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I can't say about Abranet used with the Festool, but I have used it with my Bosch ROS for cabinetry, and there aren't near as many swirl marks as when I use Mirka Royal or Klingspor discs. The only drawback is that they tear easily on the edges if you bump a sharp edge, but that shouldn't be an issue with sanding a guitar.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

I've only used it on one guitar with a Mirka Cerros ROS with the pad. I really liked the finish and, of course, it doesn't load up. I used the 220, 400, and 600. I used 220 before finishing, 400 during the initial leveling after the first 4 coats, and the 600 to start leveling after the final finish coats. Obviously I couldn't use it everywhere but with slow speed and a light touch I was able to really reduce the amount of time I normally spend hand sanding. I plan to get more.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I like them very much even with a cheap ROS.About the only thing I buy now.

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Wisdom is justified by her children

I've been wondering about this too. Those little swirl marks are annoying. It looks like on that Festool forum , people are not having any problems using the Abranet discs with the abranet pad. I'm not sure if it replaces the Festool pad or sits on top of it somehow.

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Pat

The Abranet pad sits on top of the Festool pad, it's soft & is about 3/8" thick.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

I have not tried them with a Festool, but I can attest that they work really well with a Ceros ROS, made by Mirka. IIRC, somebody mentioned (here?) that they preferred a more rigid pad than the stock Mirka one that is supplied with the Ceros, for improved level sanding performance. I don't remember if they had made one themselves or found a different brand that worked with this sander, and personally I haven't felt the need, but...

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

You need the Abranet spacer. The hooks in the sander pad will shorten to the thickness of the Abranet and be useless for standard H&L paper. This is what I use:
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2005922/18749/Pad-Protector--6--(2).aspx

I use Abranet on my Makita ROS, modified with the Abranet pad. (One day I'll get the Ceros sander, but not quite yet)
I think you need to use a fairly hard pad to get a nice level surface. The foam backed Abranet abrasive discs leave a rippled surface which needs to be block sanded to flatten it out. I assume a soft sander pad would do the same.
I spritz the guitar lightly with water & go for it with the ROS. Makes the job go very quickly with no clogging.

Which paper are you using? You mentioned toying with vacuum amounts; I typically run my vacuum around 1/3rd and only have swirl issues with the 1000 grit Platin pads. I have a mix of Rubin and Brilliant 2 for 125-400, then Platin 500 and 1000. ETS-125 and the Midi vacuum.

Hi Filippo,
Another type of "sandpapers" you might want to look into are the micron polyester backed sanding discs. The grading of the grit sizes are to higher tolerances, so the oversized swirl causing grit that cami graded papers have is less likely to occur. They are more expensive than paper backed papers, but cheaper than abranet stuff. Being plastic backed they can be washed off and reused a couple of times by the parsimonious minded (such as myself).
The 100 micron corresponds roughly to 120 grit, but I might go with 80 micron if the festool is an aggresive type ROS.