I hate sanding guitars.

[zeegler]

I am refinishing an Aria Pro II CS400, and so far I have the body completely sanded except for the inside of the cutaways. It's been a while since I have sanded a guitar, and I just remembered how much it sucks. Oh well, once the cutaways are done, I just have the neck to do, which shouldn't be too bad.

[sully]

Re: I hate sanding guitars.

i'm with ya. i'll be spending the day doing similar things. i've found that wrapping the paper around a bottle of wood glue works well (fo rme, at least) on cutaways. speeds things up a little.

sully

[Budman68]

Re: I hate sanding guitars.

<font color="aqua">If you have some extra money to make life easier, these types of units work wonders and make quick work of that area. I don't have this one but it's the same idea. It oscillates as it spins so no sanding marks!

I have, and highly recommend the Porter Cable benchtop unit.

</font>

[St.James]

Re: I hate sanding guitars.

I like the black and decker mouse sander. Lil' fucker can get into tight spaces nicely.

[Rypsoloisti]

Re: I hate sanding guitars.

I just did some sanding today. I was refinishing my Tokai Strat which I had finished to Red Burst at first but I decided to paint it white so it would look like Jake E Lee's Fender Strat which he used a lot.

Yeah, I know sanding is boring and it sucks sometimes really hard and I'm doing it by hand without any machines.

[zeegler]

Re: I hate sanding guitars.

I did the cutaways this morning, and most of the neck. I actually used my Dremel. I have a small drum sander for it that I used to get the bulk of the thick poly paint off. Now all I have left is the headstock. I prefer to do most of the sanding by hand because you can control it better. I use a sanding block on the front and back of most guitars to prevent waving. This ones an archtop though so I did the top by hand.

[zeegler]

Re: I hate sanding guitars.

[ QUOTE ]
<font color="aqua">If you have some extra money to make life easier, these types of units work wonders and make quick work of that area. I don't have this one but it's the same idea. It oscillates as it spins so no sanding marks!

I have, and highly recommend the Porter Cable benchtop unit.

</font>

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been meaning to get one of those Dave. Not that particular one, but I'm definitely getting one soon.

[sully]

Re: I hate sanding guitars.

oh, now that i think of it, when you get to wetsanding, i've learned from eddie van earache's blog that a floyd sustain block works REALLY nicely. i normally use a 3M block or a mequiar's sanding sponge on the edges, but man, those floyd blocks work wonderfully.

just sayin.

sully

[Bengal65]

Re: I hate sanding guitars.

Yea, I hate it too. I'm doing 3 guitars right now and my hands are dry, cracked, stiff and hurt. Not the best for actually playing the darn instrument. Some great ideas. I just tried using a heat gun for removing paint. The regular paint comes right off, while the Urethane type gets brittle a flakes off with a little help from a plastic scraper.

[Newc]

Re: I hate sanding guitars.

Wouldn't the heat gun also affect the wood joints?

But yeah, sanding bites. Try sanding a V and NOT sharpening the rounded edges of the body [img]/images/graemlins/sick.gif[/img]

Ah well, hopefully I'll have some decent weather this Spring to finish my V [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

I used a Dremel with a mini-drum as well for the "crotch" of the V - a sanding block just wasn't doing the job. It takes some practice to get a smooth touch, but once you break the clear it gets easier.

I might try wrapping/gluing some sandpaper to a paper towel tube or toilet paper tube and see how that works for sanding inside cutaways and such. What I really need to do is get one of those doorknob-drilling bits (can never remember their name [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]) and glue some paper to it as well. It'd be stiffer than a cardboard tube at least.

[Budman68]

Re: I hate sanding guitars.

<font color="aqua">guys, keep in mind that for hand sanding cylindrical ares, you can use wood dowels, tin cans that vegatables and soups come in. They're light and stiff and come in different sizes.


oh, and they're good for you too!!!! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] </font>

[pebber]

Re: I hate sanding guitars.

[ QUOTE ]
I have, and highly recommend the Porter Cable benchtop unit.

[/ QUOTE ]

do you mean this one Dave?

[mjtripper]

Re: I hate sanding guitars.

Nope, that's a hand held unit. The benchtop models are much easier to use and keep aligned to your workpiece. The all look pretty much the same as the earlier post. Sometimes you can find them on sale for close to the same price as the handhelds. If you can find somebody in your area that has a wide belt sander between the two sanders there is very little hand sanding left to do.

[Budman68]

Re: I hate sanding guitars.

<font color="aqua"> I can not believe I said Porter Cable! lol! I have a Rigid unit ( [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] !!!!) that has the belt attachment as well and also oscillates. Sorry about that, I think it's because I was just at Lowes and had Porter Cable on the brain.... [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]



</font>

[pebber]

Re: I hate sanding guitars.

impressive machinery my friend.. [img]/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]

I still have Stewmac's sanding station I use in combination with my drill press [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] , but I'm lookin' for a better setup.