How I Level Sand And Buff The Finish On A Guitar 

First video I watched with professional quality without having to sand several dozen times!

I think I am fortunate to say I found this guitar for sale on reverb and scooped it up. Still in pristine condition! The finish has held up well, and the neck is UNBELIEVABLE!

This was an important lesson for all of us! I learn something new everytime I watch your shows, thank you!

I've never used the polish sanding trick but then again, I buff with 3 compounds not 2. Funny how we all do the same things but just a little bit different. I like that because it helps me to explore better/different techniques. Always looking to improve! Thanks Chris.

I watched your vedio on how to sand my back of my guitar you said get all the shine out and have a dull look so when I finally had some decent lighting I saw it the shine was geting more dull thank you been on this project over a year buying this and that now I'm good to go again thanks. you...RocknRollflat5

I’m not sure if this video makes me want to work harder on my finishes or buy a guitar from Highline...

Timing is everything. I’m about to finish/buff a guitar. Thanks Chris.

Hello Mister, god job, beautiful finishing, I love red guitar,. Hi from France

Great videos and commentary. I'm in the business as a manufacturer rep now for 29 years. You are spot on in so many ways, especially on how to achieve best results with the finish application. Nice shop set up as well and nothing like building your own shop tools.

Your videos are thee best resource I've found online on guitar finishing! Thank you so much for sharing! I know there are plenty of people like me who enjoy seeing the professional/experienced process, as well as appreciate any pointers on alternatives for newer people like myself.

Yeah its pretty crazy how far water based paints are getting. My buddys father owns a pretty reputable custom car paint shop and and asked what it was he was using. Assuming to hear some new lacquer or enamel....when he said he switched everything over to water based and occasional alcohol in airbrush work. I was absolutely blown away that water was capable. And was half the price and far less likely to die from fumes lol.

A true artisan expert Beyond my scope I would want to purchase one of his builds without hesitation

You do a fantastic job instructing and explaining each step of the way. Thanks so much....

My advice .... listen to this guy ! He's totally on it.

Nice work, it is a joy to watch a an artisan at work.

YOU ARE A GREAT GUY! YOU ALL ARE VERY CORRECT AND WONDERFUL! HUGE THANKS!!!

The fact I will never be patient enough to finish out a guitar body to the level of perfection with high gloss reminds me i have 3 unfinished guitars i need spray with flat paint and satin gloss.😋good work.

Extremely informative video. I especially like the explanation into why you do each step. Thanks, very helpful

Excellent video. I'm at the buffing stage with my first refinish & this was very helpful.

You need at minimum 2000 grit if you are going to buff without a dedicated machine. I use wet and dry for sanding but you need to make sure water does not get into the wood meaning all parts need to temporarily sealed. For example any scew holes otherwise the wood will expand in those areas and then contract when it dries which will slightly warp your totally flat fimish.

I have a buddy that paints cars and uses some real nice Iwata spray guns. His finishes are so nice they don’t even need wetsanding and he goes straight to buffing. They literally have practically zero orange peel. My goal is to get at least half as good as him so I can just wetsand with 1500 grit and go straight to buffing.

Excellent Chris, thank you very much for the info. I am finishing a water based acrylic finish on a guitar at the moment, so this has been a great help.

great video, wish you had a close up of the guitar after buffing and when you complete guitar to see how it looks finished

I've watched a lot of luthier videos here on UTube and none of them get the level of mirror finish on their guitars as you do... you probably know that but I felt like telling you. Consistency in high quality though is the main thing I see.

Excellent video and process Thank u for sharing Beautiful guitar finish You have inspired me to improving my painting and finishing to a level that I never thought possible in a very short period of time. Bless you, for your patience. Keep up the excellent work.

Thanks for the Info. I am just doing the top of my Les Paul.

Awesome work. I really need to build one of those polishers!

