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#1
03-02-2022, 03:24 PM
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Using cleaner and polish!
I'm looking for a little advice here.
 I recently purchased a silicone free scratch remover and polish to remove a few scratches on my guitar. This would be the StewMac ColorTone Scratch Remover and the accompanying Clean and Shine Polish which is safe to use. Here's a link in case anyone is not familiar with the product: https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tool...set-of-2-8-oz/ After a brief application, I would say it mostly worked fine but I now notice that you can see the areas I was working on in the top. This is actually quite hard to see, and invisible if you look directly at the guitar, but if I put the guitar in direct light and step back and look at it at just the right angle I can see the areas I worked on. They look like circles, as I was working in circles and they look shiny! Anyway, it got me thinking... Is there anything I can do to blend everything in together? Should I leave it be and let time take care of it? Interested in your thoughts! Thank you! Last edited by A.Wilder1; 03-25-2022 at 01:43 PM. 
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#4
03-02-2022, 06:31 PM
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Perhaps if you use the same polish but in straight line motions it will take some of the swirls out. I'm not sure if that is the stuff that replaced Stewmacs Preservation Polish but that was my favorite polish to use and it was a true polish meaning that it actually has a fine grit in it. So swirling up a satin finish might expose that.
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#5
03-02-2022, 06:50 PM
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If the guitar came with a gloss nitro finish it was most likely finished with a VERY fine finish polish. Anything with more grit will show and the only solution is a super fine polish to match the existing and a bunch of elbow grease. 3M and Maguiars both make a super fine polish - not a scratch remover - way too coarse. Don't give up it's doable.
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#6
03-02-2022, 08:27 PM
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Quote:
Thanks for you reply! So are you suggesting to use the clean and polish in straight lines or the scratch remover? I’m thinking it’s the scratch remover that left behind the marks.
__________________
2011 Eastman E10P
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#7
03-02-2022, 08:30 PM
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Quote:
Yes it’s a super thin nitro finish and I suppose the scratch remover was a little too coarse? So theoretically if I apply a very fine polish on those spots it should blend? Or redo the whole top with a very fine polish until it looks like it matches?
__________________
2011 Eastman E10P
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#8
03-02-2022, 08:58 PM
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a thought
I've read that there's a 'first rule of holes', which states that when one's in a hole the first thing to do is stop digging.
Rather than attempt to act on the varied and possibly incompatible comments from all of us who hope to help, I suggest that OP take his guitar to a luthier and ask for help resolving his problem. Might cost a few bucks, but it also will be likely to actually help him and cause no further compromise of his guitar's finish.
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#9
03-04-2022, 08:44 AM
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You know it's good advice... I may just take it to luthier, however I wanted to start here because I know there is a lot of knowledge on this forum and it's very clear what products I have used and on what finish.
So it may be a simple solution, really.
__________________
2011 Eastman E10P Last edited by A.Wilder1; 03-25-2022 at 01:44 PM.
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#10
03-04-2022, 11:02 AM
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Maybe stop polishing a "semi-gloss nitrocellulose finish". Polishing will make spots "glossier".
To return it to a uniform finish you'll need to polish away all semi-gloss. Scratches are less removable on non-gloss finishes.
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#11
03-04-2022, 11:24 AM
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Hi Jon,
Thanks for your feedback! That makes perfect sense and probably my best course of action to make it all uniform, which is what I want. I guess my only question on it is - it was the scratch remover that made it shiny, not the polish. I wonder if it would be safe to do the whole top with it to gloss it up?
__________________
2011 Eastman E10P
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#12
03-04-2022, 12:49 PM
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StewMac bottle says Clean + Shine is non-abrasive. Some polishes contain abrasive.
Semi-gloss should only be cleaned (non-abrasively) with a water dampened cloth, drop of soap if especially crusty, or naphtha. Polish may "clog" the finish and make it streaky. Auto finish polish would work and cost a lot less. It might take more than the 237ml in your bottle. Safer to leave it alone. Other areas will gloss with age. You just accelerated mojo formation.
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#14
03-07-2022, 08:28 AM
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The fix for this, to go back to a satin finish, is generally micro mesh. You sand with micro mesh on the affected areas with higher or lower grits until the sheens match again. I only know this anecdotally, I have no actual experience doing this myself. I'd probably leave it alone if it were mine?
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