Freshly Stained

Just stained, the new and unfinished AllParts neck looks just that... new. It will take a few more steps to achieve a vintage look.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

How long does it take you to finish necks? Vintage necks like a 57 strat.

James M. Sims said...

Necks like this could easily be finished in a week once you have the parts. Some things take effort like rolling the edges for a nicer feel (perhaps 2-3 hours depending on work needed and feel desired). Other things take a duration, such as lacquer curing between coats.

Fernando (Barcelona) said...

How do you clean the frets after finishing?

davidg said...

I am about to build my own strat using a Warmoth Birdseye Maple one-piece neck. Not to sound too stupid, but do you tint and lacquer the whole neck, frets and all?

James M. Sims said...

@DavidG, there is no such thing as a stupid question. The big question here is whether your new Warmoth neck as a rosewood fretboard. If it does, then I mask the rosewood all the way around the sides, head and heel. If you err, aim for the tiniest bit of stain and lacquer on the rosewood instead of having bare maple. If you look at my Warmoth neck with the birds eye and rosewood on this site, there is a picture of the head close-up, and you can probably see the shiny lacquer versus bare rosewood where I had masked it off.

Unknown said...

James, actually I am talking about a one-piece birdseye maple neck. The fretboard is maple. So would I tint and lacquer the whole neck, frets and all? By the way, thanks so much for the quick response and this great site! It is much appreciated by so many out there, I am sure.

James M. Sims said...

@David, You are welcome. Yes, I stain the entire neck, frets and all. I remove the nut carefully if it is already installed, as this is cleaner, but be careful, as there is a little risk that it could pull a wood chip if it is too securely installed.

I also lacquer over the frets, and then with super fine steel wool, I go over the fretboard, removed the lacquer by lightly running the length of the fretboard with the steel wool. I use the same steel wool to smooth the entire neck between coats. I clean it thoroughly to ensure there is no trace of the steel wool, paying special attention where each fret meets the fretboard, and the edges, and the lacquer again, repeating the process until I believe I have sufficient finish to endure the rigors of playing, 3-5 applications