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I built a dual buffing wheel much like the one from Stewmac. I'm sharing a motor with my drum sander and the drum sander works counterclockwise. I can mount a switch on the motor to switch directions. However, I was wondering if it even matters as long as you present the guitar appropriately to the wheel.

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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

it does matter

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I'd think having to operator facing edge moving downward is the only way to go here, I think it would be better for holding onto, to have it pulling against your arms in an extended position for one, for another, if it was going up you wouldn't be able to see it making contact with the wheel as you'd need to position the guitar above the horizontal center line of the wheel, and angle way from your line of sight. I'd also think that if the wheel grabbed one of your parts it's more desirable to have it smash into the floor than launch towards your face.

The guitar won't know. But you will.

For a standard buffing set-up, the wheels rotate downwards where you present the work. If the work grabs, and gets snatched from your grip, the work heads downwards and breaks on the floor. If the rotation is the other way, and gets snatched from your grip, the work would take you head off and still smash and then smash again when it landed on the floor.

So as John (Hall) said, it matters.

(as says John S also, who just made the same point...)

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

Yeah, if you'd ever seen a guitar get launched you'd know. It's as powerful as a tablesaw kickback. One second you're buffing, the next you're standing over a 3k$ pile of splinters weeping. Truly a heart rending experience. They have enough force to knock out your teeth or break a nose. At least the ones I got used to did...

Good enough. I'll install the switch.

I'm new to buffing wheels but I'm hired to do a lot of finish work so it makes sense to have one. Not only as a time saver but also a quality booster. I ran a test piece that was sprayed last year and the wheel did everything it was supposed to. However, I think I wasn't applying enough pressure in the beginning. After applying more force than I initially expected, the piece started to gleam. Does this sound right? I guess at first I was trying not to burn any finish off. It's a brand new wheel so little fuzzers were flying all over as well. I guess I have a lot if experimenting to do.

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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

Aaron it takes a bit of trial and error to get the technique down but it's not difficult once you get the hang of it. You shouldn't have to use very much force to get a good buff. If it doesn't shine up within a few seconds then you don't have enough compound on the wheel. It takes a fair amount of time for the compound on the stick to heat up and get transferred to the wheel, so hold the stick on the wheel for 10 seconds or more, with a good amount of pressure. With a new wheel, you really need to get some compound on there. You will see the wheel change color from white to the color of the compound, then you know you are getting it on there. You should hear a gritty sound when the wheel runs across the guitar. That is the compound going to work. Dont stay in one spot too long or you can get burn throughs, and stay away from edges. Re-compound the wheel often. Once you get the hang of it buffing isn't very complicated.

Like others said, don't let it catch an edge or your guitar will get thrown to the ground. I had it happen to me while buffing a neck the other day. I got lucky it didn't get banged up too bad. It happens in an instant, before you can think.

I'm not sure the advice of "stay away from edges" is entirely good, only partially. There's no reason you can't buff into an edge at the trailing edge of the buff (bottom), but buffing through an edge is what can become instantly disastrous. Not just edges on the outside, but soundholes as well.
The bigger point when done correctly is to make sure you don't use too much pressure...then it can tear the finish off. keeping the flat surface of the instrument tangent to the buff direction is key.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I've seen people wearing gloves and keeping a tight grip on it. I suppose it's a delicate balance between buffing and scratching/denting it with your grip.

I did wire that switch and feel much better about it now after hearing everyone talk about it getting thrown upwards and breaking a nose.

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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

Personally I wouldn't want to wear gloves. I like to be able to get a feel precisely what I am holding. The traction of bare hands is plenty enough to hold the guitar adequately, and probably better than most gloves.