I just found your video at the exact right time -- doing my very first guitar build from a kit, and was curious about how to apply paint to the neck without totally fouling things up. Will be telling my friends about your channel, and tagging you once she's underway!
Thanks Daniel for sharing your expertise, instructions, advice and experiences with us! Your passion, persistence and dedication covering a great many years, through trials, years, and triumphs, dispelling many of the myths, and differentiating the necessary from the unnecessary.Your dedication, abilities and excellence over a great many years is connecting! Your coverage on the mechanical and technical function(s) for a particular guitar component and differentiating the reason why it falls under the classification of a "musical instrument in the first place. Thank you for making the art and joy of playing guitar enjoyable, fun, and inspirational again!
Surprised this only has ~850 views. Lots of great information in here. I'll be starting a guitar project in a week or so, and this has covered just about every question I've had in regards to painting the neck.
Thanks for the video, it is i think the only one really talking about the way to use masking tape to deal with the interface between the neck and the fretboard. There are very few videos showing solid color painting on neck, which is a very different approach compared to body painting. Some weeks ago, this advice would have save me some efforts in my project... the devil is always in the details.
You tube is as social as I get mate but I have pointed several people your way who are learning all things guitar. I also use automotive paints. Here in the states we have what is called a sanding primer. the brand name is Krylon. Its not meant to be a heavy fill type primer and goes on like it has sand in it. It bonds super well to wood and metal and when you wet sand it down with 1000 grit its like glass if you block sanded what you are painting to perfection. Great for super shiny flat surfaces. Then I paint with flat paints if I want perfection with something and sand that with 600, 800, 1000, 1500 MAYBE 2000 and then let it cure a week minimum before hitting it with rubbing compound. You can make blacks look like mirrors that way. Then clear as what ever you usually use to protect it.
And thanks for spreading the word. I do love youtube for the community of people discussing and sharing ideas, I actually find it much better than all the other social medias.
@Borgonian Evolution ... Sorry for the latency in asking ... but since I continuously get confused, do you start sanding after the last layer of paint or wait until after the final (3 layers of) clear coat? Thanx in advance and best regards from Germany!
You absolutely can. I do it s lot, and in fact am making a video about it (although I'm quite behind on editing so it will be a while). Essentially maple fretboards are often varnished so it's the same thing except you paint before varnish. In this case you often put the frets in first, paint, varnish, the carefully remove the paint from the frets and clean them up.
Absolutely. You probably won't have to strip it completely back, just lighly sand first so the new paint has something to key into. The only issue would be if it is finished already in nitro, in which case you should sand back to bare wood, or if it has an out finish in which case it also may be safest to do the same (just in case your new paint won't mix well with it). Either way, not a huge amount if prep really.
Nice video, but do you have an incredibly powerful fan behind the wall of holes? Your other necks are really near the spraying "booth", aren't you afraid to get colour on them?
I've got an anti-explosive fan, one that is probably a bit too big for my spray booth but I thought I'd rather go over the top. I've not had a problem yet of getting overspill on things I'm working on, but there are a few things out of sight that have been in the spray booth for ages that are gradually becoming a record of what I have sprayed in there. Tha ks for commenting.
@Devll & Sons Guitars - I'm doing my first kit build & wasn't sure about the fit of the neck (bolt-on neck) after painting/priming. Do you ever have trouble getting it to fit back into the body? Awesome video, super helpful to see the taping & Prep steps!
I definitely used too, but I tend to mask out the pocket now and find the necks normally go in (tightly) without too much problem. If anything feels tight I tend to sand the pocket edges slightly rather than the neck and risk ruining the finish.
Question since you are painting the neck. How much looser does the neck pocket need to be to account for the thickness of the paint clear coat and primer? I am trying to figure out how much i should sand down my neck to make it work
How tight is your neck at the moment? I find on most factory made guitars i have done this too the neck will still fit (tightly) back in. Sometimes I may need to sand the neck very slightly before putting it back (so over the paint and just where it fits in) but that is rare. I guess the paintbis normally pretty thin. It all depends on how thick your paint is, how many coats you do... I can't give you an exact measurement as it would cary each time. Sorry if that isn't much help.
