De-glossing a poly finished guitar

johnhe

Hi everyone,

While it is possible to google threads on t'interweb about doing this, but most of the advice is based on products in North America. I wondered if people could recommend materials easily available in the U.K.

Im not looking for a relic finish, but sometimes the shiny look on my Epi 339 or my MIM strats is just a bit too shiny. Is it realistic to rub the finish and take the glossy shine off? I suppose that means I am actually relic-ing the guitar!

mark123

Someone done it to a vintage sunburst epiphone sheraton on the old music radar forum ,looked great ,hopefully if they are on here this will jog their memory 

mark123

0000 wire wool (remove or cover pickups first ) or green scouring pad ...that springs to mind but I'm not 100% on this so wait for confirmation off the experts 

5redlights

I've done it with a mix of high grit wet paper (i.e around 1500 down to 800grit). Getting the paper wet basically increases the grit (i.e. 1500 wet will act a bit like 1800). 

However, any abrasive polish should start to get the look. Rubbing at the end with brasso helped on one guitar I was doing, and actually toothpaste will work too, as it's mildly abrasive and a polish. 

The best thing is to try on a bit of the guitar (say with the strat) usually hidden by the pickguard, so you can see the look you want. The wet paper will leave some very fine marks at the beginning, but I found the brasso gets these out. 

5redlights

5redlights said:

I've done it with a mix of high grit wet paper (i.e around 1500 down to 800grit). Getting the paper wet basically increases the grit (i.e. 1500 wet will act a bit like 1800). 

However, any abrasive polish should start to get the look. Rubbing at the end with brasso helped on one guitar I was doing, and actually toothpaste will work too, as it's mildly abrasive and a polish. 

The best thing is to try on a bit of the guitar (say with the strat) usually hidden by the pickguard, so you can see the look you want. The wet paper will leave some very fine marks at the beginning, but I found the brasso gets these out. 

With the strat, you may want to do it on the pickguard too (depending on the colour and look) as a shiny white pickguard might look a bit odd with a matt/satin finish guitar. 

Voxman

I have the opposite problem.  I'd like to get the gloss finish on my 1990 LP Custom to shine and get all the crap off it built up over the years! 

Sassafras

One of these will do it in no time.

paulnb57

Sassafras said:

One of these will do it in no time.

Wasnt sure if this deserved a lol or a wisdom...wisdom won!...

Sync

This is what you need. I use this on my builds and restorations. Don't use sparingly. Once it compacts after a min or so of rubbing use a new piece. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Liberon-SW00001KG-1Kg-Steel-Wool/dp/B001GUA82S/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477398553&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=Colon+wire+wool ;

johnhe

Anyone have any before and after photos of a de-glossed poly finish?

JookyChap

@johnhe said:

Anyone have any before and after photos of a de-glossed poly finish?

Here you go...

https://content.andertons.co.uk/2/1/images/catalog/i/xl_81027-tmp7321.jpg
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/l1eA5_4gyQw/maxresdefault.jpg
http://www.fretwired.com/images/EpiphoneDots.jpg

Nitefly

I recall @TimmyO doing this to an Epiphone (Sheraton if I remember correctly) back on the old MR forum.  It was a long job!

johnhe

Wow @JookyChap. That's just the look I was searching for!

TimmyO

Nitefly said:

I recall @TimmyO doing this to an Epiphone (Sheraton if I remember correctly) back on the old MR forum.  It was a long job!

You have a good memory!
I'll have to have a dig and see if I still have those pics. 

My experience was that even as an amateur hack parts of it looked bloody lovely and other parts (mostly the darker bits) looked less awesome up close, but doing it even a 2nd time I'm sure it would have been better.

I wonder who has that guitar now? I did that to it and also fitted TonePros hardware, Classic 57 pickups - it sounded KILLER. 

<goes to dig for pics> 

TimmyO

OK I've found some old pics - please bear in mind that they are phone camera pics on a phone I had in 2006 :-)

Album is here:

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0PG4TcsmGUDU79

I included the couple of crap looking ones at the end to show it at its worst - in normal (non flash) light it never looked bad like that, but someone at the time asked to see the extent of scratch/swirl that was left when I was finished (or rather decided to stop as it had taken a bloody long time and I was satisfied)

You can see from a couple of the other pics that the overall result was a very flat look which is exactly what I was going for.

I found that I needed to start with a rougher paper than people were suggesting (I don't recall what)  as the finish was HARD and it was barely putting a dent in it. I'd have got better results going through the grades more slowly once I'd done that initial cut back with the rough, but, well, I didn't :-) Ended with 00 steel wool (0000 didn't help much as I had too many swirl marks from coarser grades and didn't want to go back and repeat) 

johnhe

TimmyO said:

OK I've found some old pics - please bear in mind that they are phone camera pics on a phone I had in 2006 :-)

Album is here:

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0PG4TcsmGUDU79

I included the couple of crap looking ones at the end to show it at its worst - in normal (non flash) light it never looked bad like that, but someone at the time asked to see the extent of scratch/swirl that was left when I was finished (or rather decided to stop as it had taken a bloody long time and I was satisfied)

You can see from a couple of the other pics that the overall result was a very flat look which is exactly what I was going for.

I found that I needed to start with a rougher paper than people were suggesting (I don't recall what)  as the finish was HARD and it was barely putting a dent in it. I'd have got better results going through the grades more slowly once I'd done that initial cut back with the rough, but, well, I didn't :-) Ended with 00 steel wool (0000 didn't help much as I had too many swirl marks from coarser grades and didn't want to go back and repeat) 

That's looks wonderful - thanks so much for posting the photos. How many hours of work did it take to achieve that kind of finish?

TimmyO

johnhe said:

TimmyO said:

OK I've found some old pics - please bear in mind that they are phone camera pics on a phone I had in 2006 :-)

Album is here:

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0PG4TcsmGUDU79

I included the couple of crap looking ones at the end to show it at its worst - in normal (non flash) light it never looked bad like that, but someone at the time asked to see the extent of scratch/swirl that was left when I was finished (or rather decided to stop as it had taken a bloody long time and I was satisfied)

You can see from a couple of the other pics that the overall result was a very flat look which is exactly what I was going for.

I found that I needed to start with a rougher paper than people were suggesting (I don't recall what)  as the finish was HARD and it was barely putting a dent in it. I'd have got better results going through the grades more slowly once I'd done that initial cut back with the rough, but, well, I didn't :-) Ended with 00 steel wool (0000 didn't help much as I had too many swirl marks from coarser grades and didn't want to go back and repeat) 

That's looks wonderful - thanks so much for posting the photos. How many hours of work did it take to achieve that kind of finish?

No worries.

I honestly don't recall how much time went in to it - I know it felt like a lot of hard work though and I did wonder why I'd started at one point :-) It was sweaty work. 

If you want to get better results than I did (which you should :-) ) I'd say don't think of it as a weekend project - go slower through the grades so you take the preceding marks out gradually and do it over however many sessions that takes you. 

Post some pics when you do it! 

Nitefly

TimmyO said:

Nitefly said:

I recall @TimmyO doing this to an Epiphone (Sheraton if I remember correctly) back on the old MR forum.  It was a long job!

You have a good memory!
I'll have to have a dig and see if I still have those pics. 
 

I can't usually remember what I had for tea!