Quick question about the order of tasks.... In the lessons, Mark glues the neck and then applies the finish. But he's using a wipe on oil..... If I wanted to actually use paint as a finish, is that still the correct order? Or once I get all the bridge holes drilled should I paint, and then glue neck and finish?
Quick question about the order of tasks.... In the lessons, Mark glues the neck and then applies the finish. But he's using a wipe on oil..... If I wanted to actually use paint as a finish, is that still the correct order? Or once I get all the bridge holes drilled should I paint, and then glue neck and finish?
I have done it both ways. It’s certainly easier to paint the neck and body apart, before gluing them together. However, you must mask off the neck heal very accurately and the same with the neck pocket. Those surfaces must be kept clean and paint free so the glue will stick.
I would build the guitar, glue the neck in, drill all your holes and test fit everything. Once everything is ok, strip it down again and prep it for paint. Depending on the woods you are using, you may have to use grain filler and sand it flat. Then spray sanding sealer and sand it flat. Then go through the whole painting process, just remember to mask off the fretboard.
Good luck with it and keep us updated with your progress. Any questions about painting, just ask. 👍 Remember, it’s all in the prep work.
Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸
When you say glue in, then strip it down and paint. You mean leave the neck in cuz we just glued it, right?
so I would just remove hardware and the mask the hell out of the fretboard and other things that don’t get paint?
@somethingnicer Yeah exactly that, don’t take the neck out. 😆 Yeah, take the bridge and all the other hardware off and prep the hell out of anything you want paint to stick to. Definitely mask off the fretboard, protect those frets.
If you were spraying the fretboard with clear lacquer then you don’t need to mask the fretboard but I’m assuming you are using rosewood or ebony for this guitar. In which case, make sure everything is masked. There is a finishing course that covers all of this in some detail on the website. Mark did a good job of filming that course and there is a lot of great info in it. Go check it out. 👍
Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸
I tried doing them seperately once but it was such a farce, so awkward. I'd mask off the neck to do the body seperate and vice versa if doing it again. Persoanlly though I just nice wood and finish the whole thing with osmo poly x.
This is my latset done using the poly x with a set neck.
https://guitarmaking.co.uk/community/showcase-electric/les-paul-style/#post-26388