Brian's Guitar from Conception to Birth or How to Build a Guitar in 62 Easy Steps!

Finishing

47 Sand, Sand, Sand

After months of watching from the sidelines, Brian finally got sent into the game. He found something with which he was comfortable doing, and I was all too happy to let him take over. Now repeat this to yourself over and over again: “Do not skimp on the sanding.” Some scratches are not evident until you smear on the stain. Then the stain concentrates a bunch of color into that scratch and makes it stand out proudly. At that point, it’s impossible to spot sand and re-stain. It’s too late to do anything about it except to start sanding the whole guitar all over again back down to bare wood. Now for a few comments on sanding technique: ● The idea of sanding is to make scratches in the wood, move to a little smaller sand, then scratch out those scratches progressively working toward the smallest possible scratch. Skipping a grit will not completely remove the previous scratch, so don’t be tempted; there’s no easy way out here. ● Work on a padded surface so you don’t create more scratches. ● Use a brand new piece of sandpaper for each grit. Now is not the time to try to save forty cents on paper. If there’s no sand on the paper, it won’t do what it’s supposed to do. ● Use a foam, cork, or felt sanding block where possible. This will alleviate a lot of hand fatigue and help keep things level. Use your fingers to work on the tight spots. ● Cross-grain sanding is very noticeable, so sand with the grain or at no more than about a 30 degree angle to the grain. Your final pass with each grit should run with the grain. ● Sand enough to make sure you remove all the scratches from the previous grit. Then sand with that grit a little more just to be sure. Take your time and work through each grit slowly and methodically. Achieve that disembodied level of Zen or sand in time to some music, whatever works for you. This will take about 20 minutes per grit (about 2 1/2 hours total). Split it up over a couple-three days if you want. ● Start with 60 grit and concentrate on leveling out any deep scratches that may have come up during the build. These first grits are the most important as they take out the largest scratches. Some scratches may not be immediately evident. Wiping on some naptha or mineral spirits will darken the wood a little without raising the grain like water will. I like to use naptha as it evaporates more quickly than mineral spirits, but either will work. Put on a bright light and get close to the surface to investigate where more sanding is needed. ● Work through all these grits: 60, 100, 150, 220, 320, 400, and 600. Spend extra care on the first couple of grits as those will level out the big scratches. You can’t do any serious leveling with the higher grits. ● When changing grits, blow off the surface of the guitar and wipe off any residual dust. If you move up to 220 grit while 150 grit sand is still on the surface, you’ll do nothing but continue pushing that 150 grit sand around. ● This takes some time, but be very picky and don’t get lazy as this will directly effect the final appearance of your guitar. People will not see the hundred-plus hours of your wonderful woodworking skills through a fucked up paint job.