The Guitar Saga, post IV

The sanding is done.  Since I'm using a semi-gloss finish I'm not sanding as far as would for a gloss.  The lutier recommened(for gloss) sanding to 600 grit, spraying, wet-sanding to level, then a final coat, then polishing.  The recommendation on the laquer is to sand to 220, spray, level-sand, then a final light coat with no buffing.  I wound up going to 320 grit, and the wood looks great.  In the morning I'll hit a final touch to anyplace that needs it(I want to look it over in sunlight for that), mask the neck, fingerboard and bridge, then spray.  For a spray booth I'm using the shed: I can hang the guitar so I can turn it to hit all sides & angles with the wind blocked, and it should be able to dry evenly.

Yes, the bridge.  Looking it over, the original finish on the front was in much better shape than the sides & back, and the area around the bridge had to simply sand it off.  The bridge isn't loose, no gaps, and with it that solidly fixed I hate to screw with it; so I wrapped paper around a scraper so I could sand right up to it. 

Speaking of paper, when I ordered the finish I also ordered one of their sampler packs of sandpaper to try.  If you're going to work on something that requires a really good finish, either order this stuff or find it locally: it's worth every penny.  I used half of a 150 sheet to take the heaviest stuff that had to be sanded off, used the 220 all round and half a sheet of 320 to finish.  This stuff loads less and cuts faster than any abrasive paper I've ever used before(yeah, I've mostly used cheap stuff), and I could slap the back against a post and knock loose most of what did load.  They say it's much more uniform in grain size, and I believe it, the finish it leaves is as good as could hope for.

Also found while browsing around, if you want a couple of scrapers and don't want to make them, they've got them, a burnishing tool too.  And it has a 'how to sharpen a scraper' section on the burnisher page that's wonderful(different method than I was shown, but there's always more than one way to de-fur that cat).