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I heard that the solid color finishes on most electric guitars are essentially the same thing on cars. Utilizing that information, I made my baby shine.
My goals were to reduce overall scratches, especially in the back where she rubs against my belt buckle, preserve some minor scratching on the front (gives her character!), and protect her with wax to protect from future things and make future cleanups easier.
I used the Gold Class Quik Detailer (from Costco), Meguiars #80 Speed Glaze, NXT liquid wax, and a 3rd party product called Guitar Honey. A few mf towels and some foam applicators rounded the tools.
While doing this, I had to remove the strings, so I decided to just give it a full restringing so I could condition the fretboard with Guitar Honey (it works for me...why try anything else?). I also wanted full access to the bridge, as it's a string-thru body. Removing the strings also allowed me access to lots of nooks and crannies which just needed some TLC.
I started with this:
At the bridge. Note the fingerprints and light scratches.
This is between the pickups. What you can't see are some more scratches. Dust and grime are prevailent here, though.
This is another pic of the same location. The lighting really shows the accumulation of gunk.
This is the neck. Notice how the rosewood is stripped of oils and looks lifeless.
I took the GC QD to clean it and prepare it for the polish. This basically was just a preparitory step. The following pictures will give you a much better idea as to the true condition of the guitar.
This is the back of the guitar. You can see many scratches from rubbing against my belt when I play it. One of my goals was to greatly reduce these and protect it so as to make future maintenance easy.
This is another pic of it with different lighting.
This is the bridge. There were many scratches here from playing and just general banging around.
Now I took the M#80 Speed Glaze and polished my girl. This really brought out the good in her paint.
The vast majority of the scratches in her back were removed. I really worked in a few coats here to ensure that it would be nice and scratch-free.
The bridge turned out very nice. I barely worked in one layer here, so as to preserve the scratches which keep her character and show she's actually played and used.
I proceeded to apply the NXT Generation Liquid Tech Wax, as shown here:
It produced a nice reflection, which the camera had trouble capturing. Also the curves of my guitar made the reflection change and warp. Gorgeous, if you ask me!
The back is protected and virtually scratch and swirl free!
Color depth and clarity has been improved all around.
Some scratches sill remain. No sweat off my brow, though.
The area between my pickups is gorgeous. Wholly improved.
The entire guitar now has life, zest, and protection. If you look closely, you can even see the fretboard has its oils restored and rejuvinated. I photoshopped this picture just a little to bring up the brightness. It was a little too dark -- this was the only one I modified the picture outside of resizing and cropping.
And I took it outside to get some sunlight.
And there's Sapphire -- one of my stringed babies!
EDIT: Grr! They're not showing up as images! I'll see if I can fix this...
EDIT 2: I can't figure it out...silly 100th post. Any suggestions, anyone?
EDIT 3: Hopefully this works...I uploaded the pics to the MOL gallery...let me know if that's not kosher.
My goals were to reduce overall scratches, especially in the back where she rubs against my belt buckle, preserve some minor scratching on the front (gives her character!), and protect her with wax to protect from future things and make future cleanups easier.
I used the Gold Class Quik Detailer (from Costco), Meguiars #80 Speed Glaze, NXT liquid wax, and a 3rd party product called Guitar Honey. A few mf towels and some foam applicators rounded the tools.
While doing this, I had to remove the strings, so I decided to just give it a full restringing so I could condition the fretboard with Guitar Honey (it works for me...why try anything else?). I also wanted full access to the bridge, as it's a string-thru body. Removing the strings also allowed me access to lots of nooks and crannies which just needed some TLC.
I started with this:
At the bridge. Note the fingerprints and light scratches.
This is between the pickups. What you can't see are some more scratches. Dust and grime are prevailent here, though.
This is another pic of the same location. The lighting really shows the accumulation of gunk.
This is the neck. Notice how the rosewood is stripped of oils and looks lifeless.
I took the GC QD to clean it and prepare it for the polish. This basically was just a preparitory step. The following pictures will give you a much better idea as to the true condition of the guitar.
This is the back of the guitar. You can see many scratches from rubbing against my belt when I play it. One of my goals was to greatly reduce these and protect it so as to make future maintenance easy.
This is another pic of it with different lighting.
This is the bridge. There were many scratches here from playing and just general banging around.
Now I took the M#80 Speed Glaze and polished my girl. This really brought out the good in her paint.
The vast majority of the scratches in her back were removed. I really worked in a few coats here to ensure that it would be nice and scratch-free.
The bridge turned out very nice. I barely worked in one layer here, so as to preserve the scratches which keep her character and show she's actually played and used.
I proceeded to apply the NXT Generation Liquid Tech Wax, as shown here:
It produced a nice reflection, which the camera had trouble capturing. Also the curves of my guitar made the reflection change and warp. Gorgeous, if you ask me!
The back is protected and virtually scratch and swirl free!
Color depth and clarity has been improved all around.
Some scratches sill remain. No sweat off my brow, though.
The area between my pickups is gorgeous. Wholly improved.
The entire guitar now has life, zest, and protection. If you look closely, you can even see the fretboard has its oils restored and rejuvinated. I photoshopped this picture just a little to bring up the brightness. It was a little too dark -- this was the only one I modified the picture outside of resizing and cropping.
And I took it outside to get some sunlight.
And there's Sapphire -- one of my stringed babies!
EDIT: Grr! They're not showing up as images! I'll see if I can fix this...
EDIT 2: I can't figure it out...silly 100th post. Any suggestions, anyone?
EDIT 3: Hopefully this works...I uploaded the pics to the MOL gallery...let me know if that's not kosher.
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