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Hello,

I'm working on leveling out the finish on a neck. The neck is finished with Enduro-Var. I have been using a foam pad and 400 grit paper. The neck is tough because of all the contours and such. Do folks use grey Scotchbrite when leveling finish? It seems it would be more forgiving than foam / paper and maybe keep me from sanding through. I'm using such a light touch with the paper but I'm still a bit worried about it.

If others are using Scotchbrite, I'll head out and get some from Woodcraft.

Thanks for any feedback!

Brad

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Scotchbrite doesn't have the cutting power to level a finish unless it's already quite smooth. Plus - since it's pretty thick and cushiony compared to sandpaper.... you get the idea. Use several grits of sandpaper first, then you can use any of several grits of Scotchbrite for final cutting of finishes before polishing.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I've had pretty good luck with 360 grit Abralon pads made by Mirka.

They're pricey but they last a long time & you can wash them.

Look for them on Ebay.

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.

Thanks, Kevin!

Looks like they even have mittens that will hold them. https://www.amazon.com/Ebonite-Bowling- ... ds=abralon

I'll give these a shot. I'm very nervous on the neck area with a foam pad and paper!

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I've been using Super Assilex, no not for constipation but for finishes. If I have a sag or something, which is almost never, I sand that area first with 600 grit then just level sand the whole guitar with lemon assilex, (which is about 800 grit but it cuts very fast) then go to orange (about 1200) and straight to the buffer. It's wonderful stuff and makes for a very regular finish.

Quick and easy.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Sorry for the interruption from our regularly scheduled programming....

I used to work for a company that had one department with 35 people in it and their entire mission in life was to vet company and product names against any lewd, vulgar, offensive, belittling, devaluing, misleading, libelous, and even inaccurate slant on that name that someone such as I and the rest of us could come up with.

Assilex would have never passed muster..... Perhaps I should rephrase that but you get the idea....

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

PS: Brad my friend for leveling I want something that's level even if it's flexible such as hard rubber pads or dense felt pads. The pad can flex but at the surface level it's not spongy, flat and can level. Of course abrasive paper is put on the pad.

For convex and transition areas, a strip of paper held in tension between your hands and moved in a circular motion offers a lot of control.
More tension and tangent contact spans high spots. Less tension and increased deflection follows contours more gently.

For concave areas, I like various cut out sections of plastic bottles with paper wrapped around them. They are relatively hard at the surface for spanning small defects like orange peel but easily conform to larger contours.
They are also found in every imaginable shape, and free.

The little plastic tubes small router bits come in often work well in the hyoid area. Thin walled plastic tubes deform into beautiful splines if the end caps are removed.

Scotchbrite won't "level" finish but it can knock off the dust bumps and flatten orange peel some. The red is a bit more aggressive than the grey. Abralon works fine too, doesn't really level the finish - but do we really level the finish on the neck?

I use a lot of scotchbrite during finishing but not to actually do any type of leveling work.

I use maroon to prep for finish repairs and to de-nib/tooth between coats.

I use grey (3M 6448, not the general purpose grey) after level sanding at 400 as a final stage before I start my pre polish with the buffer.

I use white for light cleaning and finish restoration.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Thanks for all the replies. I tried Kevin's idea of the Abralon pads. They worked great! What I did was used 400 grit paper on a foam pad to gently get rid of about 75% of the shiny. Then used the 360 grit Abralon pad which doesn't cut anything like 360 paper but instead let me slowly remove the rest of the shiny. Then 500, and 1000 Abralon pads and then to the buffer. Because the pads don't cut the finish very well was helpful to let me get more aggressive with the pad around the contours in the neck without fear of sanding through. Thanks for the idea, Kevin!

I also cut the pads into smaller rectangles which helped me to control them. It created some waste but made it easier to control.

Thanks for the help!
Brad


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