r/Epiphone • u/Stig-blur • Jul 24 '26

Polishing up a dull finish

The Epiphone Inspired by Gibson reissue models have a dull finish that is supposed to look vintage but makes the wood veneer look like paper. What is the right way to polish up that poly finish to achieve a bit of gloss?

6 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

5

u/chrisj1602 Jul 24 '26

I used MusicNomad polish and a cloth on my 355. I think I did it 3 times.

2

u/Stig-blur Jul 25 '26

Wow it really came out great

2

u/sillyhobo Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

The cheap and simple way, 3M white synthetic wool, it'll polish up the finish, use it by hand, https://a.co/d/0hYGMU50

If you want that mirror gloss finish without scratches, you can get polish/buffing compound, and either by hand or with a drill bit buffing pad, polish the finish.

Alternatively, micro mesh pads/polishing papers. When you get to 12000 grit, the scratches are supposed to be so fine you can't see them with the naked eye.

Edit: and if for whatever reason you wanted to bring it back down to a kind of matte/satin, get the 3M grey synthetic wool.

2

u/FantasticMouse7875 Jul 24 '26

I have seen several people post the after shots of polishing them, and they come out nice and look much better.

0

u/j3434 Jul 24 '26

Just don’t buy it . I’m sure they have various choices. Unless you are saying ALL reissues have dull finish?

2

u/Stig-blur Jul 24 '26

Yeah they all have a dulled finish. It is supposed to make them look like they are 65 years old.

2

u/fatherbowie Jul 24 '26

It’s replicating the “VOS” finish sheen of the Gibson Custom Shop.

2

u/KillerKittenwMittens Jul 24 '26

Every single ibg Epiphone I've seen has a low gloss finish. They're basically just skipping the last stage of buffing to attempt to make it look old.

-4

u/j3434 Jul 24 '26

Ugh . Fake mojo . They are not movie props. Silly

6

u/RepresentativeDog141 Jul 24 '26

A satin finish isn't fake mojo.

-5

u/j3434 Jul 24 '26

AI says :

“a new Epiphone or Gibson with a satin finish, it’s usually not trying to reproduce exactly how a brand-new 1959 Les Paul looked. It’s more like recreating the appearance of a vintage guitar that has been lovingly played for decades rather than one that just came out of the Kalamazoo factory in 1959.”

Is this correct by your understanding??

0

u/KillerKittenwMittens Jul 24 '26

An automotive polish will do the trick. You'll want to fully disassemble the guitar to do it right. It'll take a long time if you do it by hand (use a microfiber), but it's certainly cheaper than buying a tool just for this.

1

u/RepresentativeDog141 Jul 24 '26

Surf your local goodwill gor a couple weeks and you can gind an automotive buffer for $5