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Hi everyone

On my 1st 3 guitars I have hand buffed the lacquer finish but now I need to get into machine buffing.(right shoulder wrecked) I have got the material needed to set up a buffing station, soft cotton wheels Menzerna fine and extra fine, I have done some internet mining for buffing information but am a little nervous to start. I will wet sand to 2400 grit then start with the fine compound.
I have a few questions 1 how much and how often does the menzerna need to be applied to the wheels?
2 how much time and pressure is needed to get the shine to come up
3 Buffing direction on the sides and neck, across or with the grain.
4 how to avoid hitting the edges too hard.
Plus any other hints anyone might think of.

Thanks
Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
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1 As needed! it is easy to tell when ther is no more monpound in the wheel by the color of the wheel and the increased drag that you will notice.

2&3 Direction of buffing is just like sanding except finer. I start with medium and buff cross grain. starting in the center and working to woards the edge. On the sides I work from the middle of the side cross grain and work towards the lower edge the revers the body and repeat. Now to fine compound I start at the center of the top or back again and work towards the lower edge gross grain and repeat the same process on the sides. Then I repeat fine working with the grain. On the sides ther are places on deep waisted bodies i just cat get at with the grain so I use a small wheel on a 1/2" drill to get there. and for the extra fine I work with the grain again.

Caution never allw an upper edge to touch the wheel, pay attention to the heat build up at all times. let the compound do the work do not force the body into the wheel. with fretted necks avoid allowing the frets or other steel to touch the wheels. The wheell will drag off carbon quickly and trasfer it all over the place.

4 make sure the the wheel's rotation is always exiting any edge never approching an edge.

Pad the flooring around you work area (closed cell work shop floor pads are great). till you get use to maneuvering the body you are likely to have the body jerked out of your hand sooner or later. you must stay vigilant

Great question Fred,
I just bought everything from Grizzly last week and it should be here anyday. I was going to ask similar questions.

I put Tru-Oil on the neck. Should a neck with Tru-Oil be buffed the same way?

_________________
"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins

A couple thoughts on sanding prior to buffing, Fred:
Dont' skip grits.
Don't mix CAMI and P grade grits.
I sand P1500, P2000 & P2500, first medium then fine Menzerna.
Probably could skip the P2500 but I'd rather not have to buff too aggressively.
Certainly not the only way but it's what works for me.
Nelson Palen

Thanks for the hints, sanding and surface prep is not an issue, my hand buffed finishes on the 1st 3 leave nothing to be desired and shine as well as a machine buffed job. My issues were the guitar to wheel direction and using the compound and
Michael was quite helpful. I will not waste the time with a junk guitar as I don't have such an animal, I think I will spend much more time on this than necessary, but I am slow and careful when learning a new skill.

I will use lots of padding around the buffer as I have a bad habit of bumping into things.

Thanks for the advice
Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

I don't know if you would find it useful or not, but I recently saw a youtube clip of a Larrivee training video. Meant more for in-house training I'm sure, but still a picture being worth a thousand words etc...and like the say in surfing and snowboarding, don't catch an edge!

Thanks for the tip on the Larivee video, that's exactly what I needed. For anyone else interested it is at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17x3JLq0omY

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

I finished assembling my buffing arbor and motor today. I gave it a quick try ( I couldn't wait) on the back of the cocobolo 000, the guitar was only sanded to 600 at this time and I was shocked that it was so quick and easy to get about 1/4 of the back polished. I stopped there as I have more sanding to do, there are still some sanding marks where I buffed, I will finish wet sanding up to 2400 grit before I start buffing.

My sore shoulder is going to like all this for sure.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866