Turtle Wax Scratch and Swirl Remover

[QuantumRider]

Anybody ever use this stuff to get rid of picking swirls, minor scratches, etc on guitars?

Will it do more harm than good?

Are there any other "compounds" that you would recommend for the above purpose?

Thanks in advance for your help!

-QR

[quiksilver]

3M makes great products, including swirl remover, but lately I've been using the Fender/Meguiar's kit, which contains swirl remover, wax and a spray cleaner. It's excellent.

[QuantumRider]

Thanks for the tip, quik!

Will try to find it locally ASAP

[bibz]

Just use a clean (preferrably microfibre) cloth to use it with and you'll have no problems. It should work very nicely! But any amount of dirt (wiping down rusty strings, cleaning up big dust particles etc.) on the cloth could cause scratching whilst your polishing. Fresh cloth, big shine!

[QuantumRider]

bibz-

I just ordered the Fender/Meguier's kit and the Fender/Meguier's polishing cloth online, so I will probably be able to give a review of these products next week

[bibz]

Excellent

I'm an independant car detailer and although I go for the best products I can, meguiars still plays a heavy roll in my setup! This stuffs gonna blow your mind

[JACKSONFREAK]

I use meguiers car wax for polishing and M3 fine scratch remover. Altho this last time i bought scratch remover they didnt have the 3M where i went. SO i bought Kit scratch out. And it works great and leaves the guitarsmelling fresh and clean. LOL

[MortenP]

So car-polish is ok to use on guitars too? My beat up Yamaha needs a good polishing!

[bibz]

Well mine was a project guitar that I had sprayed at an autobody shop so that was a no brainer, but with care I'd say go for it! Test it out on the back then sweet up the front.

[LEOKV2]

hummm... I have the Fender kit and it does NOTHING... sorry about that, but specially the "SWIRL REMOVER" does absolutely nothing to the swirls and pick marks, NOTHING, the only things that work are the spray and the wax, but then again, my Dunlop 65 kit does that MUCH better.

I believe that the "swirl removers" are kinda like fake, like, they work on the persons suggestion. The best way to get rid of those marks is to go to a luthier and ask him to do a polish on the finish to remove those. They know what you'll be talking about. It only removes like a nanometrical layer of coating and the guitar will look awesome again, even better than from the store. After that, use microfiber to clean and always a fresh cloth, but, you'll NEVER be able to stop them from coming again.

That's why I have the idea of having 2 guitars, a beater guitar and another that you can pamper at home. Usually: Jackson USA Select / Jackson Custom, respectively.

[bibz]

Swirl remover is a polish, its obviously not a strong enough formula. If your not confident on removing them completely, using a glaze before a wax usually hides them. A polish/glaze product (which alot of 'swirl remover' products can be) will shine the finish and fill in the swirls.

I have a show car in the garage and a beater to drive everywhere following that same principle

My guitars on the other hand get played to shit!

[QuantumRider]

hummm... I have the Fender kit and it does NOTHING... sorry about that, but specially the "SWIRL REMOVER" does absolutely nothing to the swirls and pick marks, NOTHING, the only things that work are the spray and the wax, but then again, my Dunlop 65 kit does that MUCH better.

Having tried the Fender/Meguiar's set over the weekend, I agree, to an extent.

I tried the swirl remover and noticed that the picking swirls were still there. I read an online review of the product saying that the particles in the compound are really really small. So I went at it again, using more pressure on the sponge and for a longer time (30 minutes or so). The picking "scratches" are still there, but the general "cloudiness" of the finish that was there before is now gone.

So I'm thinking that if I really want to get rid of the scratches, that I should start with a grainier compound (like those for cars?) and then finish it off with the Fender/Meguiar's swirl remover.

Maybe I'll give the Turtle Wax a go.

As for the finishing "polish", I like Dr. Duck's Axe Wax about 100 times better.

Thanks for all of the advice and opinions, guys

[GTarman68]

Get the Best, Buy 3M..Head and Shoulders above the rest...
(Maybe I'll get a promotion for pimping them, BTW, A Great Co. to work for..)

[sully]

swirl remover does in fact, work, but unless you're using some kind of buffer, i can't imagine that you'll get much in the results department.
think of it like a process as you would sandpaper; wetsand to 1500, use some fine cut rubbing compound (with a buffer), then swirl remover (and a foam polishing pad), and you'll be pretty stylin.

.....did i just type "stylin?" hm. yep. i sure did. wow.

sully

[LEOKV2]

I think the easiest way out should be send it for polishing.