From gloss to satin finish (gone wrong)

NPP

Last year I took a bit of sandpaper and wire wool to the neck of my cheap Aria hollowbody to get rid of that sticky feeling. This not only improved the playing feel but I also rather liked the satin look that resulted, and began to wonder whether the whole guitar wouldn't look much better like that. 

Last night I attempted it but it didn't quite go to plan. The guitar is a kind of tobacco sunburst and it turned out well on the translucent bits, but the black parts have turned very dull with a sort of milky white on top (no pics I'm afraid). 

What have I done wrong, and how can I get it right again? Have I sanded off too much, or too little? Do I take some polish to it, or sand off a little more? Or just try and buff it vigorously? I think one of the reasons the neck came out well is that it got smoother with use. 

Oh, and while I'm at it: who does the cheapest good quality wiring harness? I'd like to replace the pots and switch which are all sub-standard; pickups were upgraded to Oil City Mighty 90s as soon as I got the guitar a few years back.

paulnb57

Sounds like youve sanded the lacquer opaqe, do you know what grit paper you used?, Gut feeling use something like 1500 or 2000 grit wet n dry to reduce the opacity and buff up with T Cut or similar.....You could just try T Cut first....

munckee

The epiphone les paul dulling method is to use a sander with a low abrasive scourer pad on, then polish back to shiny with car polish, its less shiny but it does come back.  

NPP

@paulnb57 ;I used something labelled 'fine' first which was clearly not fine enough, and then 1000. So it's not fine enough and needs polishing up. @munckee I didn't know there was an established method and many people were doing similar things. Should have done some research I guess ...

munckee

This is quite an amateurish attempt, I followed a guide on I think the Seymour Duncan forum.  To do it property you need to take everything off the guitar.  I did it with a cherry gibson es335 copy, if you look closely there are little scratches in the finish but I was pretty pleased.

I would only do it to a cheap guitar though,

thermionic

The "Epiphone Les Paul Method" (see posts on the My Les Paul Forum) is a Scotchbrite pad followed by T-Cut. IIRC the T-Cut is the variety intended for metallic car paint finishes, which I believe is a finer abrasive than the normal T-Cut.

NPP

ok it definitely wanted some finer sanding and some polish. I'm now happy with the translucent bits and reasonably happy with the black ones. There are still a few swirl marks but it's good from a meter away and I put it back together for now.

By the next string change, I'll hopefully have purchased a wiring harness and 2000 sandpaper to finish the job. 

Any tips on wiring harnesses? Or on where to buy quality components? I should be able to build my own.