How do you finish a strat neck? Is there a good tutorial somewhere?

[itsGiusto]

I want to buy a Musikraft 1-piece maple neck for my partscaster. Their necks only come with a thin coating of lacquer on them. I'll want to apply a waterslide decal, then seal up the neck further with a vintage style gloss.

I have very little experience with lacquer, so I need a lot of advice on how to do this. Can anyone point me to tutorials on this? I have no clue what sort of product to use for this, how to find a product that's compatible, whether I should spray directly over the entire neck including the fretboard and frets and nut, or if I should tape things off. I have no clue whether I should be sanding the coats prior to starting, or between coats, how long to wait in-between, etc. I don't know how many coats to apply after the waterslide decal, etc. Basically, I'm somewhat clueless and can use some help!

 

[giogolf]

YouTube has a a lot of videos on this subject.. This one seems to be the most common way to get the Original Fender WaterSlide look

But they are all the same.. You need a base coat, then decal, then top coat etc..

 

[Boreas]

I want to buy a Musikraft 1-piece maple neck for my partscaster. Their necks only come with a thin coating of lacquer on them. I'll want to apply a waterslide decal, then seal up the neck further with a vintage style gloss.

I have very little experience with lacquer, so I need a lot of advice on how to do this. Can anyone point me to tutorials on this? I have no clue what sort of product to use for this, how to find a product that's compatible, whether I should spray directly over the entire neck including the fretboard and frets and nut, or if I should tape things off. I have no clue whether I should be sanding the coats prior to starting, or between coats, how long to wait in-between, etc. I don't know how many coats to apply after the waterslide decal, etc. Basically, I'm somewhat clueless and can use some help!

You will need to decide what TYPE of lacquer you will be using before going further. The term "lacquer" is a catch-all.

Keep in mind, applying a Fender or Squier decal to a non-Fender/Squier neck may get you a fair amount of grief here. It won't be likely you will end up doing hard time for it, but it can make future resale touchy. I ended up removing/refinishing the one I installed. I sleep better at nite now!

However, if you look around you can find some GREAT non-denominational logo-style decals for Fender-style headstocks. Or consider a figure/design, or even go whole-hog on a custom inlay!

 

[Freeman Keller]

The problem with a one piece maple neck is that the fretboard is finished right along with the neck itself. That pretty much means the finish needs to be sprayed, which pretty much means either nitrocellulose lacquer or one of the catalyzed poly finishes. After the finish has been applied the very tops of the frets are scraped off (the frets were leveled and crowned before the finish was applied).

Attached are a few pictures of refretting a bass neck, the steps are the same for starting from scratch. I will add that I no longer finish or refret one piece maple necks - its just too much of a hassle and I'm happy to let someone else do it.

I actually did a thread back when I refretted that old bass, you would be starting at post #2.

Refretting a lacquered fretboard

A couple of weeks ago a friend brought his Jazz Base over and asked if I would refret it for him. Altho I've fretted quite a few guitars, I had never done on with a lacquered maple fretboard. Had a couple of opportunities, turned them down. I actually asked here and on another forum what...

www.tdpri.com

 

[mfguitar]

In looking at the Musikraft site it seems they only spray with a sealer coat and are not truly finished. So if you want to achieve a Fender-like finish you need to spray everything and then scrape/finish the frets. Make sure you read the part about proper ventilation and safety equipment carefully.

 

[itsGiusto]

In looking at the Musikraft site it seems they only spray with a sealer coat and are not truly finished. So if you want to achieve a Fender-like finish you need to spray everything and then scrape/finish the frets. Make sure you read the part about proper ventilation and safety equipment carefully.

Yeah. Actually I just priced out Warmoth vs Musikraft, and it looks like Warmoth will do a full finish, and it doesn't cost much more than my neck options would at Musikraft. So since @giogolf showed a video showing that you can apply a decal then just spray over the headstock, maybe I'll go for Warmoth for the full finish, then just put on a decal and spray over the headstock area.