Also, it may be easier to lightly scrape the neck pocket with a cabinet scraper if the fit is too tight. If your painting the body too I always mask the neck pocket so no paint goes in there
Its a custom ibanez pia body with rg570 neck. It was snug but not super snug before paint. I did do 1 coat of primer in the neck pocket but sanded some before and after. And will let paint go on just the edges of it. I did sand off all the clear coat and into the wood some on the neck where the pocket is. Ill prime the neck today then paint both this weekend. Only going to lightly prime the neck then sand it.
If you are sealing in the paint with a top coat there is no reason why you can paint anything on the neck. On the fretboard you can also paint fake binding and clear coat, but you'll have to then scrape it off of the frets.
The neck is sprayed with the clear coat after the fretboard is put on, if the clear didn't cover the sides of the fretboard there would have to be a sharp line where the varnish stops there which would interfere with playing and mean it was more likely to chip.
Omg. So sorry. I thought I had edited that bit out. I meant acetic acid. Don't use hydrochloric. So distilled white vinegar is basically the same as acetic acid.
@@DevilAndSons So Just use acetic acid by itself? Or Acetic acid mixed with white vinegar? I am asking because in the video you were mixing a couple things together.
Thanks so much. Do you mean sand before the nitro? I would always sand the bare wood before any paint or top coat to allow something for the paint to grip too. With nitro you don't have to sand between layers, the nitro 'melts' into the previous layers to ensure it doesn't delaminate. If you are putting nitro over a non-nitro colour then do sand first. You can't pit non-nitro over nitro. Dies that answer your question?
Great tutorial! Do you use the hook to spray the front of the headstock immediately after spraying the back of the neck or do you wait for the back to dry? If so, do you then just allow the neck hang from the hook to dry? Cheers!
I normally spray the headstock front first, then lie it flat on a piece of wood the width of the neck and spray the back, then for the next coats I hang it to dry and turn it around on the hook to spray both sides, as I can't really be touching the neck itself now. Does that make sense?
Hi Daniel you haven't posted in a while hope things are ok for you.can you offer any advice on enlarging holes in the headstock from the 8mm to the more common sized 10mm for new tuners.tried a step drill but had to go from both sides not ideal.thinking of combining that with a hand reamer.got another guitar to do with a nicely finished headstock i dont want to damage .cheers .
Hello. Thanks for asking, all is good here. I've been busy with some non-guitar things for the past month but also filming for a series I will be putting out for the great guitar build off. I normally step up using a reamer to start, then a drill bit turning very slowly.
This is a super weird question, so apologies in advance: Are you able to do this with a fretboard too? I see guitars and basses with a Neon Pink neck, and im trying to figure out how to re-create it.
Absolutely. I haven't made a video about this yet (although I'm actually going to soon). I normally take the frets out, paint the neck,varnish, put the frets back, another varnish Iver the top, then clean up the frets. However you could just mask off the frets, paint and varnish. I would recommend though putting at least one coat of varnish over the frets themselves if you are painting without removing them, that will help seal the paint in where they join. You could then use a really fine sand paper on the frets to remove the varnish from the top and buff the the frets.
Hey Daniel! Excellent video and one of the few really useful ones for painting necks! How much paint layers did you apply in total. I am in the middle of painting my bass neck ... it already looks nice after 2 layers and I am planning on adding 3 coats of clear on top before buffing and polishing. Does it need more? I am using Dartfords Nitros :-) ... thanx and cheers from Germany! Keep up the excellent work! Great fun to watch!
Thanks so much for leaving a comment, I'm glad it was helpful. I would say you don't need anymore if you are doing three coats of top coat, however the edges of the headstock and the neck heel are always where the paint is thinnest so be careful when sanding those areas. I normally do 2 or 3 coats of colour then the gloss coat so I think you'll be fine.
