Buffing out a finish

**taylor410** · Jul-18-2012, 10:50am

I recently acquired a 2001 Flatiron Performer A. While the finish is in good shape, there are a few pick marks and a couple of areas that appear to be a little cloudy. Is there anything that can be done to remove the cloudy areas? Is it worth the trouble? I know playability and tone are more important, but if it's not a hard thing to do, making this mando a little prettier would be nice.

**sunburst** · Jul-18-2012, 11:39am

It may depend on what the cloudiness is and what caused it. I hesitate to advise without knowing the situation. Light pick marks, depending on their depth and severity, may be fixable by buffing, but if they are very deep or severe, or have caused fracturing of the finish, they may take more work, and probably too much to be worth the risk. (It's always easier to make a finish look worse than it is to make it look better.)

**taylor410** · Jul-18-2012, 11:49am

Originally Posted by sunburst

It may depend on what the cloudiness is and what caused it. I hesitate to advise without knowing the situation. Light pick marks, depending on their depth and severity, may be fixable by buffing, but if they are very deep or severe, or have caused fracturing of the finish, they may take more work, and probably too much to be worth the risk. (It's always easier to make a finish look worse than it is to make it look better.)

The worst area of the cloudiness is around the neck joint on the back and maybe the sides. The pick marks look more like very minor little scratches/swirls. There is no checking or fracturing of the finish that I can see. Your last sentence is exactly why I posted the question....... I could just take some steel wool to it and make it a distressed model...... NOT.....

**sunburst** · Jul-18-2012, 1:56pm

It won't hurt anything to try some fine polishing compound, and that might be all you need. My favorite is MaGuiars #7, but I buy it from places like Autozone packaged as a car polish; "Step 2 of a 3 step system". 3m makes some good polishes also. Just try rubbing with the polish on a soft cotton rag (old T-shirt rags are good) and see if it improves the look.