Caswell Buffing System & Solarez UV Cured Polyester

[Means2nEnd]

Hello all, I just wanted to post a few results I’m getting with some new goodies I invested in. First I wanted a good buffing bench system and the guys at Caswell have a kit with the buffer, 6 -12” wheels, 2 different compound bars, rake, and an inch of different high grit sand papers all for $325 shipped from NY to PA.

Next I used Solarez UV cured polyester to do this buckeye my buddy and I are working on. There is a sanding sealer and gloss coat. We actually learned a ton from many trials tribulations. There are actually 2 coats of the gloss it actually melts into each coat. We were going for a semi-gloss low luster finish. Enough to look shiny and glossy but not wet so fingerprints don’t show up so much. I have no spray booth and this stuff really is awesome to work with and inexpensive. All you need is the sun.

The finish is far from perfect and it's not the level of execution I want to be selling eventually but it's my first non "poly-rub" or oil finish and so far I'm pretty happy. I need to spend more time fine sanding and leveling but this bass is for my partner and he can't wait to get it done so we move on to installing the Hipshot bridge and Delano pickups and preamp and maybe I can convince him to do some more buffing and such.

 

[Beej]

Looks great, and nice buckeye. How hard is the finish?

 

[Hopkins]

Thanks for sharing. I have been planning buying an arbor/motor, wheels, rake and compounds, but there is no way could get close to the price of that system.

 

[Means2nEnd]

Do you mean Hopkins $325 is too much? I was going to go the Stew Mac route and that's well over $600. Granted it's a great system but I myself with as much finishing as I am doing couldn't justify that much.... I do have a heavy duty 20 amp speed control which is nice to get it down to 900 or so if needed on anywhere else in between.


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It's not as hard as the guy says in this video I think it's like poly so harder than lacquer. The video below is what made me go for it...

 

[PDX Rich]

That's a pretty impressive-looking finish.

 

[Deep Cat]

I'm starting to feel like Solarez is the Holy Grail clear coat for the small batch guitar builder.

 

[Means2nEnd]

Hey Deep I can tell you how it went for us. The sealer was not thin like is was in the video it was thick and gel like. Was hard to spread evenly and we went over it with the clear. This caused a ton of extra sanding and leveling and made it harder than it needed to be but you got to just dig in and try stuff sometimes. My fear was from what I have heard about Taylor acoustic guitars. They use a UV cured polyester finish but you can't do a coat over another coat with the products Bob uses. The Solarez melts right into the next coat. I have no fish eyes or witness lines. Time will tell I will watch for delamination but the company sells smaller amounts for repairs on surfboards so I guess it's designed to melt into itself and from what we can see it did no problems so far.

The next bass I coat I will still use the sealer first but I will sand it down flat. The guitar the guy from Highline Guitars does has flat surfaces to easily wipe flat with a credit card. The basses I am building have all rounded edges so I might even try spreading a thinner coat on with a rag or rubber card. The gloss coat is thick but spreads smooth. My partner and I are novices to say the least but after getting a smooth surface for the final gloss coat to apply to it was easy. We still have some scratches to buff out but I gotta say without a spray booth this is the best I have seen to use. It's forgiving if you sand or burn through you can slightly sand the surface and add more. It's tough and durable and crystal clear. We applied it in the garage on a stand and followed the Highline guy. Wear good masks it gasses out big time but other than that we bought a quart of each and I would say the sealer quart could do 5-10 guitars and the quart of gloss could do 10-15 and it was all less than $50.

I am doing some experiments with some scraps and I think a wiped on coat of the sealer and then two thinner coats of the gloss would be the best for us and the easiest to buff out to a killer gloss. You can even use UV bulbs if the sun isn't out but I wouldn't do this in anything but a super well ventilated space.

 

[Hopkins]

Do you mean Hopkins $325 is too much? I was going to go the Stew Mac route and that's well over $600. Granted it's a great system but I myself with as much finishing as I am doing couldn't justify that much.... I do have a heavy duty 20 amp speed control which is nice to get it down to 900 or so if needed on anywhere else in between.


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It's not as hard as the guy says in this video I think it's like poly so harder than lacquer. The video below is what made me go for it...

Not at all, I was saying that its a very good price for all that it comes with. There is no way I could buy an Arbor, wheels, rakes, and a motor for anything close to $325

 

[PDX Rich]

I'm starting to feel like Solarez is the Holy Grail clear coat for the small batch guitar builder.

As much as I am liking Tru Oil, I think this would be worth looking into if for nothing else, the time savings.

 

[pilotjones]

Wow, that SolarEZ looks really interesting. Do you have any idea whether it is compatible with CA, which I was going to use for pore fill touch-ups? Their the data link online doesn't provide much info, and there's no link to any kind of full manual.

 

[Means2nEnd]

Hey pilot we actually did some spot filling with CA. The buckeye had a few pin holes or what looked like little sinkholes over some of the inclusions and I used a medium thick CA and it blended right in...

 

[Deep Cat]

As much as I am liking Tru Oil, I think this would be worth looking into if for nothing else, the time savings.

I love me some Tru-oil and I'm going to keep on using it, but I have need of a good quick almost noob proof clear top coat. I also like having multiple solutions to the same problem.

Big thanks to @Means2nEnd for dropping this crucial first hand experience.

 

[PDX Rich]

I love me some Tru-oil and I'm going to keep on using it, but I have need of a good quick almost noob proof clear top coat. I also like having multiple solutions to the same problem.

Big thanks to @Means2nEnd for dropping this crucial first hand experience.

Indeed! Always great to have multiple solutions.

 

[pilotjones]

Hey pilot we actually did some spot filling with CA. The buckeye had a few pin holes or what looked like little sinkholes over some of the inclusions and I used a medium thick CA and it blended right in...

Very cool. Thanks.

 

[chinjazz]

Hi Means2End,

I realize it's been a few years since your original post. Thanks for sharing this by the way!

It's sparked my interest to do a re-finish on a bass build I was working on.
Particularly with Solarez UV cured..

It'll definitely take a bit of experimentation for me, but I welcome the brush on and sun cure aspects!

Q: How is the finish holding up, if you happen to know?

Watched the video by Highline multiple times. Wondering if I wanted a high gloss mirror finish if I should do 3 coats of the gloss....

In the end I'll need to buff by hand but, that's besides the point

Thanks!

 

[Means2nEnd]

The finish is crystal clear and hard as nails. I think it would be good to experiment first on a few pieces of wood. There is a learning curve for sure. The finished product cured is super rough and bumpy and even some drips so serious sanding is needed so we went all the way to gloss it looks great and any imperfections we do have is because of us learning the product.

 

[chinjazz]

The finish is crystal clear and hard as nails. I think it would be good to experiment first on a few pieces of wood. There is a learning curve for sure. The finished product cured is super rough and bumpy and even some drips so serious sanding is needed so we went all the way to gloss it looks great and any imperfections we do have is because of us learning the product.

Thanks! Much appreciate the retrospective. Since I'm planning to work on one bass, between experimenting I should be fine with 1 quart of gloss.
When I finished my bass with Nitro the first time I learned about the imperfections showing up later. One of the reasons why I want to re-finish it

 

[Jisch]

I bought a quart of this right before the fire, I plan on messing around with it after I get back in the house

 

[chinjazz]

I bought a quart of this right before the fire, I plan on messing around with it after I get back in the house

Sorry to hear about the fire.

 

[Jisch]

Sorry to hear about the fire.

Thanks, it was a shocking event, we're back in the house by May, with a brand new studio, new equipment and a workshop to work on basses. It seems like it's been forever since we were in that house, but it's going to be awesome to be back.