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My third guitar, a 12 fret whose neck I've never liked. Felt way too chunky compared to the others I've built. After getting used to the neck on my fourth, I decided to jump into trying to make this one play as smooth. So now I just want to ask next best steps before I go any further...


Before I understood what binding a neck meant, and still nervous about building a neck from scratch, I bought this as an ebay roughed out 14 fret neck, cut it down to 12 fret, and added two mahogany strips (with purfling) to widen the neck enough for my fat fingered fretboard. So what I've done so far is masking off the purfling and anything else except where I've changed the contour to be thinner.

If I were to start refinishing without asking what experienced folks do, I'd start with a bit more sanding towards the masking tape, up to about 320 grit, then wipe on some shellac, and finally start spraying with the same tint I originally used, hoping to get it to blend without too obvious color mismatch...

Anyone who has tips I have overlooked will be appreciated for sharing. Luckily for me, the body came out fine and sounded good enough to be my previous daily player, just want to get it back in the rotation with a faster neck. Roy

If it is nitro finish, I would remove all the existing finish and then respray. Nitro wipes right off with lacquer thinner. Otherwise you’ll have different depths of darkness where you overlap.

In case anyone ever has an interest in this topic, please don't leave out the fact that pore filling needs to happen first before worrying about the finish process.

Roy

UV ages lacquer so fresh lacquer will be lighter than the older lacquer. Maybe it’ll eventually match with time but I don’t know. So I agree with Glen.
Reshape the neck, remove all lacquer, seal (I like shellac), pore fill till your satisfied, remove all excess pore filler, wipe on another coat of shellac and dive into your spraying routine.

_________________
Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

I should’ve stated that the uv also darkens the wood, so it’ll be important to sand the neck and make sure it looks even before beginning your finishing routine.

_________________
Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com