@@DevilAndSons Daniel, thanx so much for your quick reply! What continuously get's me confused, is whether or not to sand after the final layer of colour before adding the clear coat ... in your video you wet-sanded in between, but did you do the same after the final layer of colour to smoothen things out before clear coating? Thanx in advance!
Can you use Spray Max 2K clear coat to finish your neck? I have a neck that was finished in tru oil I don't like I like the feel of Spray Max 2K clear coat
You definitely can. The problem would be the tru oil may not interact well with the spray max (I've never tried). Normally you would need to clean the neck as best as possible and put a sealer like shellac on before top coating over an oiled surface.
Hi Daniel loving your work.i have a quick question,I just got a new guitar and after checking frets just two are high,I don't have a fret leveling file would I be ok just taking two down with 600grit slowly checking with the rocker before profile and polish or is this in advisable.cheers sir,keep up the good work.
Hi, thanks for getting in touch and glad you like the videos. It sounds like you have double checked with the rocker and know it's just two frets. Firstly though I would check to see if you can fix any problems by either raising the action slightly or altering the truss rod (I assume you are having notes that fret out at those raised frets). Of course you may not want to the action higher. You can level the frets like that, and actually if you then use a higher grit you'd be able to polish them, the problem is they won't be crowned and will have a flat surface. If you're not taking too much off it will be less noticeable and this naturally happens with wear anyway so won't make it unplayable, it just won't be quite as good as a crowned and polished fretm
@@DevilAndSons thanks for the advice Daniel,have you seen that home made tool on guns and guitars that he made from a block of wood.you stick sand paper to it,the wood has a 45degree angle cut so you maintain fairly accurate angle as you run it up each side of fret to crown .our American cousins love their guns.me not so much so.each to their own.thanks again.
I haven't seem that but I have the same thing with a diamond file for dressing the ends. By crown though I mean giving a curve to the fret so the strings rests on the very top of the curve and not a flat surface.
@@DevilAndSons yes perhaps I wasn't clear,the angled wood is run up the nut side of the fret then the bridge side giving an upside down v shape.he reckons it's the fastest way to crown then Dremel polish.cheers.
@@DevilAndSons It's all good, Thanks man. It wasnt the original one that got me, it was that damn variant. wasn't too bad though. just felt drained of energy and laid in bed for 2 weeks. Plus side I lost weight!!! I could breathe fine. but like they say it hits people different.
I just found your video at the exact right time -- doing my very first guitar build from a kit, and was curious about how to apply paint to the neck without totally fouling things up. Will be telling my friends about your channel, and tagging you once she's underway!
Excellent, and thanks on advanced for tagging me, I really do love seeing people's builds. Good luck and let me know of I can offer any further tips.
Thanks Daniel for sharing your expertise, instructions, advice and experiences with us! Your passion, persistence and dedication covering a great many years, through trials, years, and triumphs, dispelling many of the myths, and differentiating the necessary from the unnecessary.Your dedication, abilities and excellence over a great many years is connecting! Your coverage on the mechanical and technical function(s) for a particular guitar component and differentiating the reason why it falls under the classification of a "musical instrument in the first place. Thank you for making the art and joy of playing guitar enjoyable, fun, and inspirational again!
Wow, what an amazing compliment. Thank you so much, hearing that definitely validates the time I put into these videos, very much appreciated.
Surprised this only has ~850 views. Lots of great information in here. I'll be starting a guitar project in a week or so, and this has covered just about every question I've had in regards to painting the neck.
thank you my friend for your work !!
Thank you, it's honestly a pleasure.
Thank you I'm gonna try this on my superman guitar
That sounds cool. What shape is the guitar and what are youndoing to make it superman?
This is so awesome, thank you!
It's a pleasure, thanks for commenting
This was super duper helpful, thank you 🙏
It's a pleasure. What are you working on?
thank you for this video bro
It's a pleasure. Thanks for watching and commenting
Love that wildhearts guitar
Thanks, it wasso fun to make.
