Holy crap... The cheap satin Les Paul Tribute models just became an interesting option for me, as I don't like satin finishes on Les Paul's... I never thought of trying that!
Glad to help! I love satin necks, but not satin bodies. So I have done this with two of my satin guitars now, and they look so much better to me, but still have the smooth satin necks. Perfect combo for me.
literally looked this up to change my satin tribute to gloss. i have a studio that’s glossy and it’s gorgeous and sounds great but the intonation keeps me from playing it live
Along the same lines I've always loved the way a gloss black Les Paul tends to dull in certain areas. And I'm with you on the preferred gloss finish over the satin. However, I just got a good deal on a 339 with a satin finish that I'm going to explore buffing it to a gloss. I'll just start on the back like this man did did his PRS and see if I like it. The satin finish is a little less upkeep as fingerprints and the like don't show up as well, but I think the 339 will look better gloss all over except for the neck of course. This video is very helpful and straightforward. I'm glad I came across it!
@@jeffmancuso2715my special has the satin finish but it also has the lack of wood grain fill. It's got like the dog hair kind of look as far as texture. It's all black and I'm wondering if I bring it all to high gloss if it will look okay. Some parts of it are already buffed up just from use and they look okay. I'm still a little weary of doing the whole thing as the lack of wood grain feeling may make it very obvious or odd looking I'm not sure if you're special has the same type of finish but please do reply back with results if you decide to go with it
It also really pulls out the grain, making both the light and dark grain lines richer. My only reservation is that if there is something in the compound that "removes" the original finish. I suppose it doesn't really matter as it is offering a protection to the wood all its own. I have a satin Taylor that I think could look a lot nicer if it was shined up a bit.
Great tip! I managed to get the same compound. There is a Les Paul in a colorway that I love but its only in matte. I love the gloss of Les Pauls thick polyethylene lacquer layer, but I was reluctantly willing to settle with it. After watching this video, I looked into it more because I had no idea about this. Anyway, did it today and was quite happy about it. It isnt quite crisp reflections but very close. I had to stop though beacause one are i noticed was ever so slightly starting to strip the paint. Good thing I saw it and it is practically unnoticeable. Anyway now I have a rare guitar that was never produced in gloss! Thanks!
Thank you so much for your video. I've been looking for a solution for my satin finished guitars for a while now. I used UBeaut EEE Ultra Shine on my all mahogany acoustic and the result is fantastic. Applied six coats and hand buffed between coats with a microfiber cloth. Then applied a few coats of UBeaut Polish Restor
I was surprised by the excellence of your video, which was made with passion and a lot of effort, and while watching the video, I was moved by your sincerity and effort. A video that went through a mysterious algorithm caught my eye and I fell in love with your channel. Thanks to your videos it surrounds me with beautiful and good energy. May everything you do be fulfilled to the fullest, like a bright sun ahead. Your video really touches my heart. This is a video I want to watch over and over again. I would like to give you my sincere praise and support. There is a wonderful talent full of strange charm who looks at your videos like a dream. The video I wanted to see so much right now was your video. Thank you
I was just wondering this exact thing. I have an epiphone korina Flying V 2024 inspired by Gibson series. It had a satin finish which I really don’t love. I noticed after playing it for a while the back of the neck turned glossy from playing it so much as if my hand was buffing it out.
I accidentally swiped in between the pickups with the towel that had fretboard conditioner on it. I wiped it off immediately, no problem. And later I noticed the smudge between the pickups. I used a wet wipe, pledge, I met the wet wipe sit on it for a couple minutes, but the fretboard conditioner is not water soluble. It's not bad, but it's a 3 week old Schecter banshee mach 6 frs in what they call fallout burst finish. I was doing it's first string change/ fretboard cleaning and I'm usually very careful, but I messed up. What you did there is very cool! And I think to get rid of the smudge I'm going to have to do something similar. Thank you for posting this!
A small amount of time and investment for a huge return. Great tip! So simple too. Have a satin finished FG. It was the only thing I didn’t like about the guitar. Only had it a couple of months and they come out with a fully gloss version for a couple hundred more! Grrrrrr! I’m so pissed. Lol! Thank you ❤
Cool!! I just did mine and I used Maguires Ultimate Compound. It looks like a proper vintage 335! Absolutely transformed it into something you wanna just sit snd stare at!😂 So happy with the results!
