The neck is now finished. For the headstock I did two mist coats after the decal, then a thicker coat. After 24 hours (could of been longer), I levelled the surfaces with some P2000 used wet. A further 3 coats finished it off with a final sand (with a week between the last coat and the sand to let it fully harden). The end result is 100% smooth but I didn’t want a sand through. No-one would notice but me probably, so I decided to hammer in the tuner bushings and add the tuners. The tuners went on easily enough and I’m happy with their alignment. The large pearloid buttons are too big for a headstock this small, I might order a set of the mini buttons.
The neck body was taped over before I sprayed the headstock, using the line of the nut as a marker. This means only the headstock has been lacquered, the result of the neck will be “unifinshed” in the style of my MusicMan Axis neck. Once the tape was removed I had a nice clean line. The rest of the neck was given a quick sand with P800, then a single very light coat of Tru-oil. This was then sanded with P2000 when dry and a wax top coat applied (again all Birchwood Casey products).
Overall I’m very happy with the neck. The frets need a lot of work, but that’s a setup issue that I’ll get onto next.