So what the finish?

The ball is shinny OOB, never thought it would be 500.

I'm about to work the cover and decided to see what OOB it is...

Where do I start to get close to 2k? I might just go straight to 2000 grit...

So what the finish?

The ball is shinny OOB, never thought it would be 500.

I'm about to work the cover and decided to see what OOB it is...

Where do I start to get close to 2k? I might just go straight to 2000 grit...

The 500 grit pad sets the base level.
Royal Compound is a very aggressive (read: abrasive) compound; it is not really a polish, per se. It takes the surface to around the 4000 grit level, depending on how much is used, the pressure created and the time spent on the spinner (or whatever device is used at the factory.)
The polish then takes that ~4000 grit surface and applies micro-abrasive to take it to the 5000/5500 grit level. Thus, the shiny appearance.

This process is roughly equivalent to sanding a ball to 500/1000/2000/4000 grit and then applying polish.

I'd suggest the same process, as Clay described above, to reset the surface to a rougher texture if the polished factory finish goes too long on the oil you are seeing.

Thanks for the info. Guys, greatly appreciate it. It'll be interesting to work this cover. This ball though, looks promising.... 

Is the "crown factory compound" just renamed or something new?

I'm curious about the new Crown Factory Compound also.  Anyone know what the story is?

Btw, they should have called it Crown Royal Compound

I'm not sure if this came with the factory or the PSO used a strong cleaner to wipe off the wax pencil lines. But wherever it came from, the LT-48 had a strong cleaner smell. Even my Doberman didn't like it. It's been a few days and the box still smells really strong. The ball was really tacky too, so I'm assuming it was from the PSO.