I kinda guessed one could do this, as my guitar came with a satin finish on back of the neck. Now, it's a high gloss. It did take many years to get to such a gloss. So, the natural way is not the quickest way to turn a satin finish into gloss 😉
Interesting. I accidentally smoothed areas of my satin guitar by mistakenly using the wrong cleaning product. Now I have to decide if I should try to rough the smoothed areas back to a satin or polish the whole thing down to a uniform smooth glossy finish. Your results look really good. But I’m still scared. Wish I could just undo my initial mistake. 😕
Nice job! A couple years ago I bought a "used" Epiphone Les Paul Studio from GC that was actually brand new and in excellent condition except for an obvious flat scrape in the poly varnish on the lower bout by the tailpiece. It happened in the store so since they couldn't sell it as new any more it was marked down to half price for clearance and I came across it first and jumped on it. Figured I had nothing to lose; it was a steal and it played great regardless. These guitars have a heavy multi-coat buildup of gloss polyurethane varnish so if you're careful and patient you can polish pretty vigorously without going too far. I worked on the scuff for a couple hours spread over a few nights, just sitting in my easy chair and polishing only by hand, using Turtle Wax "Renew Rx" Premium Rubbing Compound (an automotive product with no silicones or wax) and small clean folded swatches of old cotton tee-shirt material. When a swatch had no more clean faces to polish with I threw it away. I buffed the residual polish off with a fresh clean cloth between re-applications. This is strenuous and a little tedious too but I'm a woodworker so I'm used to that. Eventually the scuff completely disappeared. Or to be fair, I know where it is but nobody else would ever find it. I went over the whole top lightly with the compound then to feather out the repair into the overall finish, and did the final buffout with folded soft facial tissues, fogging the surface of the guitar with my hot breath in the same way you'd clean your eyeglasses. Finally applied a hand-rubbed layer of Johnson's Paste Wax as a top coat, which by the way also has a microgrit polish in it so this can be a two-edged sword- go easy, be careful. It came out beautiful. Voilà, a better-than-new Epi Les Paul for dealer cost. So my next experiment was to polish the 'worn' matte cherry red poly on an Epiphone Special, again just by hand while sitting in my den. Came out to a very nice aged-looking semi-gloss sheen that makes the guitar look like it's old but well cared for.
@@IamMusicNerd Yeah, elbow grease was the key, along with patience. Sorry that was such a long description of the process but I wanted anybody who's interested to know exactly what I did. It would've gone faster if I took it out to my shop and machine polished and buffed it but I have time and didn't want the mess of compound slinging off the pad. Yours came out great man, beautiful guitar!
I always get nervous at the idea of taking the pickups out of guitars for things like this, because I feel I will ruin them, even though they're still connected with the wiring. I want to try doing this myself... but I have that fear of screwing up my pickups so I don't know.
I can understand that. I was nervous the first time as well. But I have done it dozens of times now, and I have never had an issue yet. The soldering is usually very strong. Just be gentle and don’t tug if you feel resistance.
What a difference !! Guitar came out beautiful. I absolutely hate what guitar companies are doing with these flat finishes and drab colors. IMHLO guitars are supposed to be works of art that also happen to sound good. It also drives me nuts when a company like PRS will have a great, well sorted out guitar (DGT SE for instance) and then NOT offer it in their most beautiful colors...dark cherryburst, transparent orange or vintage cherry.
It’s called Howard Restor-A-Shine Polishing Compound. But any polishing compound with micro powder or micro beads should work fine. Just avoid the ones that have any kind of pumice or grit in them.
I have a squire strat guitar with a either satin finished or unfinished maple neck and fretboard. Can I just tape off the frets and spray some gloss clear coats, then buff ? over the satin ? or just use polishing compound on the fret board and buff ? Thanx
is it safe to do this on a coloured guitar body? i read somewhere that applying wood polish/wax to guitars with a satin finish can make it look blotchy - creating patches of lighter colour all over the body
That’s a good question. Most of my guitars are a natural wood color, so I don’t have a satin finished guitar with a darker color that I can try it on. But if I ever do, I will update this to let you know.
Great video. I have a Gibson Les Paul Faded which I am thinking of doing the same thing on. I am not sure if the lacquer is thick enough. Slightly worried about rubbing through. What do you think?
Good question. I have not done it on the neck. I typically like the feel of satin next more than gloss the neck. So I only have tried polishing the body of the guitar. I’m sure it would work on the neck, but I would not be able to tell you definitively until I try it myself.
