You sound like you use lacquer in your finishing so I will pass on a couple of tips I use in applying lacquer by spray.
1. The substrate (wood on a cabinet) must be perfectly flat as lacquer does NOT FILL ANYTHING. Open grained woods such as mahogany, walnut, etc. must be filled using a good grade of paste wood filler FOLLOWED BY A SEALER to isolate or "seal" the stained surface from the lacquer topcoat.

2. Applying lacquer is all about putting "solids" on the surface, or, applying nice smooth wet uniform coats without sags or runs. Some manufacturers recommend you thin their lacquers with up to 50% thinner in order to reduce the viscosity and render them "sprayable" with common equipment. This much thinner means you are applying less lacquer solids per volume AND it itroduces "blushing" due to the evaporation of the lacquer thinner cooling the surface and condensing moisture.

Remedy: Use only about 5% thinner. Heat up the lacquer to 160 degrees F prior to spraying. This eliminates blush, makes the lacquer flow like glass and reduces the number of "coats" you need to apply. Be careful in that lacquer will boil at about 170 degrees or so depending on its specific gravity. A simple way to heat it is to pour the lacquer into your spray gun cup and then lower the cup into an ordinary kitchen boiler filled with enough water to do the job.
Use a good thermometer and you are in business. DO NOT HEAT AN AEROSOL CAN HOWEVER!!!!

Your final lacquer finish can be rubbed out after 48 hours using pumice stone, rotten stone, and then cigar ashes with mineral oil used as a lubricant/vehicle. Sorry I got carried away with this subject but I hope you can use some of this. Tom S.

::Amazing! You're like reading a very good book. The mayonnaise idea is pretty strange but cool.
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::Regarding Pledge, I just don't like how it leaves oily residue on wood. However, using it on the inside of a radio sounds like an excellent idea. It'll improve the appearance, hide any dust that can't be worked out of the wood, and will make the radio smell great.
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::Thomas
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:Thomas,Bob P. and Tom S. nailed this one,they did and still do use nitro laq.Plus there are alot of little tricks that they did.You can still buy the Pravail spray cans to mix your own paint I think.If you're new to spraying,practice on a sheet of glass first until you cover good without runs.That's the best beginner trick I've ever seen.Most fine guitars,etc use nitro but it may be alittle to soft of a laq(they expand alot)you can search Les Paul,etc to learn about it.I hate to admit it but Home Depot was selling a hard nitro laq but I never tried it.Parks was the brand name.Never use Pledge on anything and don't put salad dressing on your cabinet.Charlie