Thanks for the video, it is i think the only one really talking about the way to use masking tape to deal with the interface between the neck and the fretboard. There are very few videos showing solid color painting on neck, which is a very different approach compared to body painting. Some weeks ago, this advice would have save me some efforts in my project... the devil is always in the details.
Such a shame the timing didn't work out, but thanks for commenting and glad you like it.
You tube is as social as I get mate but I have pointed several people your way who are learning all things guitar. I also use automotive paints. Here in the states we have what is called a sanding primer. the brand name is Krylon. Its not meant to be a heavy fill type primer and goes on like it has sand in it. It bonds super well to wood and metal and when you wet sand it down with 1000 grit its like glass if you block sanded what you are painting to perfection. Great for super shiny flat surfaces. Then I paint with flat paints if I want perfection with something and sand that with 600, 800, 1000, 1500 MAYBE 2000 and then let it cure a week minimum before hitting it with rubbing compound. You can make blacks look like mirrors that way. Then clear as what ever you usually use to protect it.
That sounds cool. I will look into krylon, it actually sounds like it would perfectly suit the guitars I make where I sculpt onto the bodies.
And thanks for spreading the word. I do love youtube for the community of people discussing and sharing ideas, I actually find it much better than all the other social medias.
@Borgonian Evolution ... Sorry for the latency in asking ... but since I continuously get confused, do you start sanding after the last layer of paint or wait until after the final (3 layers of) clear coat? Thanx in advance and best regards from Germany!
Very helpful video! Thank you very much!
It's a pleasure, thanks for commenting.
I just found your channel. Good content! Thanks man!
Welcome, glad you found it. Enjoy.
Can I paint the fretboard? I'm trying to do an all-mate black build
You absolutely can. I do it s lot, and in fact am making a video about it (although I'm quite behind on editing so it will be a while). Essentially maple fretboards are often varnished so it's the same thing except you paint before varnish. In this case you often put the frets in first, paint, varnish, the carefully remove the paint from the frets and clean them up.
can i paint a start neck. its obviously been finished but i want to paint it black.
Absolutely. You probably won't have to strip it completely back, just lighly sand first so the new paint has something to key into. The only issue would be if it is finished already in nitro, in which case you should sand back to bare wood, or if it has an out finish in which case it also may be safest to do the same (just in case your new paint won't mix well with it). Either way, not a huge amount if prep really.
Nice video, but do you have an incredibly powerful fan behind the wall of holes? Your other necks are really near the spraying "booth", aren't you afraid to get colour on them?
I've got an anti-explosive fan, one that is probably a bit too big for my spray booth but I thought I'd rather go over the top. I've not had a problem yet of getting overspill on things I'm working on, but there are a few things out of sight that have been in the spray booth for ages that are gradually becoming a record of what I have sprayed in there. Tha ks for commenting.
@@DevilAndSons too big is just the right size 🤘
Ha, size does matter!
@Devll & Sons Guitars - I'm doing my first kit build & wasn't sure about the fit of the neck (bolt-on neck) after painting/priming. Do you ever have trouble getting it to fit back into the body?
Awesome video, super helpful to see the taping & Prep steps!
I definitely used too, but I tend to mask out the pocket now and find the necks normally go in (tightly) without too much problem. If anything feels tight I tend to sand the pocket edges slightly rather than the neck and risk ruining the finish.
What kit have you got?
Question since you are painting the neck. How much looser does the neck pocket need to be to account for the thickness of the paint clear coat and primer?
I am trying to figure out how much i should sand down my neck to make it work
How tight is your neck at the moment? I find on most factory made guitars i have done this too the neck will still fit (tightly) back in. Sometimes I may need to sand the neck very slightly before putting it back (so over the paint and just where it fits in) but that is rare. I guess the paintbis normally pretty thin. It all depends on how thick your paint is, how many coats you do... I can't give you an exact measurement as it would cary each time. Sorry if that isn't much help.