Great question. I believe so, as it is still a lacquer. However, nitro is harder and more brittle than poly. So just be careful not to push too hard to avoid cracking the lacquer if the wood flexes on your guitar.
That's awesome. And it's so easy. I would've been alright actually refinishing my guitars but this is cake. Now it works on acoustic and all that too right? Are there any things this won't work on? I figures it would work just as well but I just want to double check. And you said it's polyurethane? So, theoretically, you could put on a bit more and get that high gloss look and protect the instrument more?
Theoretically, yes. However, every manufacturer uses different types of polyurethane or lacquer, so results could vary slightly. It should work on acoustics as well, just be careful not to press down as hard as with a solid body when polishing, since the wood is very thin and could crack if you press too hard.
how long should i rub the compound by hand before i use the drill with the pad? and how long should i use the drill? also, how’s it holding up 10 months later?
Good questions. I only let it sit for a few minutes after rubbing in by hand before using the buffing pad on the drill. (Make sure it’s one with a thick sponge pad under the buffing wheel, so that there are no hard parts that would be pressing against the guitar) It’s been holding up very well. Still looks nice and shiny months later for me.
So far mine is still glossy after about 5 months. I am not a professional musician though, so my guitars do not take much abuse. My guess is if yours do, they may need to be re-polished a couple times a year. If not, it should last quite a long time.
I’m pretty sure it will stay. Satin finish guitars naturally become shiny at locations that have a lot of contact because of the oils in our skin, general wear, etc. From my experience, I can only assume that the coat from the compound will stay on there for a long time. It might get less shiny, but it will definitely never be back to original.
Thanks for info, sounds great! Intend to buy a new Gibson acoustic J-45 faded, which has matte nitro finish faded, and as i prefer glossy, will polish it up!
Not sure. I’ve never tried with an acoustic. But you are not changing the thickness of the lacquer, just polishing it, so the sound should remain the same in theory.
Hi Thank you for your awesome video. Just want to ask will it also work on acoustic guitar as I am after a parlor but it has open pore finish. Can I change open pore finish to gloss using this method. Thank you Kerol
I have not tried it on that yet, but as long as the guitar has a lacquer or urethane based finish, it should buff up to a nice sheen. It might just take a few extra coats with open pore as it’s a far thinner base coat. However, be careful not to press too hard when buffing a hollow guitar. You can accidentally crack the wood, so you will have to buff by hand very lightly, which could take more time and patience.
So far it’s been holding up great. I just play at home, so I am not too hard on my guitars. My guess is that if you travel with it or gig live a lot, you may need to re-apply a couple times a year. But for me it’s still shiny after almost a year now.
hey! thats a very cool vid mate! thanks for it! I have one question. will it help to protect satin against the scratches? Ive got gibson satin finish, but I can do the small scratches with my nails only. I cant imagine to have this guitar on stage while getting mad on stage. will this tutorial help me against the scratches? thanks!
Great question! I guess it depends on how deep the scratch is. As long as the scratch does not penetrate through the thin satin finish into the wood, you should be able to buff it out no problem using a method similar to this. However, if the scratch goes through the satin finish then buffing and polishing may not hide the scratch completely.
@@IamMusicNerd thank you for the reply sir! and what if I could use epoxy lacquer on the satin finish? I mean transparent. because I dont want the satin finish anymore, do you think it should work? to put epoxy layer as a top to avoid scratches. I am just thinking if it will be not problem to have soft satin finish under the epoxy.
Ya, I would be careful with that. The hard epoxy lacquer could crack over the top of it, or it could cause the sating finish underneath to wrinkle. (depending on whether it was polyurethane based satin or a nitro based satin). Not sure if there is an inconspicuous spot to test it on first, or if you have an old cheap guitar you could try it on before doing it on a guitar you love.
Yes it does! I usually do not do that since I prefer satin necks, but if you prefer gloss necks you can buff them up the same way. The only exception would be if it’s an unfinished open grain neck. (Open grain with no satin clear coat on it) Buffing that would not produce a gloss finish right away because it would soak into the grain. In that case I would recommend using a thin coat of satin or gloss rubbing lacquer/urethane first to seal the grain, then after it dries hard, do the buffing compound to get it smooth and shiny.
Probably. However, most glossy fretboards have hard lacquer on them to hold up to the strings rubbing on it. So with just polish, it would probably wear off pretty fast and you’d have to re-do it pretty often to keep it glossy.
