“Fake Neck” for Guitar Finishing

For my next guitar kit build, I plan on finishing the body with only multiple coats of Tru-oil. The Strat body from this kit (from Leo Jaymz) is one piece, and has some great visible grain that I would not want to cover with paint nor stain it a different shade.

On the previous kit, I had a tough time oil finishing the body on a bench, as laying it on one side while trying to coat the flipside meant that you had to let it dry for at least a day before flipping. I attempted to hang the body from a hangman-type device I built. This meant that I could not get a good grip on the body, and I had to do it outside because of the size of the device. As it is now winter, and I don’t want to wait to get started on the build.

I happened to watch a few YouTube videos on guitar finishing, and on one of them, the luthier had taken a scrap piece of wood, cutting it to fit into the neck slot so that he could clamp it to the workbench. With that, he was able to do the finishing without laying it on the bench, flipping it over, then letting both sides and ends dry with even coats.

I went to a local Home Depot, and since I didn’t find any suitable scrap wood, purchased an 8-foot 1×3 furring strip for under $3.00. I cut a 2-foot piece off (so I can actually make four of these fake necks). I cut a notch on one end 1/2-inch x 4 inches, so that it would fit snug into the neck slot.

I drilled 1/16-inch holes into the slot section of the board, then for securing the fake neck, I’m using two 6-32×2-inch screws and 6-32 wing nuts. The total cost for this comes to less than $3.00 each for the four that I plan to make (keep two, give the others to fellow kit builders). This will definitely prove to be an extremely useful tool when staining and finishing bolt-on guitar bodies. Since I’ll be using Tru-Oil on this next project, I can do all of the work indoors, as Tru-Oil doesn’t have nasty fumes.

I will be heading to Nashville next weekend for the SPBGMA conference, so the weekly blog may be short and/or delayed. I will have a good summary of the conference when I get back.

Chew on it and comment.