Official Luthiers Forum!

I've searched the archives and see that there is a lot of substitutes for Finese-it II, but most seem to be only available at special stores or online.

What locally available polish do you all use that would be similar to Finese-it II?

I don’t think my local AutoZone carries Finese-it II and am looking for some substitutes that are safe to use for guitar, but also easy to find. I know there’s several products that are similar, but not necessarily safe to use on a guitar.

In the area I have:
AutoZone
Wal-Mart
Target
Advance Auto Parts
Home Depot
Lowes

Thank you in advance for your input.

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Thanks,
Blain

http://www.ullrichguitar.com

"89.67% of all statistics are made up on the spot."

3-M brand Finesse- it ll and Perfect-it, is a pro product used by auto painters and is easily obtained at most Auto Paint Stores. LMI also carries it. Sorry, I don't know much about auto parts store substitutes enough to suggest any, someone else will be able to I'm sure.

René

Blain-
Meguiars products are pretty widely available, though I'm not sure which product in their line would be appropriate.

Another place to look for 3M polishing products would be at a marine supply (WestMarine or similar) Jamestown distributors do mail order and I've dealt with them a lot and been satisfied. The fiberglass boat crowd go through a ton of this stuff every spring...
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/search.do?freeText=finesse&resultPref=all&page=GRID&history=



Cheers
John

Meguiars #2 followed by #7 will put a deep shine on pretty much anything thats been wetsanded to 1000 or higher ...

#10 and 17 are rpetty good too, I think 7 and 17 are almost the same ...

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I guess this comes down to opinion, but I have found Menzerna Intensive Polish to be the best. And you can pick up an 8 oz bottle for only $8.00 from Wood Essence in Saskatchewan.

Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

It looks like what I'm hearing is that the everyday Autoparts or Retail store isn't going to have something suitable for guitars?

I tried calling an autobody repair place but they don't sell any products so I'm not really sure where I could look locally for something like that.

I know I can find it online, but just wanted to find something I could get at a moments notice so I could get started tonight....

I'd like to keep this topic alive in case someone has something they use that is readily available, but in the meantime, I suppose I'll just have to place my order online.

_________________
Thanks,
Blain

http://www.ullrichguitar.com

"89.67% of all statistics are made up on the spot."

Well up here in Canada... we have Parts Source, an auto parts chain ... they have Meguiars stuff ..

so I searched autozone, since you have one near you ..

they have Meguiars med cut polish .. thats pretty much #2, they also have a PlastX ckear plastic gel cleaner and polish .. thats probably pretty close to #7, the deep crystal liquid polish is probably good as well ....

Advance auto alspo sells Meguiars, they have similar to above, plus the quick detailer (like a #7) they lalso list a polishing compound, and a rubbing compound , both from Meguiars,but no pic .. cant tell what they are , but would probably work too ...

remember, dont be turned away form a plastic polish ... our finishes are full of plasticizers, so they are like a plastic, and this stuff works great on them ...

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

At Al Carruth's we used Novus Acrylic polish, I believe #2. I got it at a plastic supply house no problem. Probably similar to Meguiar's, I dunno. Worked good though, on top of Tru-oil in my case.

Steve

At Al Carruth's we used Novus Acrylic polish, I believe #2. I got it at a plastic supply house no problem. Probably similar to Meguiar's, I dunno. Worked good though, on top of Tru-oil in my case.

Steve

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Thanks for all of the great comments.

In Hesh's recent post on household items, Howard commented that unless you purchase Meguiar's professional grade stuff, the regular stuff contains silicone. I was guessing that anything I can find at the local store would not be professional...
I guess what I need to do is go look at the ingredients in the store and hope that it tells me what I need to know.

So sounds like car polish and plastic polish are both acceptable. This helps a lot so I can broaden my search a bit more.

_________________
Thanks,
Blain

http://www.ullrichguitar.com

"89.67% of all statistics are made up on the spot."

Blain--

Make sure that you read the MSDS chart for any product that you are thinking about purchasing. They are usually at the manufacturer's site or can be Google'd. Lookout for chemistry with silicone in it. I was able to get Mequires #2 and #7 at an Autozone. Look around or order from the web.

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

Look on the label ... teh Meguiars stuff I use (2,4,7, 10,17) all say that they are paintable ..ie, no silicones .. so if you rub out and go thru, its safe to be able to spray again.

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Quite to the contrary! Most auto parts stores carry Maguire’s #2 and #7. and 3M Perfect-it and Fineness-it are commonly found in auto part stores that market to pro auto painters. Also HD will have some buffing compounds as well. I think I have seen Fineness-it there.

Thanks for all the information.

This has helped me understand a lot better what I'm looking for.

The last time I went to Autozone and Advance Auto Parts, neither one had any of these products. That's not saying that they didn't have something that could have been used as a substitute, but I wasn't sure what to look for.

Maybe if I try the larger AutoZone store a little further away from my house, they'll have a different selection.

I'll check HD for finese it as well.

I appreciate all the feedback. I should be able to get my hands on a lot of different products now and try them out to see what I like best.

_________________
Thanks,
Blain

http://www.ullrichguitar.com

"89.67% of all statistics are made up on the spot."

I stopped off at AutoZone & Advance Auto on the way home today and AutoZone had Maguire’s #7, but not #2. They had several other Maguire's products but only the #7 stated that it was paintable.

They also had PlastX, but it said not to use on paint so I didn't want to chance that.

They only had one 3M product which was not 3M Perfect-it and Fineness-it

Advance Auto had everything that AutoZone had, but did NOT have Maguire's #7

It's possible that AutoZone could order the #2 for me if I asked, so I may give that a try.

_________________
Thanks,
Blain

http://www.ullrichguitar.com

"89.67% of all statistics are made up on the spot."