I'm happy to report that, minus a nut install and setup, this thing is DONE! I'm really happy with how it's turned out. But I've been pretty terrible about keeping this thread updated, so I'm going to go back and cover some of the progress before I show off the finished product.
First, the neck. WOW. I don't know how I haven't posted about this yet. I got a bunch of Warmoth gift certificates for Christmas and splurged on a flame maple neck. I got the SRV neck shape, which at first felt really strange to me, but now that I'm actually holding the finished guitar and feeling the neck, it feels like it might be really amazing. We'll see. Anyhoo, here's how it looked when i got it:
I added some amber dye. I probably dyed and sanded back 5 times or so:
Next, I did about 8 applications of boiled linseed oil. It added a lot of dimension to the flames:
After letting it sit for a week-and-a-half or so, I started adding some nitro lacquer and the decal. I kept it pretty light on the actual neck back, but applied a healthy amount to the front, back, and sides of the headstock.
And here it is all wetsanded and polished. When I do necks, I like to wetsand and polish the headstock, but just wetsand the the neck-back so that it's really smooth but not glossy. The end result feels great and is a joy to play.
I can't believe how this neck turned out. This is my first-ever "flamey"-anything. I'm so happy with it. I'll post more soon.
