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PostPosted: Mon May 06, 2013 11:44 am 
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Mahogany
Mahogany

Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2011 12:55 pm
Posts: 69
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
First name: Alain
Last Name: Gagnon
City: Ottawa
State: ON
Country: Canada
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Ok so with a small sanding block and 320grit I'm sanding through my grain filler (hoods)on the curved parts of the neck and in the waist area. Flat doesn't match curved. I get it. I also tried using sandpaper with just my fingers and still problems. Should I try steel wool or scotch brite? Any ideas on the best way to sand these areas?

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PostPosted: Mon May 06, 2013 1:24 pm 
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Contributing Member
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Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2009 4:44 am
Posts: 5563
First name: colin
Last Name: north
Country: Scotland.
Focus: Build
Status: Semi-pro
OK, I'm no expert and had a hard time with similar problems with finishing on my first 5 now.
The best I've found so far (latest) was a about 8" of 2" OD plastic pipe with 3 mm cork carpet taped round it to back up the sandpaper for the waist (thanks Todd) and a pad (about 2" x 2 1/2") of the same 3 mm cork curved round the neck (under my fingers) to back up abrasive.
Try not to overlap sanding strokes ("taper" them into each other when you start on a new area)
This process has to start when sanding the bare wood, through pore filling, then leveling finish coats.
If you don't have a level surface at any stage, it will/can create problems further down the line.
"Preparation is key" - I've seen it in other finishing advice on the forum.
Check out frets.com for sanding block suggestions, (and search the forum of course)

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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.


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PostPosted: Mon May 06, 2013 9:59 pm 
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Koa
Koa

Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2008 10:08 pm
Posts: 1958
Location: Missouri
First name: Patrick
Last Name: Hanna
State: Missouri
Country: USA
Do just what Colin said. But go to your hardware or plumbing store (somewhere that sells the stuff by the foot) and buy a variety of diameters. I recently used 1&1/4 and 1&1/2-inch diameters with great results. Blending the curved sections into the flat sections just comes with practice, and the neck curves probably require different diameters than the waist curves. It's not so difficult. It just requires patience and a light touch. I sand through filler all the time. I hate it when that happens. But it's not the end of the world to go back in and re-fill here and there.
Patrick


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