I have heard there are some companies that make a fretboard polish specifically for that purpose. I think one was Monty's in the UK. I can't remember the other ones.
Good question. I have not tried it yet on an acoustic. It should work, but you will have to be very light with your touch, and not press down as hard when polishing. I have an old small parlor sized acoustic I might try it on to test.
Great question. I don’t know. I preferred to use a wood polish to be safe, but maybe try it on a cheap guitar first, or a piece of scrap wood with some lacquer on it.
I believe so. There are certainly a few exceptions, but as a general rule, most lacquers or urethanes should work with a high quality buffing compound, because almost all satin finishes use the same base as the gloss versions. They just either have an additive to give them a lower sheen, or are not polished as much.
Whennit comes to electric guitars the body s entirely esthetics and has zero to do with sound. Take the electronics and put it on a 2x4, tune it up and play.
For solid body electrics, you have a good point. Jack White even did an experiment with that. Very small differences between a Tele with humbuckers and a Les Paul. But for hollow body electric guitars there is a noticeable difference in sustain and resonance compared to a solid body electric. You tend to get a lot more feedback with the pickups in a hollow electric compared to a solid body as well.
That's a cool option, I like satin finishes but I'm glad people can DIY their finishes like this!
Holy crap... The cheap satin Les Paul Tribute models just became an interesting option for me, as I don't like satin finishes on Les Paul's... I never thought of trying that!
Glad to help!
I love satin necks, but not satin bodies. So I have done this with two of my satin guitars now, and they look so much better to me, but still have the smooth satin necks. Perfect combo for me.
Want to do mine now as well as my special
literally looked this up to change my satin tribute to gloss. i have a studio that’s glossy and it’s gorgeous and sounds great but the intonation keeps me from playing it live
Along the same lines I've always loved the way a gloss black Les Paul tends to dull in certain areas. And I'm with you on the preferred gloss finish over the satin. However, I just got a good deal on a 339 with a satin finish that I'm going to explore buffing it to a gloss. I'll just start on the back like this man did did his PRS and see if I like it. The satin finish is a little less upkeep as fingerprints and the like don't show up as well, but I think the 339 will look better gloss all over except for the neck of course. This video is very helpful and straightforward. I'm glad I came across it!
@@jeffmancuso2715my special has the satin finish but it also has the lack of wood grain fill. It's got like the dog hair kind of look as far as texture. It's all black and I'm wondering if I bring it all to high gloss if it will look okay. Some parts of it are already buffed up just from use and they look okay. I'm still a little weary of doing the whole thing as the lack of wood grain feeling may make it very obvious or odd looking I'm not sure if you're special has the same type of finish but please do reply back with results if you decide to go with it
Great video, thanks for the tips , especially the backwards screw trick, cannot believe I never thought of that. You’re a tricky guy.
Thanks!
pretty rough video but does a great job of showing how easy it is. as a metal guy that's sick of the satin black guitar trend i appreciated this
It also really pulls out the grain, making both the light and dark grain lines richer. My only reservation is that if there is something in the compound that "removes" the original finish. I suppose it doesn't really matter as it is offering a protection to the wood all its own. I have a satin Taylor that I think could look a lot nicer if it was shined up a bit.
All compounds have abrasives just different grits
Great tip! I managed to get the same compound. There is a Les Paul in a colorway that I love but its only in matte. I love the gloss of Les Pauls thick polyethylene lacquer layer, but I was reluctantly willing to settle with it. After watching this video, I looked into it more because I had no idea about this. Anyway, did it today and was quite happy about it. It isnt quite crisp reflections but very close. I had to stop though beacause one are i noticed was ever so slightly starting to strip the paint. Good thing I saw it and it is practically unnoticeable. Anyway now I have a rare guitar that was never produced in gloss! Thanks!
Awesome! Glad it worked out.
Thank you so much for your video. I've been looking for a solution for my satin finished guitars for a while now.
I used UBeaut EEE Ultra Shine on my all mahogany acoustic and the result is fantastic.
Applied six coats and hand buffed between coats with a microfiber cloth.
Then applied a few coats of UBeaut Polish Restor
I was surprised by the excellence of your video, which was made with passion and a lot of effort, and while watching the video, I was moved by your sincerity and effort. A video that went through a mysterious algorithm caught my eye and I fell in love with your channel. Thanks to your videos it surrounds me with beautiful and good energy. May everything you do be fulfilled to the fullest, like a bright sun ahead. Your video really touches my heart. This is a video I want to watch over and over again. I would like to give you my sincere praise and support. There is a wonderful talent full of strange charm who looks at your videos like a dream. The video I wanted to see so much right now was your video. Thank you
That is extremely kind of you. Thank you for the kind words.
