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Ok so here's the deal. I put an inlay in my headstock. I then sanded it nice up to 1000 grit and polished it up so shiney like. Beautiful. I then apply grain filler and let it dry. Then I sand the grain filler with 220 grit, but now my inlay is scratched up again.
Am I supposed to sand the whole thing up to 1000 grit again after every layer of grain filler? If I do there probably won't be any grain filler left when I'm done. And what about sanding between finish coats? I'm perplexed.

Don't worry about getting everything shiny before putting on your finish. After you've filled the pores and sanded back to 220 you will apply a sanding sealer or shellac prior to putting on your finish. These will in effect fill the micro-scratches from the sanding and give your finish coats some tooth to adhere to. If you sand to 1000 beforehand the finish won't adhere as well. Apply your finish coats according the schedule you have chosen, leveling after every few coats. I use 600 grit for this. The subsequent coats will fill the micro-scratches from the 600. After you've applied the desired number of coats you will level sand once more, then sand through progressively finer grits to get the shine that you want. There are lots methods for how to do this on this and other forums. To get a high gloss I use Meguiar's automotive polishes and a pneumatic polisher-- I think Ken Casper posted his method for doing this a while back on this forum (it may be in the archives). The results can be very impressive.

Good luck.

John

Thank you John.

Sanding beyond 220 can get you into some issues with adhesion. Wood has to have some tooth to allow the finish to hold on to. Many beginners make this mistake. The finish gets the fine grits.
Lightly sand this back at 220 then apply sealer , you will soon see how fast things get pretty