Finishing a through-neck bass guitar

[Brian Peters]

Here is a guitar I built for a friend, he drew it up and I scanned it, traced it and built it with the aid of my cnc router and a lot of hand work. It is a semi-hollow body through neck bass guitar. It is the first guitar I've ever built, and it sounds pretty good in testing, can't wait to hear it when it is done. It is maple, black walnut and honduras mahogany. The fingerboard is fretless with mahogany and black walnut inlays alternating.

Anyhow, I'm a bit baffled on how to finish it. I am going to use a post-cat semi-gloss CV and it has to be sprayed completely wet, preferably in a fast fashion as the overspray even a few minutes later will not work. (wet by wet always). Because the neck is attached it makes this a particularly tough thing to spray. Anyone have any ideas for jigs? The only thing I could think of is to use the holes where I plan to put the leather straps to fashion something I could flip over and use as a holster.

Thanks so much.

[Jim Becker]

You might query Mark Crenshaw who has been posting some wonderful guitar build/finish threads in Woodworking Projects as of late. He may have some ideas. That said, I'd probably try to find a way to suspend it using the adjuster holes in the neck and stabilize that with something screwed into where the strap hardware will be located on the bottom of the body. Personally, I'd use an easier to handle finishing material, too, but that's just me... ;)

BTW, nice build!

[Phil Phelps]

Interesting design, Brian. Since this is an all in one guitar, you'll probably do best suspending it from the strap support. All the guitars I have finished, I've used lacquer or automotive lacquer and have had to hand sand, 400-1200 up,