Doing Things Wrong

Superfreaky Part IIa

I finished the shaping with a big metal file and 80-grit. Then finish-sanded 100-150 and cleaned out the fret slots. 150 is good enough for now. For final finishing, I'll take it up to 320, which is smooth but leaves plenty of 'tooth' for the finish to grab onto. I wouldn't go any higher - the surface becomes too smooth.

Finally I put several coats of poly wet-on-wet on the fretboard, to build up a single thick layer of plastic. That will give a nice thick protective covering over the stained surface. That will need a few days to harden-off, then I can smooth it down, install the frets, and give it a thin top-coat, and also finish the rest.


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This is a spoke nut version, for use at the neck heel.

Here is a variation intended to adjust at the headstock rather than the heel, although it would work fine there too. I substituted a 1-1/2" 10-32 SS cap-head bolt for my usual spoke nut and threaded shaft. It is captured the same way, in a drilled-out coupling nut with a ground-down hex nut. The rod itself is 48" 3/16 rod steel, bent back on itself. Both coupling nuts are grooved on the attaching surface to hold the round rod. This greatly simplifies alignment and assembly, and the cap-head bolt eliminates one solder joint. All parts from my favorite luthiery supply shop, Home Depot.