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Holy Smoke Kevin, That is gorgeous! Beautiful work.

The bone saddle for the tail gut is in.

Here are blanks for the tail piece and the pick guard cut from an Indian ebony fretboard blank I brought back from India in 2014.
It's the perfect thickness for the tail piece at 5/16".

The pick guard will be 3/16" when completed. I'll probably bind it to match the fingerboard and headstock.

I've decided to do a thin simple ebony heel cap. Since I'll be doing a first time for me sunburst finish that part if the guitar will be black fading into tobacco brown.

I don't have white plastic that matches the binding for a cap so ebony it will be.

Any ideas how I'm going to spray a finish under this extension and then "finish the finish" there?

I can't see spraying and then gluing on the neck as a dovetail neck is normally attached then the whole thing sprayed. Doing a sunburst I think it has to be done that way.

Pretty tricky problem. That area is kinda “no man’s land”. I have done a half dozen Fender style sunbursts on electric guitars, here’s my two cents. In looking at other sunburst jazz guitars, that area ends up being predominantly dark, which is a good thing. Perhaps you airbrush in the dark under the extension first, then come back with the overall sunburst application on the remaining guitar. Then do the same with the clear coating. I would build up a thicker clear coat under the extension since level sanding and polishing wouldn’t be as exact. This would minimize the chance of “sand throughs”. I am thinking you’ll need to make some real thin sanding paddles to work that area, in addition to using just the sandpaper to sneak under the thinest spaces.
Alternatively you could apply the dark and clear only under the extension before gluing the neck (feathering the edges) , then finish the rest of the instrument after gluing the neck. Since the overlap is in the dark portion, it could come out pretty seamless. You could do test applications on scrap wood to develop your technique.

Thanks for your thoughts I've considered them both too.
Probably masking off the contact point of the top and shooting that area before attaching the neck could be the best approach. As I'm thinking about the sunburst that area and along the top edge will be black going into tobacco brown. I could even semi sand and polish just enough to later spray in from the side and blend it.
Another thing as I'm starting to make the pick guard.
The guard will block off that area from view...somewhat si if it's not perfect it may not really matter visually. I'll look at that more too.
I appreciate your input. It helps me think more about possibilities.

Another builder friend suggested doing the burst on top only with no neck attached. glue on the neck, then bursting the rest and doing the clear top coats.

How does that sound?

Even better! I forgot the bindings would make a nice dividing line.

Since I've decided to spray a sunburst and do at least the top sunburst without the neck attached I've mounted the neck and filed/sanded the overhangs of the heel and fretboard extensions flush with the body so when the neck is glued on that will already be done.

I finished shaping the heel and glued on an ebony heel cap. I didn't even know where to get a piece of white plastic that matched the binding to use for a heel cap so settled on the ebony. It will most likely blend in with the dark part of the sunburst on the back, and that will be okay.

I have the guitar sanded to 320 grit and just about ready for finish but that will have to wait for springtime. I'll not have a guitar sprayed and over wintered in my shop again like I did my last guitar last winter and the lacquer cracked if anyone remembers that fiasco I went through.

I have glued the purfling and binding to my pickguard and will sand that all flush tomorrow. Then I'll work on the tail piece which will attach to the endpin using a tail gut and hold the strings.

Pick guard is made. Ebony 3/16" thick bound to match the guitar body.

Looks great! I know everybody will be looking forward to seeing the finishing process on this beauty. You’ll probably pop out a violin or cello in the meantime. Ha!