Post by funkykikuchiyo on Jun 13, 2023 21:59:24 GMT -5
Yeah, grits are weird. They definitely don't seem to be apples-to-apples across materials that don't have visible "sand" on them, either. 1200 of the stuff I linked above buffs out easier than 2000 of regular grey sandpaper. I don't know what you have there, but here there are auto parts places that sometimes have finish touch up supplies, and see what they have for "grits" that aren't actual "sand" paper, kinda like what I linked above. I will say that if you see Trizact, it is lovely stuff and is an amazing in between for sanding/buffing for finishes, but it has a spongey texture and I think frets would probably tear it up. Or, maybe there is exactly one or two pieces of mircomesh that are the perfect in between grit, and you just buy those ones in bulk?
In our shop we use the Stew Mac 150 grit diamond crowning files. In production, we usually would use the 300 grit one because you didn't usually have much material to remove, and getting those scratches out was an absolute breeze. If I had money to blow on tools endlessly, I'd probably have both grits so I could finish with the finer one to leave it cleaner. For an actual toothed file, sometimes practicing a good final stroke can get it really smooth, making sure there isn't any debris in the file and getting a really good pass.
If you're going up and down on a raw fingerboard, sometimes loading up with fingerboard dust can plug the paper too soon, and one of your grits might not be as effective, leaving spots you "miss" because the paper was shot. I try to vacuum the board frequently, and giving it a wipe down with naphtha at some point so there isn't as much oil/wax to pick up can help too.
Really though... it takes time. It is why the FIRST thing to get skimped at factories is the fret dress and set up. Gibson doesn't properly crown (unless it is plek'ed... I'm convinced what people hear as an improvement with plekking is just having the frets properly crowned for once) and they just do a quick up and down with a hardwood block and some sandpaper after leveling. Lots of other brands will leave the frets looking surprisingly flat, and it tends to be a super boutique thing to just see good level/crown/polish out of the box. Some vintage cheap guitars (think department store level) would have brass wire wheel marks - if you see some old, janky guitar with odd ridges against the grain up and down the fingerboard, that's what that is. If I was still in manufacturing I'd be thinking very hard about how to have the next break through on this, since it adds so much value. Some Chinese brands have figured something out, but I'm not sure how they're doing it. I suspect they're buffing the whole fingerboard, frets and wood because the wood is often strangely shiny.
In our shop we use the Stew Mac 150 grit diamond crowning files. In production, we usually would use the 300 grit one because you didn't usually have much material to remove, and getting those scratches out was an absolute breeze. If I had money to blow on tools endlessly, I'd probably have both grits so I could finish with the finer one to leave it cleaner. For an actual toothed file, sometimes practicing a good final stroke can get it really smooth, making sure there isn't any debris in the file and getting a really good pass.
If you're going up and down on a raw fingerboard, sometimes loading up with fingerboard dust can plug the paper too soon, and one of your grits might not be as effective, leaving spots you "miss" because the paper was shot. I try to vacuum the board frequently, and giving it a wipe down with naphtha at some point so there isn't as much oil/wax to pick up can help too.
Really though... it takes time. It is why the FIRST thing to get skimped at factories is the fret dress and set up. Gibson doesn't properly crown (unless it is plek'ed... I'm convinced what people hear as an improvement with plekking is just having the frets properly crowned for once) and they just do a quick up and down with a hardwood block and some sandpaper after leveling. Lots of other brands will leave the frets looking surprisingly flat, and it tends to be a super boutique thing to just see good level/crown/polish out of the box. Some vintage cheap guitars (think department store level) would have brass wire wheel marks - if you see some old, janky guitar with odd ridges against the grain up and down the fingerboard, that's what that is. If I was still in manufacturing I'd be thinking very hard about how to have the next break through on this, since it adds so much value. Some Chinese brands have figured something out, but I'm not sure how they're doing it. I suspect they're buffing the whole fingerboard, frets and wood because the wood is often strangely shiny.
