| Author |
Topic: Polishing Endplates |
Dick Wood
From:
Springtown Texas, USA
|
Posted 1 Mar 2017 7:30 pm |
|
You guys would pass out if you had seen Randy Reinhard's Emmons the night I helped him put it on stage. It literally looked like it had been drug to the gig behind the bus.
_________________
Cops aren't paid much so I steel at night. |
|
|
|
John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
|
Posted 1 Mar 2017 7:39 pm
|
|
Different strokes for different folks. I like my steels to be beautiful.
_________________
Dr. Z Surgical Steel amp, amazing!
"74 Bud S-10 3&6
'73 Bud S-10 3&5(under construction)
'63 Fingertip S-10, at James awaiting 6 knees
'57 Strat, LP Blue
'91 Tele with 60's Maple neck
Dozen more guitars!
Dozens of amps, but SF Quad reverb, Rick Johnson cabs. JBL 15, '64 Vibroverb for at home.
'52 and '56 Pro Amps |
|
|
|
Darvin Willhoite
From:
Roxton, Tx. USA
|
Posted 1 Mar 2017 7:41 pm
|
|
I agree John, I like my steels, guitars, and cars to look like they just came out of the showroom. It always helps the resale if they look good.
_________________
Darvin Willhoite
MSA Millennium, Legend, and Studio Pro, Reese's restored Universal Direction guitar, as well as some older MSAs, several amps, new and old, and a Kemper Powerhead that I am really liking. Recently added a Zum D10, a Mullen RP, and a restored blue Rose, named the "Blue Bird" to the herd. Also, I have acquired and restored the plexiglass D10 MSA Classic again that was built as a demo in the early '70s. I also added a '74 lacquer P/P, with wood necks. |
|
|
|
Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
|
Posted 1 Mar 2017 7:46 pm
|
|
Jory, if the photo you posted is the guitar in question, taking the left endplate off should not be a big deal. It's usually a half dozen or fewer screws, then tap it off from the inside using a rubber or plastic head dead blow hammer. They do and should fit tight on all the guitars I have serviced.
Put it back on the same way but you have to be careful to keep it straight and even so you don't mar the body.
That looks like a pretty ugly gouge and probably needs to go to a professional shop for proper finishing.
It will be worth it, believe me. Unless you are proficient at buffing and have a proper wide wheel buffer, compounds and rouges, a diy job will just be a headache. And after it gets away from you and bounces off the concrete garage floor a few times, you'll be wishing you had a pro shop do it for you. |
|
|
|
Ron Pruter
From:
Arizona, USA
|
Posted 1 Mar 2017 8:25 pm
|
|
Jory,
Check out Grizzly tools. The owner is a great guitar builder. RP
_________________
Emmons SKH Le Grande, '73 Fender P/J bass, Tick tack bass, Regal high strung, USA Nashville 112. |
|
|
|
Ian Worley
From:
Sacramento, CA
|
Posted 1 Mar 2017 8:33 pm Re:
|
|
I guess this is topic drift, but here is my setup. I made a 24"x3/4" arbor out all-thread that I mount in my 12" lathe with a live center to run three different wheels/compounds at once. This nice because it really solid and stable, plenty of power, variable speed and I can set it up on the lathe in literally about 30-40 seconds when needed. It also saves the floor space for another dedicated tool in my compact workshop. The cinch nuts are only on the ends with 6" solid spacers between the wheels so it's really quick to change out a wheel too if needed. The wheels in the pic are 8", I have a 10"x1" spiral sewn wheel but I've only used it a couple of times by itself.
| Bryan Staddon wrote: |
| Thanks for the RPM recommendations... |
Keep in mind that the surface speed at the outer diameter of the wheel is actually what counts when determining polishing speed. The ranges most folks seem to recommend for polishing various materials are fairly broad and forgiving, but surface speed increases as the wheel's diameter increases. An 8" wheel at 3450 rpm is right in the sweet spot for aluminum, around 7200 surface-feet-per-minute, a 6" wheel at 3450 rpm is only about 5400 s.f.p.m, which is on the slow end for optimal results. In the range of 6000-8000 sfpm works well for aluminum. |
|
|
|
Darvin Willhoite
From:
Roxton, Tx. USA
|
Posted 2 Mar 2017 4:57 am
|
|
That's a cool setup Ian, I never thought of using a lathe. Jim Clark, that built Clark guitars used a radial arm saw with a buffing wheel mounted to it. There's lot's of ways to skin a cat as the saying goes.
_________________
Darvin Willhoite
MSA Millennium, Legend, and Studio Pro, Reese's restored Universal Direction guitar, as well as some older MSAs, several amps, new and old, and a Kemper Powerhead that I am really liking. Recently added a Zum D10, a Mullen RP, and a restored blue Rose, named the "Blue Bird" to the herd. Also, I have acquired and restored the plexiglass D10 MSA Classic again that was built as a demo in the early '70s. I also added a '74 lacquer P/P, with wood necks. |
|
|
|
Bryan Staddon
From:
Buffalo,New York,
|
Posted 3 Mar 2017 11:51 am Wayyy cool !
|
|
Ian that is so cool,I'm inspired to take my Ancient drill press and turn it into a Buffer. Awesome. What kind of compounds do you use for Aluminum? Or wood?