I think I would personally mask off the sharper edges with fine line tape or thin masking tape. The lacquers sit lighter on those areas and I wouldn't want to burn through to the base. But that's just what I'd do.

Great video, questions to follow!

Bob Odenkirk's older brother got some skills 👍

Awesome and informative video. Thank you

This is a damn good video. I really learned a lot. Thank you very much. Definitely subscribed!

thanks for being a great resource!

Beautiful work and excellent video, thanks for your time and dedication!

Nice work man...! gonna use your method... Cheers...!

Give us a vid on the making of your buffing wheel station!!! Love it...

Thank you very much for your information. İt was great job!

That's pretty informative. Thanks

Wow great video! You're really good a explains how to do things. And you take the time to explain why you do things. I really like videos like that for that you've earned a sub! Great looking guitar by the way!

Quality info ...as usual

Reminds me of an job application I filled out for house painting. One question was, 'Do you like to sand?' I responded, 'Is this a trick question?' (I didn't get the job.)

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I like the matte red finish after the level sanding. Some day itt convert my gloss finish Into a murdered black

Can I send you one of my guitars so you can do this!?!? That would be amazing fantastic work!

Thank you for your thorough explanation !

I like all my little scratches and nicks, lol.. But I would like to wax and polish though..I have a Tele, a Strat, and a les Paul that I need to do

I love how the intro is heavy AF, I expected some tatted up guy but then its you! LOL!

"I find it difficult to burn through a water-based finish"...Challenge accepted!!!

Thanks for the recommendation for the Super Assilex. I've been looking for a replacement for the 3M flexible sanding sheets since they discontinued them, and this looks like it may be similar. I live and die by those sanding sheets.

EVERYBODY NEEDS TO BUY 0000 STEEL WOOL, TOOK ME LESS THAN 10 MINUTES TO GET IT TO A COMPLETE FLAT SURFACE!!! life saver and time saver

Excellent video and information. Could also please include links to the sanding block and large erasers you used in this video?

Gonna go try... have to get something done

I'm currently working on an old acoustic guitar and holy hell I think I might have to get my arm amputated from sanding. It's been 2 days and I tried with every kind of sandpaper. My next solution might be a hammer or a good throw from the balcony....

@Highline Guitars. Finish looks great. I have 2 1970's Stratocasters to refinish. The easy one IMO will be the 75-76 Black Strat but the Tobacco Sunburst on a 1979 has me a bit nervous because I'm not sure if a couple of 40 something year old guitars should end up with satin or gloss finishes.......

Got any tips for a cerused finish? The ash was grain filled but despite sealer, fill, sealer, and 13 light coats of nitro, you can still feel the grain. I imagine it is a delicate wet sand. It has a fairly shiny finish with very little orange peel except for the maple neck. As it stands, I may just start with 600 and work my way to 12 or 1500 then put it through some heat and a freezer to check the finish- then a final buffing.

Awsome , thanks !

His favorite word is ‚however‘... However, it‘s a great tutorial!

I really enjoyed that. Seems I’ve been a bit all over the place with my method. What do you consider water based clear coats and are they as tough as oil based or polyurethane. I’m a bit confused about all the different finishes eg: Polyurethane, polyester, acrylic etc? Thanks 🙏

a year ago i did something stupid to my favorite studio guitar and got full of scratches; your buffing advice really help to restore her finish even if it's not perfect it's like new. Keep it up. i build guitars as a hobby and i wanted to ask is car polishing compounds (cause compounds for epoxy are pretty rare to find over here) a viableway to buff a finish?

Thank You Chris, very informative and helpful. I’m using quality automotive urethane paint products and a StewMac buffing machine and I have what looks like very fine scratches under my Tamco clear. I use mineral spirts instead of water and I am very careful to not cross the different buffing wheels. I’m going to try your suggestion of less grits, maybe 800, 1,000, 1,500 then the two buffing wheels of medium and fine. ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank You very much for the video.