 

[Freeman Keller]

Another option, at least with Warmoth, would be a roasted maple neck, which in theory does not need finish.

 

[Wyatt]

Pro builders and commercial shops have the benefit of arbor buffers (and years of skill using them without "burning through"). They spray the bodied and necks with the desired finish and then buff it out on the buffing wheel, never having to use sandpaper.

For us one at a time builders who don't dedicate the shop space to an arbor buffer (and the last time I used one was 7th grade shop in the '80s), we spray with rattle cans and wetsand. Wetsanding between the frets is difficult. For my next neck, I'll try the Mohawk ultra-flo lacquer and see if it levels out better in the fretboard.

Musikraft and Warmoth are each ready to finish, no additional sanding needed, they both spray a very thin sealer coat befroe shipping (you can reuse this with Musikraft, but I don't think you can with Warmoth).

 

[itsGiusto]

The problem with a one piece maple neck is that the fretboard is finished right along with the neck itself. That pretty much means the finish needs to be sprayed, which pretty much means either nitrocellulose lacquer or one of the catalyzed poly finishes. After the finish has been applied the very tops of the frets are scraped off (the frets were leveled and crowned before the finish was applied).

Attached are a few pictures of refretting a bass neck, the steps are the same for starting from scratch. I will add that I no longer finish or refret one piece maple necks - its just too much of a hassle and I'm happy to let someone else do it.

I actually did a thread back when I refretted that old bass, you would be starting at post #2.

Refretting a lacquered fretboard

A couple of weeks ago a friend brought his Jazz Base over and asked if I would refret it for him. Altho I've fretted quite a few guitars, I had never done on with a lacquered maple fretboard. Had a couple of opportunities, turned them down. I actually asked here and on another forum what...

www.tdpri.com

I've actually been thinking now that maybe getting a 2 piece neck may be the way to go, if you're saying that it's easier then finishing a one-piece neck. But how do you finish a 2 piece neck? Do you tape off the entire rosewood section and just leave that party raw? Do you still spray the same kind of nitro lacquer on the maple part on the back?

 

[Freeman Keller]

I've actually been thinking now that maybe getting a 2 piece neck may be the way to go, if you're saying that it's easier then finishing a one-piece neck. But how do you finish a 2 piece neck? Do you tape off the entire rosewood section and just leave that party raw? Do you still spray the same kind of nitro lacquer on the maple part on the back?

I only build two piece necks (separate neck and fretboard). Most of my necks are mahogany but I have done a couple of maple necks. My fretboards are either rosewood or ebony.

I only finish in nitro, mask the fretboard and spray the neck and head. A little bit of lacquer will sneak under the masking tape, it scrapes off easily. If I'm doing a mahogany neck it will be pore filled, maple will not. Lacquer gets buffed as usual. Attached are a few pictures

 

[itsGiusto]

I only build two piece necks (separate neck and fretboard). Most of my necks are mahogany but I have done a couple of maple necks. My fretboards are either rosewood or ebony.

I only finish in nitro, mask the fretboard and spray the neck and head. A little bit of lacquer will sneak under the masking tape, it scrapes off easily. If I'm doing a mahogany neck it will be pore filled, maple will not. Lacquer gets buffed as usual. Attached are a few pictures

So is the rosewood or ebony fretboard in the end just left completely unfinished? Is there nothing you have to do to treat it at all?

 

[Freeman Keller]

So is the rosewood or ebony fretboard in the end just left completely unfinished? Is there nothing you have to do to treat it at all?

Correct. Ebony and rosewood have been used for almost two hundred years on acoustic instruments without any finish. There are some folks who feel that they need to slather some sort of oil on rosewood boards - I do not, but I don't get into those arguments either. As rosewood gets harder to obtain due to import restrictions some other woods have come into use along with some synthetics.

