Neck Prep Work

I started work on the neck now. It’s been sanded and sealed and then dry sanded with 220 grit sandpaper for a smooth satin look and feel. Once that is done, it is ready for the primer. I decided to drill the small holes for the tuner mounting screws before I do the primer though. I need to make sure that standard tuners will fit this headstock since it’s slightly smaller than a typical one.

The first step is to test the bushings which fit into the neck and house the tuning peg. Fortunately, these bushings are a perfect fit into this neck. The fit will be a little tight once some finish gets in the holes, but it won’t be a problem. The big thing is that I don’t have to drill them out wider, because that’s a pain to do. I got lucky in this regard!

After the bushings are fit in place I put all 4 tuners on to make sure they all have enough space between each other. It looks pretty good, so I’m ready to mark where the small holes for the screws need to be drilled. There are 4 screws per tuner which means 16 total holes to be drilled using a drill press for a nice straight hole.

Mounting screw holes marked for where they need to go:



All 16 holes drilled, they’re hard to see in the picture:

Test mounting the tuners to the new holes: They fit!

With those holes drilled, it’s time to prime the neck. Primer is the messiest part of a refinish job, as it’s very dusty in both application as well as the dry sanding that occurs after it dries. It’s sanded down using sandpaper of grit 220 in order to get a smooth surface for the color coat to go on top of. White primer is also used because if the wood grain is not completely opaque, it can show through the color. Sometimes this is desired if you’re using figured woods, but since the body on this bass is not semi transparent, the neck isn’t going to be either.

Neck primed and sanded:

Headstock close-up:

I’ll give it another very light sanding and then wipe it down with a tack cloth to remove and residual dust before spraying the color. The back of the neck is going to be the same purple as the body, and the headstock face will be painted black and a custom waterslide decal will be applied to give it a true custom look. The same type of acrylic lacquer I used for the body will be used on the neck. Having everything the same is a good thing.