So helpful

There are so important what you teach us. Thank you so much!!!! Is it possible to have this shiny result without using water or machine?

Great video! I have a fair amount of experience with painting, sanding, and buffing in an automotive application, and I know that edges are particularly scary in that you have to pay close attention to the direction of the rotation in relation to an edge so that you don't buff the paint off of the edge. I've never used a buffing wheel, or buffed a guitar....or water based for that matter.....is it just as critical and delicate near the edges using the buffing wheel? And how easy is it for the guitar to get ripped out of your hands when doing the horns? Thanks!

Love your videos. I’m in the middle of finishing a Chinese knock off kit and it looks like I may have level sanded through a couple of places on the edges. I used Keda dye and Solarez. Looks great but I think I may need a few more coats of Solarez. My question is, how do I fix the spots where there appears to be no more dye? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

would have liked to see the final look more than a millisecond, vrey imformative. Thanks,

Thanks. very informative.

where is the money shot? a nice slow close up of the guitar when it's all done,

I guess I'm dumb, but when you spray the clear coats on, doesn't that build up on the surface? So when you sand, wouldn't those shiny spots be high spots, and not low spots? I know you know what you're doing, but I'm just trying to understand this.

How many coats of clear do you apply when you use lacquer?

That finish looks like polished crushed ruby's!!!!!!!

I don't think people realize how much those buffing wheels can grab...

Chris please share the motor and wheel shaft pulley diameters you have used on your buffer. I have been wanting to build one of these for years. Love your videos. Thanks for all you do!

Hi Chris. I used to help a friend rebuild and refinish pianos 40 years ago but have not tried doing any kind of refinishing myself. COVID has forced me into retirement and I thought I would try to refinish one of my guitars. I have watched many of your videos and feel comfortable with stripping and sanding from 120 to 220) but don't know which materials to use. I thought for sure I'd go with the Minwax polyurethane/mineral spirit mix in one of your videos but have told the fume would be very strong. In another video, you mentioned the problem with water based product... Which video should I watch forerefinishing a couple guitars safety and inexpensively? Thank you so much!

Nervous as f to start the final sanding/polishing on guitar I'm working on.

Thanks.

Have you ever tried wet sanding and using a rubber squeegee to block out your work, if so how were the result?

Question: About how long should I allow the finish to cure after its application before beginning this process?

Excellent video. Those are very helpful. Do you sand the edges directly, or do you leave a thin line until the buffer? If you do sand the edges, do you go over the edge in your quarter or do you go along the whole edge? I'm really scared of those edges.

Hello Chris. If I may ask. What rmp would you recommend for compounding and also polishing on a hand held polisher? I have a Avid dual action random orbital polisher that the slowest rpm is 2700. Is that to fast or aggressive for a polishing speed?

How do you keep from sanding the edge when you sand the sides? I invariably burn the edges when I sand like that.

Looks good from far away but needed a closeup shot just one time?

Very informative video. I have a fender American original '60s Stratocaster that has some waviness going on in the finish or body, I don't know which, but I am starting to wonder after watching your video if sanding it down and then buffing it could make it flatter and not have all the crazy wavy reflections going on. It is a lacquer nitrocellulose finish. Do you think that is an option?

I just ordered a candlewood strat body the grains are paralell to the neck. I thought about translucent red. The flour paste type grain filler im still not sure how. My second choice is translucent black.

Hi, I asked you this last week but I don’t know if you saw the comment. What do you think about using Solarez as an initial base layer/sealer/grain filler and then over coating that with the crystal lac instrument finish? Do you think that would work especially since the Solarez seems to sand so well?. Thanks for the great content.

Great job. I am at the finish sanding for my clear coat. Would you recommend dry or wet sand?

Thank you for your instructive videos. I have access to a buffer but the polishing compound may be a few years old. Does it go bad. It’s from a company called Menzerna out of Germany.

