Doing Things Wrong

Superfreaky Part IIIa

Laying out the parts to see what it will look like. The body has been finished for a long time. Yesterday I encased the neck in plastic - 4 layers of polyurethane, wet-on-wet. Today I smoothed it out with 320 sandpaper, a gentle touch to remove any remaining wood grain and give a good surface for the final topcoat. It will need a few days to fully cure before then.

I'm using Krylon satin poly. It goes on very nice, and you can get it pretty cheap at Hobby Lobby with their ever-present coupon. It also seems to be less yellow than Minwax or the other one. This Ric is coming together nicely. I've started to pull together parts for another.

Update:

The final coat of poly is on the neck and looks great. I'll give it a week to cure hard before I start installing hardware. I also want to re-polish the fretboard.


image
Such a simple idea, yet it makes a world of difference in finishing. StewMac - feel free to copy this design, I've copied enough of yours!​

Sanding blocks are 1/8" neoprene foam (mousepad) glued over 1x2 & 1x3 scrap pine, with 1/4" roundovers ( makes 3/8" roundover with padding. ) Use waterproof contact cement. The large block is sized for 1/4 of a standard sheet of sandpaper, and will also take half of a 1/3 sheet piece. Small block works well for details, inside horns, etc. The neoprene grips the sandpaper exceedingly well, wet or dry, and has just the right amount of 'give' for very fine sanding.