www.KitGuitarsForum.com

I am recovering, but this is one of those ugly moments in finishing your guitar
I have made 15 guitars, 12 of those sprayed with nitro and this is the first time this has happened to me.
I always wet sand the finish prior to buffing. So on my recent build I am doing this. I am always careful on the peghead with those tuner holes present, to not get a bunch of water running down those holes. So again, I was careful. All looked awesome after sanding. The neck has sat a week since I did this wet sanding. Nice and flat up to 2000 grit. On to the buffing wheels. Using the IP Menzerna compound. After just a little bit of buffing, slight pressure, hardly any heat build up, I saw the dreaded lifting and spliting of the finish on the back side at 3 of the tuner holes.........EGAD!!!! I've never had it happen before. Panic at first. Then I calmed down, and addressed the problem. I sanded back down flat with 320 grit. I PROBABLY should have waited a day or two, but I started respraying the back side, 4 good coats. I will lightly DRY sand tonight and see how it looks. I think I will not wet sand this area again, and on future guitar builds. Not worth the risk. I always figure a little lacquer gets down in there and I would not have issues.....but not this time.
So anyone else have this happen.....I'm sure it has. How did you handle it.
I am also going to hand polish this area on this guitar and not put it on the buffer again so heat is not going to swell up inside again.....sure hope I've done it right.

on the back of the headstock if the tuner hides it i don't worry too much
next time get the squishy ear plugs to plug the hole .

John that sounds like the perfect plug for those holes, great idea. I will do that if/when I wet sand again. Thank you

John, you've just helped more people than just Kevin! Wonderful idea, and it never occurred to me.

Thank you.

Kevin, did the finish delaminate and pack buffing compound under the finish?

If so you can use a small piece of your final sanding grit paper and your finger to lightly sand a bevel on the edge of the tuner holes. This eliminates a hard edge to the lacquer inside the hole and is likely to be covered even by a bushing on the top of the headstock.. about a 1/16". Tuners that have washers give you even more wiggle room.
Better yet, if you have one, use a short, wide tipped reamer and gently turn a bevel on this edge.

Thanks Ed and fellow.
It actually seemed that the veener, which is about .050 thick split...like the moisture got under it. Strange as I did not pour water all over this thing. Minimal moisture went into any hole. Veener was glued on with Titebond as usual. This only appeared when buffing....apply a little bit of friction heat.
It is all repaired now. I even buffed it again, but was careful to NOT create heat.

Ed I like the chamfered edge idea. I've not done this before. What do you all think about wiping some wax in the hole before wet sanding?

I really liked John's ear plug idea. Wax just sounds messy to me and just another thing that cold mess with the finish. But I don't wet sand so I can't speak to either method personally. I have polished many headplates and delam around the tuner holes can be common and something that is easier to prevent than to repair.

Floor wax..Yes! I refinish lots of electric guitars with lots of screw holes in them and I had all kinds of swelling around them during wet sanding. For the last 15 years I pack all the hooes with Johnson Paste Wax. For tuner holes, I liberally apply it with q-tips. I am careful to not miss anything. No swelling, ever. One word of caution. Make sure the wax is silicone free. If not, it would be bad if you need to add a bit of finish (fisheyes).

one thing I learned
if you use a drill to open the holes after finish
spin it backwards you won't get chip out

Thanks John. I do the reverse drill trick after I learned the hard way, myself. Great tip.