_________________
You are me as I am you |
|
|
|
Damir Besic
From:
Nashville,TN.
|
Posted 5 Mar 2017 2:25 am
|
|
| Rich Upright wrote: |
I don't get it. Guitar players spend extra money & time buying or trying to make their guitars look old & beat up, and you're worried about some scratches on an endplate.
I'd leave 'em. Battle scars. Gives the guitar its mojo. My old Tele looks like it was dragged burning behind a NASCAR racer for a few laps, and I wouldn't want it any other way. |
I had a beautiful vintage Marlen once, that wasn't perfect... I took it to the shop here in Nashville, and i ask how much would they charge to refinish it, guy who worked there looked at me and said "why would you want to refinish vintage guitar???" ... I thought about what he said for a moment, turned around and went home, every since I leave my vintage guitars to look just like they are supposed to, vintage ... for all of my over 20 years playing on the road, I never worried about what my guitar looked like, it was my tool, not a toy to me, it had to play smooth, stay in tune, and sound satisfactory (nobody ever really cared what my steel sounded like anyway, often people didn't even hear me, or they thought I was playing a keyboard)... guys who like their guitars to be shiny, and spotless, are mostly guys who play steel guitar as a hobby, and have 3-4 steel guitars sitting at the house, and see them as toys, not as a tool that puts a food on their table...I heard the story about Jimmy Day taking his Sho~Bud to Shot's shop for a service, guys wanted to surprise him, and they cleaned and polished the whole guitar, when Jimmy came back to pick up his guitar, he was pissed as hell, he said they erased 20 years of mojo of that guitar lol ... I think pro players have a different approach to their guitars then hobby players do, in general... after taking the guitar in and out of the case every night, bouncing in the trailer for thousands of miles, having drunks falling over it etc... it is almost impossible to keep it nice and shiny, and without a scratch ...
_________________
https://steelguitarsonline.com/ |
|
|
|
Ian Worley
From:
Sacramento, CA
|
Posted 5 Mar 2017 11:05 am Re: Wayyy cool !
|
|
| Bryan Staddon wrote: |
| Ian that is so cool,I'm inspired to take my Ancient drill press and turn it into a Buffer. Awesome. What kind of compounds do you use for Aluminum? Or wood? |
Be careful with that drill press, buffing is much safer when the wheel is rotating down toward the floor. You could easily build an arbor similar to Darvin's with a couple of pillow block mounted bearings and use the drill press motor to power it.
As far as compounds, the most important thing is to only ever use one compound on a given wheel, and to keep the wheels clean with a wire brush or some kind of rake tool. You can use a spiral sewn wheel (soft material but sewn tightly to make a firm wheel), and some tripoli compound first, clean the piece well to remove any abrasive crud left from that pass, then use a loose buffing wheel with some fine white or red rouge compound for the final beauty buff.
I use the stiff wheel for cleaning up and smoothing parts that won't get a really precise finish. I use a black emery compound on that one, it will actually cut into the sharp edges of the material fairly quickly and smooth out milling marks etc.
As has been discussed, if you want a really smooth mirror-like finish, lots of patience and progressive wet sanding are required. You can get decent results wet sanding to 600 grit then polishing on the wheel, but if you want a real smooth chrome-like finish you'll need to spend more time and work up to 1500 or 2000 or higher.
Besides patience, the real trick is just keeping the work clean and always changing whatever solution you're using to lubricate the sandpaper each time you change grades to keep the coarser grit and particles from the previous pass out. I like to use a couple of inches of warm water and some dish soap in a medium sized storage bin. With smaller parts you can keep them completely submerged as you work.
For lacquer on wood I've only ever used good old fashioned elbow grease with automotive paste polish and glazing compounds. Maybe a wool bonnet on a hand drill arbor. It's the same process, where the fine wet sanding and patience are the key. In any case, lacquer is obviously much softer than metal so a slower speed and less pressure are required. Perhaps someone else who's done this with a wheel can chime in with more advice. |
|
|
|
Ron Pruter
From:
Arizona, USA
|
Posted 10 Mar 2017 9:45 pm
|
|
Putting a buff pad on a drill press can work in a pinch. Pads from Harbor freight work just fine.
_________________
Emmons SKH Le Grande, '73 Fender P/J bass, Tick tack bass, Regal high strung, USA Nashville 112. |
|
|
|
John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
|
Posted 11 Mar 2017 3:58 pm
|
|
Last guitar, a '73 S-10 Bud, I had polished, I sent to a pro shop in Nashville. Everything got polished, endplates/changer/keyhead/pedal rack/pedals. $80.
_________________
Dr. Z Surgical Steel amp, amazing!
"74 Bud S-10 3&6
'73 Bud S-10 3&5(under construction)
'63 Fingertip S-10, at James awaiting 6 knees
'57 Strat, LP Blue
'91 Tele with 60's Maple neck
Dozen more guitars!
Dozens of amps, but SF Quad reverb, Rick Johnson cabs. JBL 15, '64 Vibroverb for at home.
'52 and '56 Pro Amps |
|
|
|