Likewise ebony boards are not finished but sometimes a little india ink is used to darken light streaks. There has been an interesting change in the color standards for ebony largely as a result of Bob Taylor buying the mill that furnishes much of it.

The only real reason maple boards get finished is because they would get really dirty if they weren't.

edit to add that one really nice thing about an unfinished fretboard is that it is very easy to clean both the board and the frets with a little 0000 steel wool.

 

[pipthepilot]

The problem with a one piece maple neck is that the fretboard is finished right along with the neck itself. That pretty much means the finish needs to be sprayed, which pretty much means either nitrocellulose lacquer or one of the catalyzed poly finishes. After the finish has been applied the very tops of the frets are scraped off (the frets were leveled and crowned before the finish was applied).

Attached are a few pictures of refretting a bass neck, the steps are the same for starting from scratch. I will add that I no longer finish or refret one piece maple necks - its just too much of a hassle and I'm happy to let someone else do it.

I actually did a thread back when I refretted that old bass, you would be starting at post #2.

Refretting a lacquered fretboard

A couple of weeks ago a friend brought his Jazz Base over and asked if I would refret it for him. Altho I've fretted quite a few guitars, I had never done on with a lacquered maple fretboard. Had a couple of opportunities, turned them down. I actually asked here and on another forum what...

www.tdpri.com

Scraping lacquer off frets is not one of my favourite jobs either.

 

[itsGiusto]

Scraping lacquer off frets is not one of my favourite jobs either.

I don't have experience with dealing with lacquer on frets yet, so I don't know. But I wanted to ask, is it that bad? Warmoth glosses over this (/pun) on their site, indicating it'll just come off on its own, and it's not too bad:

Neck Finishes & Paint

Default Description

warmoth.com

On maple necks with maple fretboards the entire neck is finished including the fretboard and frets. We do not remove the finish from the frets. This finish will wear off quickly with use, or can be scraped off quite easily. A fret leveling operation will also take it off.

Do you think this is inaccurate?

 

[pipthepilot]

Sorry, didn't mean to scare you as it does come off relatively easily, and it will rub off off from just playing.

However, when I'm building a guitar, I like to finish everything properly and have nice shiny polished fret. This means making sure every last little bit is removed and scraping the lacquer off like this makes quite a bit of mess as it tends to flake off. I also take the time to score the lacquer with a blade along the base of the fret before I start to ensure the lacquer isn't accidentally peeled away from the fretboard.

 

[itsGiusto]

Sorry, didn't mean to scare you as it does come off relatively easily, and it will rub off off from just playing.

However, when I'm building a guitar, I like to finish everything properly and have nice shiny polished fret. This means making sure every last little bit is removed and scraping the lacquer off like this makes quite a bit of mess as it tends to flake off. I also take the time to score the lacquer with a blade along the base of the fret before I start to ensure the lacquer isn't accidentally peeled away from the fretboard.

Thanks, that's good advice!

 

[jrblue]

A lot of these posts are focused on what's easy and fast. I think the better and more satisfying approach is to decide what kind of neck you really want. Neck finishing, including lacquering a maple fretboard, is not hard unless you make it hard, as many do, by rushing or doing something hare-brained like using incorrect materials or trying some dumb speed-drying method, etc. Good basic info is available on the Guitar ReRanch site. There are a billion other sources and videos -- so many that it can be a little hard to identify which are insane and which are spot-on. I lacquered a fretted maple board and found it totally easy to get a great result, so I would not be afraid of that if it's what you want. Personally, I think the best Fender style necks by far, hands down, have rosewood fretboards over maple, and are finished in gloss but with the backside handling area finished lightly -- I repeat, lightly! -- with Tru-oil followed by Beechwood-Casey gunstock wax. (This is the Ernie Ball/Music Man method.) So that's what I'd do. Finishing over decals is easy if you understand what "light mist" means and can refrain from slopping on thick layers right off. On a Fender-style guitar, the neck is everything as far as playability is concerned, so do it right or don't bother.
Thou shalt not use Fender repro decals on non-Fender necks, period. Not because you'll get arrested, etc., but simply because it is wrong. Many makers produce custom Fender style decals that imitate the font and placement of information so they look appropriate while also being readily identifiable as non-Fender.

