# Spar varnish polishing?



## hockeyPop29 (Jun 4, 2015)

Hi all!
I've been working on a bass guitar project, where I made the body out of swamp ash. To highlight the grain, I rubbed silver powder into the open grain of the black dyed body, shellacked it, then rubbed it down to a weathered finish. The guy I'm building this for at that point said he wanted it "shiny," and someone suggested spar varnish. I put maybe 5 coats on over a month, sanding in between coats. After the last coat, I waited a week, rubbed the guitar down with paraffin oil & rotten stone using my palm, so I'm now back to about the same satin finish as before. 

I've wiped all of the oil and rotten stone off with naphtha, and am not sure where to go from here. Should I continue with rotten stone until it is high gloss, or would someone recommend what to move to next (I was considering an automotive glaze or wax, but have put a ton of time into this project, would hate to mess up now!)

All ideas and suggestions appreciated (short of going with a store bought instrument!)


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Ive never had luck rubbing out a varnish finish. It seems like most of them are too soft and just don't polish well. Ive always found that however shiny the finish is off the brush is the maximum shininess. 

Automotive polishing compound could work to polish what you have, but personally I'd rather put a coat or two of lawyer over what you have and then rub that out to a high gloss


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## hockeyPop29 (Jun 4, 2015)

@epicfail48: Thanks for the advice! Will lacquer adhere to spar varnish? I've used it over shellac, but that's the totality of my woodworking experience.


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## GROOVY (Apr 27, 2008)

I think varnish is more for boats and such and looks great from 5' I finished my boat it took 15 coats and the final coat was it .... With all that media you have been polishing with you may consider shellac then lacquer.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

First of all you should never have used a spar varnish for that project. A spar varnish is made softer to endure being it the sun all day, day after day. From where you are I would clean the guitar off with a wax and grease remover, sand it and apply another coat, preferably spraying it. When completely dry wet sand the varnish with a 1500 grit or finer paper. From there buff the finish with a auto polisher with rubbing compound until you get a shine on it and then use the wax of your choice. 

For a wax and grease remover I prefer Dupont Prepsol Solvent.

You cannot put lacquer over a varnish. The solvents in lacquer will eat into varnish and wrinkle it up like you put paint stripper on it.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Steve Neul said:


> You cannot put lacquer over a varnish. The solvents in lacquer will eat into varnish and wrinkle it up like you put paint stripper on it.


Hmm, didnt know that. That said, a couple coats of shellac over top should buff out well enough to get you a high gloss though. 

Personally though, I'd strip everything down to wood and start over. Like Steve said, a spar varnish isn't the best finish for a guitar. I'm fond of the classics, just French polishing shellac. Not the most durable thing in the world, but hard to beat looks wise


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## hockeyPop29 (Jun 4, 2015)

The past couple of days I've spent basically sanding down to the shellac (which I applied French polish-style over the dye & silver powder). It's back to a nice, soft luster like I originally envisioned. I'm just going to buff it out with carnauba wax from here, and hopefully the buyer will agree it's the right amount of shine for the look. If not, I'll put it up for sale and start from scratch with another degree from Learning the Hard Way U. I think the high gloss, from a distance, made it look more plastic-like anyway. 

I've built a few guitars, but never ventured to finishes other than shellac, oil, or lacquer. A guy I know who had finished his antique truck's wood bed had recommended Spar varnish. I wish I had signed up for this forum before I tried it!

Close up, the body photographs very brown, I guess there's something about the black pigment that the camera doesn't see. I'll throw up some pics of the whole thing here when I finish the build, hopefully soon, if anyone is curious. 

Thanks for the advice, guys, nothing better than the voice of experience!


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