I was just wondering this exact thing. I have an epiphone korina Flying V 2024 inspired by Gibson series. It had a satin finish which I really don’t love. I noticed after playing it for a while the back of the neck turned glossy from playing it so much as if my hand was buffing it out.
I just got the Martin D18 Street Legend, and it feels like it's made from cheap plastic, this is a great tip thanks!
Glad it helped!
Thank you so much!, now im on my way to polish my satin epiphone sg!!
Work?
Thanks so much you really took time to explain this perfectly
Glad it was helpful!
I’m truly impressed. Thank you so much brother ❤
I accidentally swiped in between the pickups with the towel that had fretboard conditioner on it. I wiped it off immediately, no problem. And later I noticed the smudge between the pickups. I used a wet wipe, pledge, I met the wet wipe sit on it for a couple minutes, but the fretboard conditioner is not water soluble. It's not bad, but it's a 3 week old Schecter banshee mach 6 frs in what they call fallout burst finish. I was doing it's first string change/ fretboard cleaning and I'm usually very careful, but I messed up. What you did there is very cool! And I think to get rid of the smudge I'm going to have to do something similar. Thank you for posting this!
Thanks for your comment! Let me know how it works out. Good luck to you!
Thanks. This is exactly what I was looking for as I don't like a satin guitar finish.
I'll be trying UBeaut EEE-ULTRA SHINE
A small amount of time and investment for a huge return. Great tip! So simple too. Have a satin finished FG. It was the only thing I didn’t like about the guitar. Only had it a couple of months and they come out with a fully gloss version for a couple hundred more! Grrrrrr! I’m so pissed. Lol! Thank you ❤
do you have a pic - and what exactly did you use
@ What are you talking about? I didn’t use anything. Did you actually read my comment or do you just not understand English?
Nice video. Satin guitars get shiny spots over time from playing so when that happens I'm gonna try this.
Cool!! I just did mine and I used Maguires Ultimate Compound. It looks like a proper vintage 335! Absolutely transformed it into something you wanna just sit snd stare at!😂 So happy with the results!
I've used Maguires Ultimate Compound on guitars. It's great stuff. I didn't know they still made it.
Hi - Can I email you directly - re exactly what you did with your 335 - you used just the ultimate compound ?
I kinda guessed one could do this, as my guitar came with a satin finish on back of the neck. Now, it's a high gloss. It did take many years to get to such a gloss. So, the natural way is not the quickest way to turn a satin finish into gloss 😉
That was exactly what I wanted to know, thanks!
Excellent video, cheers!
I have a satin finish Epiphone that's become glossy on the neck and upper bout have become glossy from skin contact. Maybe I should finish the job!
Super job! I just bought a sea foam green squire in satin. I think I’ll try this on mine.
Could I also apply this to satin maple fretboard?
👍
Should be able to. I would test a small area first, but I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work.
Interesting. I accidentally smoothed areas of my satin guitar by mistakenly using the wrong cleaning product. Now I have to decide if I should try to rough the smoothed areas back to a satin or polish the whole thing down to a uniform smooth glossy finish. Your results look really good. But I’m still scared. Wish I could just undo my initial mistake. 😕
I'm "late" but wanted to thank you for this. I cannot stand "satin" finishes on guitars and now I have more options!
I wonder if a matte guitar will look better after buffing.
