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Been awhile since my last post because the project stalled at the finishing step after I pore filled. Without the spray equipment and really fearful I was going to screw up what had turned out better than I had hoped up to that point, I commissioned Joe White to spray the finish. He did one heck of a job...just beautiful and I am really glad I made that decision.

I had located the bridge so he could mask it and when I sent it had a real nice, flush neck cheek to body fit. After he shipped it back, for some reason the neck fit was not as flush anymore. So I went about carefully sanding the cheeks again knowing that if I went too far in any direction the bridge would displace enough to expose the unfinished area from the initial bridge locate. Right now I have it almost perfect and it did push the bridge position a tiny bit farther away but there is enough finish overlap under the initial bridge location to compensate.... barely.

I could just leave it but that very tiny cheek to body gap in one spot will taunt me. Through all this I have not used the flossing technique but think maybe I should try it before I commit. So considering I have no more room for error, how exactly is this done? Just cut a strip of sandpaper, hold the neck in place and pull a few times on each side? Grit? Maybe put down some blue tape on the body first so the backside of the paper doesn't scratch I suppose too.

That should be very easy to clean up, 150G will be fine enough --- I reinforce the paper with plastic packaging tape -- make the paper the full height of the heel, the tape also allows the paper to slid on the body. -- your concept is correct. However I recommend that the paper be pulled out toward the side rather then toward the back so an equal amount of material is removed along the entire cheek. Pulling toward the back removes progressively more material as you approach the heel cap -- not good. You don't want to inadvertantly change the set angle.

Kyle909 wrote:

I had located the bridge so he could mask it and when I sent it had a real nice, flush neck cheek to body fit. After he shipped it back, for some reason the neck fit was not as flush anymore.

What method did you use to get the good fit before sending it to finishing? If it was a good fit, how did you accomplish that without flossing?

I've sent 10 or so guitars to Joe White for finishing. The neck to body fit has always been perfect before finishing and most required NO flossing after finishing. Maybe 2 required very minor flossing. Joe's finishes are the thinnest ( 3-5 mil) and more uniform than anything I've ever seen with the exception of FP shellac. I would be surprised if his finish contributed much if any disturbance to that fit. But if your flossing has now contributed to your bridge position moving then I sense something more seriously wrong.

Any chance that you can show a macro pic of the fit as well as your neck tenon area?

Thanks Ken.. I agree, makes more sense to me to pull it out the side and I will try that. I'll post a pic after I do it.

JJ, I used little sanding sticks and actually got a pretty good fit initially. As far as why I didn't do the floss thing... let's just say it was a dumb newbie oversight. Also, didn't mean to imply that Joe's finishing somehow threw it off, it probably was very close but not perfect to begin with and the finish just made that stand out more when I got it back. The reason the bridge position shifted down a tiny bit was because I was a little too aggressive fixing the one check and then had to sand the other one to get the alignment back.

Yea...I'm learning the hard way.