Buff a "faded" SG?

Re: Buff a "faded" SG?

it's your guitar and your choice, but i like it that way. It seems to me that it would show more prints and dirt if it were glossy. I also have a faded cherry gibson, a flying v, and it does wear nicely. It's getting shiny on the parts where i touch it more (especially the neck), and it looks really cool. Plus, the finish is so light that it really lets the wood breathe and resonate. I wouldn't change anything about it if i were you.

+1

Use some lemon Pledge to remove and prevent finger smudges. Also wash your hands good before you play.
 
Re: Buff a "faded" SG?

Well I don't want to do anything irreversible to the guitar, so I'll leave it for now and see how it ages itself.
Thing is, the guy I got it from had it for about 5 years, you'd think it would have buffed up a bit through 5 years of use. I assume the guy left it in a corner and never touched it.
 
Re: Buff a "faded" SG?

After looking at your SG more closely I realized that you may not have a Faded series SG. The Faded SG is basically the SG Special with a very thin coat of nitro. What you have appears to be a SG Standard with satin nitro (normal amount of coats). When I worked at Guitar Center I remember these coming in. SG Standard Satin finish.
 
Re: Buff a "faded" SG?

after looking at your sg more closely i realized that you may not have a faded series sg. The faded sg is basically the sg special with a very thin coat of nitro. What you have appears to be a sg standard with satin nitro (normal amount of coats). When i worked at guitar center i remember these coming in. Sg standard satin finish
+1
 
Re: Buff a "faded" SG?

Yup, the faded ones show the pores much more than your guitar does. With that in mind, leave the guitar as is because it's probably breathing nicely now and anything you add might deaden the sound a bit.

I think it looks bomb.
 
Re: Buff a "faded" SG?

Just use some instrument polish like meguiar's and some elbow grease. You ought to be able to buff the existing finish to a nice gloss without applying any other kind of lacquer or clear coat.

I did the same thing with my Highway 1 Texas Tele.. It had the same sort of unbuffed thin nitro finish. I just used the 3-step Meguiar's polish deal a few times, really went to town with the polishing cloth, and now it's got a nice deep shine to it. I expect your SG would behave similarly...

tele5zm5.jpg
 
Re: Buff a "faded" SG?

After looking at your SG more closely I realized that you may not have a Faded series SG. The Faded SG is basically the SG Special with a very thin coat of nitro. What you have appears to be a SG Standard with satin nitro (normal amount of coats). When I worked at Guitar Center I remember these coming in. SG Standard Satin finish.

Really. Oh.
I wondered why guys were mentioning the pores, because there's none of that going on with my SG.
Thanks for the info! :1:


Soso, your suggestion sounds good, I'll look into that polish. Sweet looking tele there, I like that finish a lot.
 
Re: Buff a "faded" SG?

I think you had it right in the opening post. T-Cut. But I'd use the neutral one, which is kinda like Brasso, not the coloured one. If you have any open pores that retain the dried white residue, simply wash the guitar down with Prepwash/Prepsol, which is a wax and grease remover used in the auto paint industry to remove any oily residues before painting. It is harmless to plastics and other sensitive items and it evapourates almost as fast as it is applied. In fact ideally you'd clean the guitar with such a product first, then use the T-Cut, then Prepwash again if there's any dried white residue to get rid of.

I have used these products for years, from when i used to do a lot of auto-refinishing right through to guitars, amp chasis and pedals. If you really want to get a shine, you can use something like 3M Hand Glaze after the T-Cut. Brasso will work in place of T-Cut, and even toothpaste.

I have a Highway 1 Strat which had the dull nitro finish, and it became shiny on the forearm cut in just a few hours, so I simply used T-Cut and Hand Glaze to put a shine over the entire body. It looks a whole lot better than a dull finish with random shiny areas.
 
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