Help needed with scourer-relic'd poly finish

scarry67

I recently bought a nice Wilko J Tele on ebay and previous owner has dulled black poly finish with a scourer-type thing I think. You can see lots of swirls in the light and it looks OK at times but not at others. I remember doing something similar on a Squier once. Is there anything I can do cheaply to try and even out the swirling patterns?

paulnb57

1000 to 2000 grit wet n dry, followed by cutting compound to polish oit the scratches....

scarry67

Right, I'll dig out some wet n dry. What will that leave on finish that needs further compound? 

Bridgehouse

scarry67 said:

Right, I'll dig out some wet n dry. What will that leave on finish that needs further compound? 

Compound will give you the glassy finish. Well, that and a LOT of elbow grease

scarry67

Is that cutting compound you can use on car bodywork? 

Bridgehouse

scarry67 said:

Is that cutting compound you can use on car bodywork? 

Aye. Some people use a car polish type job, or there are polishes designed for guitar finishes too.. 

GoldenEraGuitars

You'd be best to go up to 5000-7000 wet and dry. Soak the paper for a day prior to use and put a drop or two of fairy in with the paper. 

Do not use circular motions - sand in a linear way. Once you've gone to the higher grit take some swirl remover cutting compound and a buffer. 

lamf68

Black is without doubt the hardest finish to do, there's literally nothing more difficult than polishing out scratches on it. As said above, the finest grade wet and dry you can find using white spirit and not water or you could really shit on your biscuits. 

scarry67

This is beginning to sound a bit of a challenge. Will the wet & dry just replace the swirling with linear fine scratchings? In other words, will it be very different to the effect of a scourer type marking on the surface? 

Sporky

scarry67 said:

Will the wet & dry just replace the swirling with linear fine scratchings? 

Yes.

As you go up through the grades you make the scratches finer and finer until they're smaller than the wavelength of light (or something along those lines) at which point you can't see them. Polishing then makes the surface shiny and reflective.

lamf68

scarry67 said:

This is beginning to sound a bit of a challenge. Will the wet & dry just replace the swirling with linear fine scratchings? In other words, will it be very different to the effect of a scourer type marking on the surface? 

You're gonna have to use cutting compounds regardless after the wet and dry process if you don't wanna see the marks, I use pumice powder and rotten stone, always have and always will, it's cheaper to buy and absolutely craps on any cutting compound, mix it with white spirit and use a buffing machine, if you haven't got access to a machine it will take an age to do, there's no quick way unfortunately

Corvus

Are you wanting to go back to full shiney? Or "scuffed but less obviously kitchen-scourer"?
With 2k ("poly") you ideally cut & polish the day after spraying, within 2-3 days for sure - it gets far harder after that. With old cured paint it's doable but harder. DIY - go through the grades, start 1000 grit as Paul said. I go up to 2000. Then use a 3000 grit pad but that's optional. Then machine polish. Hand polishing will almost always show marks.
I'd then go to Farecla G6 which is the coarsest and because this is old paint, then onto 3M compounds coarse & fine cut (because that's what I use but G3 and G10 works as well).

Best bet really - take it to a car sprayer. They'll run a few soft pads over it and machine polish it up. It'll cost no more than buying grades of paper & compounds, probably less, and the result will be better faster and less painful.
Just tell them you don't know if it's solid colour or clear-over-base; if it's the latter there's more chance of burnng through.

If you're wanting to even up the marks but still have that effect, I don't think that's going to be possible really. Not without ending up with a satin or matt finish.

scarry67

Thanks all - I'm happy with a matt finish really but would prefer less obvious circular swirls. I may just leave it as is and learn to enjoy the look!