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That didn't work I hoped. I can get a good shine but its leaving scratches behind, I sure miss my SM buffer. I think it's too slow. Next up in my effort to avoid a giant buffer and save some pennies, the drill press. I just ordered some 3" foam pads for it.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I just came up with the perfect buffer. My lathe. I can't believe how well it worked. I was concerned with having enough room but it turned out be a non issue, at least with the electric guitar I'm buffing. I may try some 12" wheels when I finish my acoustic.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I saw one of Beau Hannam's videos where he used the Makita variable speed ROS. I tried one but I hated the grip and it was noisy and vibrated a lot so I returned it. I bought the Bosch variable speed ROS and love it. I final sanded a guitar with 1000 grit, then I used the Micro-Mesh series with 2400 up to 12,000 grit and the guitar looks great. I had to do the waist area by hand but use Micro-Mesh there also. It didn't take very long to do it.

Kent

Trust me, the lathe and small buffer is a real time saver and I don't like extended sanding sessions. I'm pretty sure I can go from 800 grit to this buffer. When I had the SM buffer I would go straight from 400 grit and let the buffer do the work.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I like the lathe idea. Did you use standard cotton buffing wheels like StewMac sells? And, how fast did you run the lathe?

The buffing wheel has been in my tool box for too many years to know where it came from. Definitely not SM just a standard big box thing. I don't know how fast but it was a lot faster than my ROS. Probably 1200 rpms.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Do you have a picture of your lathe buffing setup? Did you mount it to the outboard side of the lathe?

Beall Tools has made a lathe buffing system for years--not really well suited to something as big as a guitar, but a similar device could be made. Their system consists of a mandrel that has a MT2 on the headstock end, and the other end is held in a live center on the tailstock. The buffer works over the bed of the lathe.

Dave

The buffer in the chuck was for inside the horns and the one in the bed is the one I used to buff the electric guitar. It worked great but I'll need to figure a way to attach an outboard wheel. I think I can come up with something.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

As Dave mentioned:
https://www.woodcraft.com/products/beal ... uff-system