Advanced sanding?

[deadedith]

Woody, I agree that pores don't NEED to be filled; I understood the original question to be whether, to avoid filling, one could sand them away.

I for one like the open pored look and the filled pore look both. So I fill every other pore. Takes a little more time for sure.

Yes I made that up :-)

[tippie53]

If you are planning on a glass finish you will need to fill . Satin finish is more forgiving

[Jim_H]

Woody,

Color me intrigued. Do you have some pics for us?

[tippie53]

note how mirror like the finish becomes with proper prep.

[Jim_H]

So no pore filling was done on this guitar prior to finish being applied?

Would it be safe to assume that it has either a lot of finish coats or a few very heavy ones?

Something had to fill the pores.. if it wasn't pore filler it had to be finish right?

Help me out here =)

[tippie53]

Pore filling WAS done. If you don't fill porus wood you won't get the best results . The purpose of pore filling is to get as level a base as you can. If you don't fill you will constantly have pore sinks to see . There are a few woods that don't need filling , Maple and Cherry come to mind .
I do not fill the top as spruce doesn't have pores that will be a problem . If you lay on heavy coats of finish to hide the pores ,this can be counter productive as you are adding mass to the guitar when you don't need to . The thinner the finish the less added mass and the better for the tonal qualities of the guitar .
Ken what is your take on this ????

[Darryl Young]

No need to fill the pores if you don't want to.......just won't get a glass like, high shine finish. Nothing wrong with a natural finish that shows the natural pores of the wood......just might not be a large market for that look if you want to sell your guitars(or might be, but doubtful).

As mentioned, the guitar won't sound any better because the pores were filled.

[Jim_H]

I'm soooooo confused...

It happens waaaayy too often these days. :p

[kencierp]

Kinkead sells high end guitars that are finished with Tru-oil

I believe Lowden's (not cheap!) are all satin and semi-gloss

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Okay John, so is that beautiful guitar pore filled with pore-o-pack oil based filler?

Kevin