Can you do that to the neck and the frets? I like the smooth gloss necks more than the satin ones because it feels better to slide around
Nice job! A couple years ago I bought a "used" Epiphone Les Paul Studio from GC that was actually brand new and in excellent condition except for an obvious flat scrape in the poly varnish on the lower bout by the tailpiece. It happened in the store so since they couldn't sell it as new any more it was marked down to half price for clearance and I came across it first and jumped on it. Figured I had nothing to lose; it was a steal and it played great regardless. These guitars have a heavy multi-coat buildup of gloss polyurethane varnish so if you're careful and patient you can polish pretty vigorously without going too far. I worked on the scuff for a couple hours spread over a few nights, just sitting in my easy chair and polishing only by hand, using Turtle Wax "Renew Rx" Premium Rubbing Compound (an automotive product with no silicones or wax) and small clean folded swatches of old cotton tee-shirt material. When a swatch had no more clean faces to polish with I threw it away. I buffed the residual polish off with a fresh clean cloth between re-applications. This is strenuous and a little tedious too but I'm a woodworker so I'm used to that. Eventually the scuff completely disappeared. Or to be fair, I know where it is but nobody else would ever find it. I went over the whole top lightly with the compound then to feather out the repair into the overall finish, and did the final buffout with folded soft facial tissues, fogging the surface of the guitar with my hot breath in the same way you'd clean your eyeglasses. Finally applied a hand-rubbed layer of Johnson's Paste Wax as a top coat, which by the way also has a microgrit polish in it so this can be a two-edged sword- go easy, be careful. It came out beautiful. Voilà, a better-than-new Epi Les Paul for dealer cost. So my next experiment was to polish the 'worn' matte cherry red poly on an Epiphone Special, again just by hand while sitting in my den. Came out to a very nice aged-looking semi-gloss sheen that makes the guitar look like it's old but well cared for.
Nice! Lots of elbow grease can do wonders! :)
@@IamMusicNerd Yeah, elbow grease was the key, along with patience. Sorry that was such a long description of the process but I wanted anybody who's interested to know exactly what I did. It would've gone faster if I took it out to my shop and machine polished and buffed it but I have time and didn't want the mess of compound slinging off the pad. Yours came out great man, beautiful guitar!
Thank you!
I always get nervous at the idea of taking the pickups out of guitars for things like this, because I feel I will ruin them, even though they're still connected with the wiring. I want to try doing this myself... but I have that fear of screwing up my pickups so I don't know.
I can understand that. I was nervous the first time as well. But I have done it dozens of times now, and I have never had an issue yet. The soldering is usually very strong. Just be gentle and don’t tug if you feel resistance.
Does this work on “matte” finishes?
I just got the as73g in matte purple and wished it was gloss
Should work. Might look like a nicely worn/played old gloss guitar? 😁👍
What a difference !! Guitar came out beautiful. I absolutely hate what guitar companies are doing with these flat finishes and drab colors. IMHLO guitars are supposed to be works of art that also happen to sound good. It also drives me nuts when a company like PRS will have a great, well sorted out guitar (DGT SE for instance) and then NOT offer it in their most beautiful colors...dark cherryburst, transparent orange or vintage cherry.
Ya, I love those beautiful wood finishes, and the gloss just brings out the grain more than satin does. But I do prefer the satin necks still :)
@@IamMusicNerd Right, I was talking about the finishes on the guitar bodies. But I can live with either gloss or satin on the neck. 😊
What is the buffing compound you used?
It’s called Howard Restor-A-Shine Polishing Compound. But any polishing compound with micro powder or micro beads should work fine. Just avoid the ones that have any kind of pumice or grit in them.
Have a black matte finish guitar myself that I’m going to gloss up , thanks for posting this ..
@@IamMusicNerdI don't really understand. but, will car compound work?
How long does it last? Does it break down over time requiring additional applications? Thank you.
I’m getting a satin SG in two days (saturday 3/8/2024) and hope this works
Did it work? I also plan on doing this on my satin Epiphone SG.
I have a squire strat guitar with a either satin finished or unfinished maple neck and fretboard. Can I just tape off the frets and spray some gloss clear coats, then buff ? over the satin ? or just use polishing compound on the fret board and buff ? Thanx
is it safe to do this on a coloured guitar body? i read somewhere that applying wood polish/wax to guitars with a satin finish can make it look blotchy - creating patches of lighter colour all over the body
That’s a good question. Most of my guitars are a natural wood color, so I don’t have a satin finished guitar with a darker color that I can try it on. But if I ever do, I will update this to let you know.
Great video. I have a Gibson Les Paul Faded which I am thinking of doing the same thing on. I am not sure if the lacquer is thick enough. Slightly worried about rubbing through. What do you think?
Can using this process on the neck cause problems? Or is it just your personal preference? Also, how well does this hold up over time?
Good question. I have not done it on the neck. I typically like the feel of satin next more than gloss the neck. So I only have tried polishing the body of the guitar. I’m sure it would work on the neck, but I would not be able to tell you definitively until I try it myself.
Hi. Thanks for the video. I have a question, will it work on satin nitro guitars? Thankyou
Great question. I believe so, as it is still a lacquer. However, nitro is harder and more brittle than poly. So just be careful not to push too hard to avoid cracking the lacquer if the wood flexes on your guitar.
