scott.

[Brodie001]

Yeah, the steel wool was the part of the process I was least sure about.  It takes off the satin finish pretty easily.  I wasn't sure how much sanding to do - I didn't want to take off too much finish, so I was pretty light with it.  It doesn't take much to start putting a shine on it with just the steel wool. 

It produces a very fine dust from the finish, but it doesn't get air born very much, mostly just sticks to the steel wool and guitar.  More problematic is the little bits of steel that the steel wool will shed.  Definitely take your M1 or any other magnetic pickup out, even if you're just doing the sides and back.  Those little bits of steel will stick to it relentlessly.  I used a tack cloth to pick up the dust and steel bits often, and I stuck a vacuum nozzle inside the guitar when I wall all done to get any dust out of the inside.  Might be worth blowing up a balloon inside the soundhole to seal it off to minimize dust getting inside.

[jeremy3220]

I just finish doing the back of my OM-03MT. The problem I found was the finish is so tough. I actually had to sand it out twice just to get completely through the satin coat, because you can actually make the guitar really glossy and still have the swirly haze of the satin beneath the surface.



You can't see it but this is the first time I buffed it out and there is a haze/dense swirl marks beneath the surface. Besides taking for ever to cut through that layer, the other issue with the finish being so tough is how difficult it is to get out all the scratches from the lower grits. I used micro mesh and it actually seemed like it dulled the papers so much they couldn't get rid of the scratches from the lower grits. If I were to do it again I would probably use regular wet/dry sandpaper to cut through the satin coat starting with like 600 or 800 grit and going up to 2000 and finish of with micro mesh papers. The varnish I used on the guitar I built is nothing compared to how hard the UV poly Larrivee uses is.

Brodie, how long did it take you to cut through the satin coat with the steel wool? Did you use 0000 grit? I tried it some and it seemed like it wasn't doing much.

[bluesman67]

It all looks great, but I will never do this, unless one you you guys that like to do it will do it for me. 

[Brodie001]

The steel wool removed the satin finish pretty easily.  I put less than 30 minutes of sanding into it.  I did not sand out those micro-scratches in the underlying gloss.  I know what you're talking about - small swirls that are clearly from the random orbit sander.  Like you said, you can put the high-gloss finish on without removing those imperfections, and that's what I did.  Since those imperfections are in the base gloss layers that were applied (and minimally prepped) before spraying on the satin, removing them means sanding down those gloss coats.  Now you're significantly thinning out the protective finish on the guitar and running the risk of sanding through to the wood.  You really have to be right on top of the guitar (like 1 ft away) and have the light at the right angle to see them.  I can live with that.  For me, it's a worthwhile trade-off to bring out the color and grain of the wood and eliminate the swishing.

IMO, if you want a perfect gloss finish, you need to shell out the $$$ for a 05 or 09 (or higher) series guitar.  There's a reason it costs more, it would take a lot of sanding/buffing and a lot of coats of finish to build up a flawless and adequately protective gloss coat, so you're not going to achieve perfection buffing out an 03.

I'll see if I can get some pictures that show those swirl marks for those of you that are considering doing this.

[BenF]

I can't stop looking at the pics in this thread.  I love the satin finish on my OM-03, but can't help but think my F-III would look awesome glossed.  Hmmmmmmm.

[Big E]

Hahaha, BenF I have found myself doing the same thing....
I have to say AGAIN, Brodie, it looks good. 
Did it change the sound at all???
Or does the sound remain the same as long as you keep the new gloss to the same thickness as the old satin?