Finishing the Finish!!!

 

Friday, August 10th, 2012:

Well, I finally was able to get back to the harp uke today --- the waiting was over!!!

It has been over a week since I finished the spraying. Today I spent about 6-7 hours rubbing out the finish. This time I decided to do it totally by hand; I didn't want to risk another broken-off fingerboard extension, which happened to me on the last harp uke when I was buffing the neck out on the buffer.

So, I rubbed out the finish using all the MicroMesh grits, from 1500 (equivalent to regular 600 grit sandpaper) all the way down to 12000 grit. I dry-sanded it, as that's what I've heard works better on the EM6000. Then I used Meguiar's #9 (Swirl Remover) and #7 (Show Car Glaze) to do the final polishing.

Here are some quick photos (the obligatory photo with the lamp light reflected in the finish):

 

Tomorrow I will probably glue the neck on and then level and dress the frets.

  

 

 

  

INDEX:

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  2. Working on the Top and Back
  3. Finishing the Rosette, Harpbox Peghead Veneer
  4. Bracing
  5. Carving the Braces
  6. Bending the Sides
  7. Neck and Tail Blocks
  8. Pegheads & Top Kerfing
  9. Profiling the Sides for the Back
  10. Soundport and Side Reinforcements
  11. Gluing on the Top
  12. Gluing on the Back
  13. Trimming Overhang & Harpbox Peghead
  14. Routing for Binding
  15. End Wedge & Binding
  16. Scraping the Binding, Binding the Harpbox Peghead
  17. The Box is Done --- On to the Neck!!!
  18. Working on the Neck & Fingerboard
  19. The Neck is Finished!!! Now to the Bridge!!!
  20. Peghead Inlay, Final Sanding & Pore-Filling
  21. Shellac Seal Coats and Finishing!!!
  22. Finishing the Finish!!!
  23. The Final Steps
  24. It is Finished!!!

Sunday, August 12th, 2012:

Yesterday I glued on the neck. Here's the result.

  

 

Today it was time to level the frets, crown them, and polish them. Here are the various tools I used. To polish the frets, I used 400 wet/dry sandpaper, followed by 600, followed by steel wool. I also used Micromesh papers to buff them up to a nice shine.

It was the first time I've used the "Fret Rocker" --- it is a marvelous, simple tool, which made it very easy to find the individual frets that were a bit too high.

    
     

Here is the harp ukulele, after all the fret dressing was completed.

    

 

  

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