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So the finish on #2, #3, and #4 are almost at the end of their cure periods, so I decided the make the bridges for them today. Everything looked fine until I placed it on the top of one of the guitars to see how it'd look. The guitar top was so wet and shiny looking while the bridge is very flat looking. This was a problem on my first build also, and I want to know how to make my bridges shine to somewhat match the rest of the finished guitar. Excessive sanding? Polishing? What's the trick? For the record, they are all macassar ebony with lots of nice stripiness to them.

Ellison-
Though I like the 'dull look' in bridges myself, I've found that ebony will get quite shiny looking if sanded with fine grit paper.
I've even buffed ebony to good effect, when I wanted some shine.
(Though all that ebony sanding can make you look like a coal miner after a long shift....)
Cheers
John

You can use a dedicated buffing wheel and it will make them shine.

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Gwaltney Guitars

I sand my bridges progressively to 600 grit. When I am sanding with the 600 wet/dry paper, I lubricate the paper with common household olive oil. I then do buff them with a wheel, but honestly, by the time I get through all the grits, they are gleaming.

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

Common household walnut oil would be better. Olive oil can go rancid and smell bad. Walnut will polymerize and harden. In your application I doubt enough oil is left on or in the pores to matter but I'm just giving the info.
Link

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

A micro mesh progression to 12000 works very well and takes about ten minutes.

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http://www.booneguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-Boone-guitar-builder/488208541257210

simple OOOO steel wool + lemon oil seems to do the trick

Micro Mesh +1 here and the pads also work great (and fast too) if you chuck your bridge pins in a cordless drill and run through the pads.

Also Howard's Feed-N-Wax will darken and shine bridges but it does wear off. Works great for fretboards too.

Progressive grits of sandpaper, 4/O steel wool, Bee's Wax & buffer.

Up to 600 grit, buffer with Menzerna brown, clean up on cotton wheel and glue-up. Wax after the set-up.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

I love how you can get about ten different answers and they all work! Such is building.

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http://www.booneguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-Boone-guitar-builder/488208541257210

Sand smooth with 400 then 0000 steel wool then buff with a wheel that I use only for bare wood, and fingerboards. No compound is needed on the wheel. After gluing on I clean up if any hide glue got on the surface and was missed in the wiping and buff just the bridge with a little Menzerna fine on the wheel. A little finger board oil before installing the strings makes it look nice.

Fred

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

another vote for micro mesh 12000 grit makes your fingerboard and bridge shine

Slightly off-topic, but it was a while before I figured out that the Micromesh 'Grades' are not the same as the 'grit' designations on regular US-type (CAMI/ANSI) sandpaper.
For example a 4000 MicroMesh pad is as coarse as 1500 grit sandpaper.
I tried to attach a conversion table from the MicroMesh website, but it apparently didn't work. The link is:
http://micro-surface.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=16
Now that wet-dry papers in finer grits seem to be more commonly available, you can often find substitutes for most grades of MicroMesh.

This same 'conversion problem' arises with the (excellent) Abralon abrasive pads.

Cheers
John

Thanks John,
That's good info. Wet dry is a lot cheaper than the micro.
Link

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

You can find finer sandpaper, that are still cheaper than micro... I have 1000, 1500, 2000, for wood, wet or dry... I also found that the ones for metal are doing a nice polish.. but the paper dont last very long on wood... but, only for a bridge...

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

Thanks for the replies everyone. Unfortunately I don't have access to a buffing wheel. Maybe one day I'll invest in one. So far I've sanded up to 1200 grit and they're looking pretty nice! I think I may try steel wool now, and that should give me a suitable result.

I got an inexpensive 6" buff (ebay) to fit my drill specifically for bridges.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.