Cool! Is it ok to use it on a sunburst Fender that the polish has gone on some parts or it will damage the color?
That's awesome. And it's so easy. I would've been alright actually refinishing my guitars but this is cake. Now it works on acoustic and all that too right? Are there any things this won't work on? I figures it would work just as well but I just want to double check. And you said it's polyurethane? So, theoretically, you could put on a bit more and get that high gloss look and protect the instrument more?
Theoretically, yes. However, every manufacturer uses different types of polyurethane or lacquer, so results could vary slightly.
It should work on acoustics as well, just be careful not to press down as hard as with a solid body when polishing, since the wood is very thin and could crack if you press too hard.
@@IamMusicNerd Okay. Will do. Thanks for that. This is so cool. I never liked that satin look very much.
Is this something that needs to be repeated often? Or like if you gloss it up, it should stay gloss?
Mine has stayed glossed up for over a year now, but I don’t travel with it. So your mileage may vary.
Can you do it to the neck too
how long should i rub the compound by hand before i use the drill with the pad? and how long should i use the drill? also, how’s it holding up 10 months later?
Good questions. I only let it sit for a few minutes after rubbing in by hand before using the buffing pad on the drill. (Make sure it’s one with a thick sponge pad under the buffing wheel, so that there are no hard parts that would be pressing against the guitar) It’s been holding up very well. Still looks nice and shiny months later for me.
also, how long should i have it dry? and how many coats do you think it’d take to get it gibson standard level shiny?
Hi, this looks great, thank you! One question: does this gloss stay or does it disappear after a while, to become matte satin again?
So far mine is still glossy after about 5 months. I am not a professional musician though, so my guitars do not take much abuse. My guess is if yours do, they may need to be re-polished a couple times a year. If not, it should last quite a long time.
I’m pretty sure it will stay. Satin finish guitars naturally become shiny at locations that have a lot of contact because of the oils in our skin, general wear, etc. From my experience, I can only assume that the coat from the compound will stay on there for a long time. It might get less shiny, but it will definitely never be back to original.
Thanks for info, sounds great! Intend to buy a new Gibson acoustic J-45 faded, which has matte nitro finish faded, and as i prefer glossy, will polish it up!
What type of compound did you use? Was it light, medium course? What about the type of pad to buff it? I want to do this.
wonder what it would do on an acoustic, ruin tone or what?
Not sure. I’ve never tried with an acoustic. But you are not changing the thickness of the lacquer, just polishing it, so the sound should remain the same in theory.
Hi Thank you for your awesome video. Just want to ask will it also work on acoustic guitar as I am after a parlor but it has open pore finish. Can I change open pore finish to gloss using this method.
Thank you Kerol
I have not tried it on that yet, but as long as the guitar has a lacquer or urethane based finish, it should buff up to a nice sheen. It might just take a few extra coats with open pore as it’s a far thinner base coat.
However, be careful not to press too hard when buffing a hollow guitar. You can accidentally crack the wood, so you will have to buff by hand very lightly, which could take more time and patience.
@@IamMusicNerd thank you for your help.😊🙏
Anytime!
Would sanding it down with fine sandpaper and spraying a rattle can clear work?
I’m not sure. I’ve never tried that. I’d be too scared to sand my guitars :)
Hello! is the polishing compound hold well on the guitar? Or you have to re-polish it after some time? Thank you !
So far it’s been holding up great. I just play at home, so I am not too hard on my guitars. My guess is that if you travel with it or gig live a lot, you may need to re-apply a couple times a year. But for me it’s still shiny after almost a year now.
Can you show your Les paul before and after?
I did not record the process on that one, but I can show a stock photo of the before and what it looks like now. I’ll try to post that soon.
@@IamMusicNerd thanks. I have a Les paul player plus. Thinking of going gloss.
Hey! Can you showcase your buffed up les paul in a video? Thinking if doing the same as i think it would give the guitar that VOS look :)
Cheers
Did you buff the les paul trad pro? I have one and thinking of making it glossy. Can you showcase it to see how it looks 👀
OK, I will post a YT short of that one soon.
wow.. amazing
hey! thats a very cool vid mate! thanks for it! I have one question. will it help to protect satin against the scratches? Ive got gibson satin finish, but I can do the small scratches with my nails only. I cant imagine to have this guitar on stage while getting mad on stage. will this tutorial help me against the scratches? thanks!