 

[itsGiusto]

A lot of these posts are focused on what's easy and fast. I think the better and more satisfying approach is to decide what kind of neck you really want. Neck finishing, including lacquering a maple fretboard, is not hard unless you make it hard, as many do, by rushing or doing something hare-brained like using incorrect materials or trying some dumb speed-drying method, etc. Good basic info is available on the Guitar ReRanch site. There are a billion other sources and videos -- so many that it can be a little hard to identify which are insane and which are spot-on. I lacquered a fretted maple board and found it totally easy to get a great result, so I would not be afraid of that if it's what you want. Personally, I think the best Fender style necks by far, hands down, have rosewood fretboards over maple, and are finished in gloss but with the backside handling area finished lightly -- I repeat, lightly! -- with Tru-oil followed by Beechwood-Casey gunstock wax. (This is the Ernie Ball/Music Man method.) So that's what I'd do. Finishing over decals is easy if you understand what "light mist" means and can refrain from slopping on thick layers right off. On a Fender-style guitar, the neck is everything as far as playability is concerned, so do it right or don't bother.
Thou shalt not use Fender repro decals on non-Fender necks, period. Not because you'll get arrested, etc., but simply because it is wrong. Many makers produce custom Fender style decals that imitate the font and placement of information so they look appropriate while also being readily identifiable as non-Fender.

Thanks. I think my biggest concern is that I don't have a great place to do the spraying, or to let it dry. I have a shed in my backyard, I guess. I'll have to be very careful to wait for the proper humidity and temperature.

Curious what you mean exactly by this:

and are finished in gloss but with the backside handling area finished lightly -- I repeat, lightly! -- with Tru-oil followed by Beechwood-Casey gunstock wax.

Do you mean that just the headstock area is finished in gloss? And the back is just an oil rub, and the fretboard presumably is unfinished (since it's rosewood)?

 

[Grodad]

I want to buy a Musikraft 1-piece maple neck for my partscaster. Their necks only come with a thin coating of lacquer on them. I'll want to apply a waterslide decal, then seal up the neck further with a vintage style gloss.

I have very little experience with lacquer, so I need a lot of advice on how to do this. Can anyone point me to tutorials on this? I have no clue what sort of product to use for this, how to find a product that's compatible, whether I should spray directly over the entire neck including the fretboard and frets and nut, or if I should tape things off. I have no clue whether I should be sanding the coats prior to starting, or between coats, how long to wait in-between, etc. I don't know how many coats to apply after the waterslide decal, etc. Basically, I'm somewhat clueless and can use some help!

I sprayed this unfinished neck 4 years ago with rattle can polyurethane varnish from the local hardware store. It still holds well to this day after daily playing.when I got it the neck had a slight satin finish but the fretboard was bare.
My goal was to seal the fretboard and spray the headstock. No decals for me.
Steps:
1.Level frets.
2. Clean neck with naphtha.
3. Mask back of neck as didn't want this sprayed.
4. Spray 1 very light coat per day on fretboard in dust free environment (garage). Repeat for 5 coats over 5 days. My neck was laid flat as I only wanted the front doing.
5. Leave to harden for 1 week.
6. Wet sand headstock and in between frets 400-800-1200 (skip this step if you want a glossy finish or have no dust specks). I used strips of wet sand paper for in between frets and sponge block for headstock.
6. Remove lacquer from frets using razorblade method.
7. Polished buff whole neck and fretboard.

 

[justus2023]

I recently finished a musikraft all maple neck with boiled linseed oil.
For the decal you could spray (only) the headstock with Polyurethane - but having a satin neck with a gloss headstock might not be what you are looking for.