Thanks for the tips. What materials did you use to wipe the surface clean of the medium buffing compound? Solvents?

I've been doing finishes for a long time. I've always wet sanded in a circular motion however several RU-vid lessons say sanding in one direction is better. I tried this on a recent finish and I'm not sure it looked any better than finishes I sanded circular. Is there any science behind either method being better?

QUESTION! Because of the pandemic, and my low resources, im finishing my guitar with home stuff. Im using shoe wax for a black stain, and color pencil for small parts, this two things are in the top, just a little, the rest is the natural wood color (Mahogany) Im using Varathane oil based polyurethane spray for the finish. Experimenting on a piece of the same wood, im seeing problems with the poly... i will experiment more, but... can i sand the shoe wax? is those that come in a circle can, the brand is Bufalo. My intention is to make a burst of black from the side and add some color on the center edges to simulate a decoloration on the tint. Could i mix this wax with something to make it like a liquid stain ? I think this thing goes too solid and thats what makes the poly to be so inconsistent. About the pencil color, you should try it ! In bare wood the thing seems as a pastel color, and somehow it does get on the wood effortlessly. I think it could be removed with sanding. Rubbing it does get it off a little but not completely. Any tip? There are little brands of CA here, i used krazy glue and it looks beautiful if you sand the first layer and apply a second one, but it doesnt protect from scratches and is toxic... however i did try today poly on top and wow... I dont think it will need to be sanded as it was smooth, unless you want a mirror finish. I will try using a resin epoxy from Envirotex, the other i have is Loctite and see if i get the same result.

Hi! You have so many tips however.,...not so many have those hight tech machines in their toolshed...anyway nice info!

What is the best method for removing surface scratches ie. marks in the finish of a guitar? Can you buff them out? I have a Yamaha classical acoustic guitar that I bought as a second and it has some marks in the lacquer that are visible when looking across the surface.

What about refinishing an older instrument rather than a newly painted one? Is there any surface sealer you have to use over the old finish (trying to preserve some of the original patina) in order to promote adhesion of the final layers? Over shellac, lacquer, or maybe a finish that contains oil based stain? thank you!

I'm confused in your term "surface RPM". The shaft speed of about 1000 RPM, with 14" buffing wheels makes the surface speed about 3500 RPM. Please elaborate. Thanks.

I have an early G&L S-500 that has a polyester finish (glossy). How should I polish or buff out the dulled or hazy areas that contacted players skin? Thanks!

Hi! First of all your videos are great and very inspiring! I've a question: I'm on a satin finish on my very first build right now and I necessarily need to level sand. Which is the target sandpaper grit I should reach? I don't need to buff, i guess, as I want a satin look, but I neither want a 'scratched' surface, which is the result of 1500 sanding. My target is a satin, but flat, surface. Should I buff and then use 0000 steel wool to bring back the satin effect? Or simply reach an higher grit when level sanding? I really hope for your help, I'll take you advices as the Holy Bible. Thank you!

Have you ever heard of Super Nikco polisher? Is it any good for high gloss finish?

a masterclass.........

Looks great but why doesn’t work for me??? Im a luthier using shellack for all my life but now my clients have asked me to use harder stuff for back and sides. I have used almost everything like you, i have a stewmac buffing wheel machine, the only 2 diferences where i use rinosoft sanding paper, same greeds, and the buffing compound is from stewmac instead of meserna. But the shine is never ok and I believe the buffing wheels are creating scratches :( I believe im doing domething really wrong. I used crystalac like you and waited 1 month to dry. Do you have some advice? Chears

Hi, maybe a dumb question but.. when You say that You're using a P800 Grit, it's a "P800" referring to the "ANSI" (American National Standards Institute) encoding? Thanks

How should I remove the remnants of the previous sander before moving on to the next sanding step? I am having a problem with this. I will be glad if you help. Which clenaer should i use?

Could you tell me the name of the polishers that I use in the video, thanks