I just bought an epiphone firebird studio with a satin finish and was wondering if it is possible to buff a shine into the satin finish. If anyone out there can offer any advise as to weather this can be done please let me know.

You would have to clear coat the finish. Don't bother. The mat finish looks better under stage lights. Glossy finishes glare and show fingerprints.

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Stage Guitars: '80s Thin line LP Custom, '70 LP Standard, '83 Squier Black Headstock Strat w/ Dan Torres pickups, '59 Black Danelectro DC, sometimes others.

Pedal Board: Nady UHF 10 -> TU2 -> Rocktron Big Crush -> 70s MXR Phase 100 -> Cry Baby -> Bad Monkey -> Early '80s Rat -> Early '80s Ibanez CS 9 -> Ibanez DE 7 -> Behringer Dr 100 Stereo Reverb

Stage amps: '63 Blonde Tremolux w/ two original 2X10 cabinets with a '60 Ampeg Rocket/18 watt VTB Marshall clone/ Epi VJ into a Mashall 1965A

Yes, it can be done (you can buff pretty much anything into a semi-gloss or gloss if you have the right micro-mesh papers, medium and fine compounds, and machine polish), but if you've never buffed out a finish before, it can be tricky. It's very possible to go through the finish into the primer or wood, even with a thick polyester finish. If you don't use a buffing wheel you also won't be able to get it to that factory gloss. There are threads on this at the reranch discussion board.

Haven't met a satin finish with flattening agents that couldn't be buffed to pretty much a full gloss. My guitar teachers taught me how to do it..

Be very careful about tying it "buff" that satin finish to a glossy shine. My Raw Power SG has a Natural Satin finish. I used a bit of Dunlop's Formula 65 and a guitar polishing cloth on it to try and clean it up a bit, and bring out the shine, especialy around the figured maple in the middle. However, I think I may have put a bit too much pressure on that part, as it is now not as polished, and has lost some of that luster. YMMV.

In addition, the areas where my right arm come in contact with the body, where you see the most wear on guitars (i.e. the greenish fading that I've seen on vintage Goldtop Les Pauls), has resulted in a very bright shine from either friction or my arm's sweat, better than I could have done with polish.

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'09 Gibson Raw Power SG Special "Plain Jane"
'01 Squier/Warmoth Strat "Saskatchocaster"
Generic P-Bass clone "Rebel Bass"
Norman B-20 (6) Acoustic

Boss AB-2 -> Boss CS-3 -> ISP Decimator -> Boss DS-2 (with footswitch) -> Marshall Bluesbreaker II -> Boss FBM-1 -> Ernie Ball VPJR -> DigiTech RP-300

Roland Jazz Chorus 90 (2x10)
Fender Chorus DSP (2x10)