I sand to 2000 with wet and dry, then use machine cutting compound and an electric buffer, then SCA polish with no cut and finish with Meguires Scratch X. The Relliecaster and Black Cherry in my builds below show these results pretty well.

On the Sonicaster cutting didn't work very well with the poly, so I sanded to 2000 and then did some very careful clear top coats and left it. It was a bit orange peely initially but has since settled down to be pretty flat.

People get great results using various techniques so it might be a case of suck it and see to work out what you prefer.