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Hey fellas, Stewmac sells thes polishing pads http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Speci ... named=true and Im wondering if these are necessary. Im working on my first build right now and I plan to finish it with Nitrocellulose lacquer. Will I be well of if I dont buy these pads, or is it recommended that I use them? -Alex

Well Alex, you need to use something to polish out the lacquer. I'd say they would be worth the $35. Sure is a lot easier than buffing by hand. And a lot cheaper than StewMacs full size buffer.

Steve

You probably need to level sand your lacquer first. Then you have MANY options. I've had good success rubbing through the full series of micro mesh pads dry (many other rub them wet) I finish up with Mequire's swirl remover, from the auto supply store. Benedetto demonstrates using pads similar to yours in his final polishing step, and he CERTAINLY gets good results. He power buffs with two stages of dry compound on a motorized wheel first. The bottom line: There are many ways to achieve a similar goal. It's not so much the method. It's the patience of the finisher who applies the method. You probably already knew all of that, but I just thought I'd chime in. Please do post some pics of your instrument when it's finished, because you'll find lots of support here.

Thanks for the great advice! My build is actually the "telecaster abomination" thread on the forum right now, Ill be posting some more pics tonight

Also, does anybody know of a website or tutorial on finishing? Im kinda going into this blind

Alex, I'm sure you can find everything you need by going to either google or youtube and entering "polish lacquer" in the search engine. Probably more info than you need, in fact.

Cheers!