Monday, June 20, 2005 . . . .

Well, I've waited a week now, and here I am gluing the butt-joint bolt-on neck to the body. Everything fit and lined up perfectly! This is always a rather nerve-wracking step for me.

I did the wet-sanding yesterday, using all the grits of Micro-Mesh sanding cloths, then taking it to the buffer I bought last year. (It was a great deal from Caswell Plating Company --- a 3/4 hp pedestal buffing machine running at 1100 rpm, for only $99!)

As I was wet-sanding the neck last night, I ran into a little problem with witness lines on the back of the peghead. I sprayed a few more coats on the problem area, waited for it to cure a bit, then tried to wet-sand it out again. Then I had a pebbly kind of surface in two small areas. So, this morning I worked on it some more, this time sanding down the pebbly areas, and then wiping on about three thin coats of finish. I wet-sanded this time very, very gently. . . .and FINALLY it came out right!!! What a relief.

Next I bolted the neck onto the body, scribed the fingerboard extension outline on the top, and removed the finish underneath with some paint stripper. I scraped off the finish with a chisel, dampened the surface to neutralize any remaining stripper residue, and let it dry.

I then made a clamping caul for underneath the fingerboard extension and put some cork on the bottom of a block of wood (to sit on top of the fingerboard extension). I put Titebond on the fingerboard extension, bolted in the neck, and then clamped it.

Next up . . . I will determine the bridge location and glue that on! Getting near the end!!!!