Great question! I guess it depends on how deep the scratch is.
As long as the scratch does not penetrate through the thin satin finish into the wood, you should be able to buff it out no problem using a method similar to this.
However, if the scratch goes through the satin finish then buffing and polishing may not hide the scratch completely.
@@IamMusicNerd thank you for the reply sir! and what if I could use epoxy lacquer on the satin finish? I mean transparent. because I dont want the satin finish anymore, do you think it should work? to put epoxy layer as a top to avoid scratches. I am just thinking if it will be not problem to have soft satin finish under the epoxy.
Ya, I would be careful with that. The hard epoxy lacquer could crack over the top of it, or it could cause the sating finish underneath to wrinkle. (depending on whether it was polyurethane based satin or a nitro based satin). Not sure if there is an inconspicuous spot to test it on first, or if you have an old cheap guitar you could try it on before doing it on a guitar you love.
How often does it have to be buffed with the compound?
Not sure, but it’s been over 6 months now and it still looks pretty shiny.
@@IamMusicNerd Awesome, thanks!
Thanks
How often do you have to re polish the guitar to keep it glossy? Or is it one and done and just wipe it down periodically?
What type of bugging wheel used. Cotton, wool, blend etc?
The one I used was lambswool, but I think anything that is soft and non-abrasive would work.
Can you do an update on this? I'd like to see a 6mo after or so just to see if it kept up
Good idea. I will try to do that soon.
@@IamMusicNerd thank you!
Hey. I'm assuming this method works the same for buffing the back of the neck?
Yes it does!
I usually do not do that since I prefer satin necks, but if you prefer gloss necks you can buff them up the same way.
The only exception would be if it’s an unfinished open grain neck. (Open grain with no satin clear coat on it) Buffing that would not produce a gloss finish right away because it would soak into the grain.
In that case I would recommend using a thin coat of satin or gloss rubbing lacquer/urethane first to seal the grain, then after it dries hard, do the buffing compound to get it smooth and shiny.
@@IamMusicNerd Legend!
Do you think this would work for fretboards as well? I have a neck with a roasted maple fretboard that I think would look killer if it were gloss.
Probably. However, most glossy fretboards have hard lacquer on them to hold up to the strings rubbing on it. So with just polish, it would probably wear off pretty fast and you’d have to re-do it pretty often to keep it glossy.
@@IamMusicNerd Gotcha. Any better solutions you can think of?
I have heard there are some companies that make a fretboard polish specifically for that purpose. I think one was Monty's in the UK. I can't remember the other ones.
Does it damage an acoustic guitar body
Good question. I have not tried it yet on an acoustic. It should work, but you will have to be very light with your touch, and not press down as hard when polishing. I have an old small parlor sized acoustic I might try it on to test.
how long do you think this would last?
Probably depends on how often you use it, but I did mine more than a year ago and it’s still glossy.
Subbed. 👍
You may prefer satin necks ,but once you play them enough they shine up, I might be sweating buffing compound. All the best
The guitar turned out nice. But is that a Nitro or Poly finish?
I think it’s poly, but not 100% sure.
Can you use Car polishing compound?
Great question. I don’t know. I preferred to use a wood polish to be safe, but maybe try it on a cheap guitar first, or a piece of scrap wood with some lacquer on it.
Hi what polish did you use mate
It’s called Howard’s Restor-A-Shine
Would this work on a nitro satin finish?
I believe so. There are certainly a few exceptions, but as a general rule, most lacquers or urethanes should work with a high quality buffing compound, because almost all satin finishes use the same base as the gloss versions. They just either have an additive to give them a lower sheen, or are not polished as much.
Another video I watched advised you to be very careful, because satin finishes vary greatly between guitars and may not react well to this.
NOOOO , it was beautiful the way it was ,just satin, not shiny, but its yours and i know what that means.
You're right, it was beautiful the way it was. I just prefer satin necks and gloss bodies for some reason. :)
Whennit comes to electric guitars the body s entirely esthetics and has zero to do with sound. Take the electronics and put it on a 2x4, tune it up and play.
For solid body electrics, you have a good point. Jack White even did an experiment with that. Very small differences between a Tele with humbuckers and a Les Paul.
But for hollow body electric guitars there is a noticeable difference in sustain and resonance compared to a solid body electric. You tend to get a lot more feedback with the pickups in a hollow electric compared to a solid body as well.