Necking in the Shop

I wanted to finish 3 necks today, but it's Saturday and I ended up goofing around and only finishing one. This one is for a single cutaway Envirocaster:

Four New Necks

While the water-based lacquer is curing on my other guitar projects, I took the time to start on four new necks. Here are some photos of my progress so far:

That's one long flamed Maple neck blank!

Marking the necks with a template.

Cutting out a neck.

One of four rough necks.

Four rough necks.

3/8" tuner holes.

Routing a truss rod slot.

Finished truss rod slot.

Carving and blending the neck's contour.

A new design in the works

Back To The Necks

I use decals for the Highline Envirocaster headstocks.

Each neck will receive six coats of tung oil. After the oil has dried a few days, I'll rub the neck with some extra fine synthetic steel wool.

There's No Substitute For Red!

A little red Rit Dye mixed with denatured alcohol makes for a nice body color.

Filling The Grain On An Ash Guitar Body

I use a mixture of wallboard joint compound and black acrylic paint to fill the grain on this Ash body.

After the filler had dried, I sanded off the excess with some 150 grit paper. The next step will be to apply some translucent dye. I'll probably go with red on this one. Stay tuned!

Fretting Over The Details

Today I installed, leveled and dressed the frets on three of my Highline Envirocaster necks. I would've finished the fourth neck, but it had a twist that will require a redux. Anyway, here are some photos of the work I did:

Installing the frets, one at a time.

I add a little CA glue to hold them in place more securely. Plus, according to Eric at Stewmac, super glueing improves tone and sustain.

Snipping off the excess.

Checking for high spots.

Filing down a high spot.

Beveling the edges of the frets.

Smoothing the beveled edges with sandpaper.I start with 150 grit and progress through 400 before polishing with 0000 steel wool.

These frets are done!