Also, it may be easier to lightly scrape the neck pocket with a cabinet scraper if the fit is too tight. If your painting the body too I always mask the neck pocket so no paint goes in there
Its a custom ibanez pia body with rg570 neck.
It was snug but not super snug before paint.
I did do 1 coat of primer in the neck pocket but sanded some before and after. And will let paint go on just the edges of it.
I did sand off all the clear coat and into the wood some on the neck where the pocket is. Ill prime the neck today then paint both this weekend. Only going to lightly prime the neck then sand it.
I don't think yo4u'll have a problem with it fitting back in, and hopefully it will fit even better than before. Good luck
Could you paint fake binding on a guitar neck?
If you are sealing in the paint with a top coat there is no reason why you can paint anything on the neck. On the fretboard you can also paint fake binding and clear coat, but you'll have to then scrape it off of the frets.
I've yet to make a video about putting a top coat on the fretboard, but it's pretty straight forward.
@@DevilAndSons how could I hire you to do this?
The best thing to do would be to drop me an email. Info@devilandsons.guitars
@@DevilAndSons thank you! I think paint over the binding edges would look cool on a Gibson Studio
I noticed that my fender Stratocasters have the sides of the rosewood fretboard finished, Is there a reason for this?
The neck is sprayed with the clear coat after the fretboard is put on, if the clear didn't cover the sides of the fretboard there would have to be a sharp line where the varnish stops there which would interfere with playing and mean it was more likely to chip.
Wildhearts logo guitar!
I made it for Ginger!
So mix hydrochloric acid and white vinegar to clean the neck?
Omg. So sorry. I thought I had edited that bit out. I meant acetic acid. Don't use hydrochloric. So distilled white vinegar is basically the same as acetic acid.
@@DevilAndSons So Just use acetic acid by itself? Or Acetic acid mixed with white vinegar? I am asking because in the video you were mixing a couple things together.
@zaz4667 I've just edited the video to say meths and distilled white vinegar (acetic acid). It's what the person that taught me French polishing used.
Nice video, lots of info i wanted to find and couldn’t find elsewhere on youtube. Would you sand like you did for this neck on a clear nitro neck?
Thanks so much. Do you mean sand before the nitro? I would always sand the bare wood before any paint or top coat to allow something for the paint to grip too. With nitro you don't have to sand between layers, the nitro 'melts' into the previous layers to ensure it doesn't delaminate. If you are putting nitro over a non-nitro colour then do sand first. You can't pit non-nitro over nitro. Dies that answer your question?
Great tutorial! Do you use the hook to spray the front of the headstock immediately after spraying the back of the neck or do you wait for the back to dry? If so, do you then just allow the neck hang from the hook to dry? Cheers!
I normally spray the headstock front first, then lie it flat on a piece of wood the width of the neck and spray the back, then for the next coats I hang it to dry and turn it around on the hook to spray both sides, as I can't really be touching the neck itself now. Does that make sense?
And thanks for watching and commenting
Hi Daniel you haven't posted in a while hope things are ok for you.can you offer any advice on enlarging holes in the headstock from the 8mm to the more common sized 10mm for new tuners.tried a step drill but had to go from both sides not ideal.thinking of combining that with a hand reamer.got another guitar to do with a nicely finished headstock i dont want to damage .cheers .
Hello. Thanks for asking, all is good here. I've been busy with some non-guitar things for the past month but also filming for a series I will be putting out for the great guitar build off. I normally step up using a reamer to start, then a drill bit turning very slowly.
Actually, more often than not I fill the holes and redrill. I fill them with dowel, wood filler, or a combo.
@@DevilAndSons thanks for the advice, appreciated.
Good luck, do let me know how you get on.
@@DevilAndSons will do, thanks again,I had not really thought of plugging and redrilling,great advice cheers.
nice tattoo ✌🏻🤘🏻
🤘🎸cheers
This is a super weird question, so apologies in advance:
Are you able to do this with a fretboard too? I see guitars and basses with a Neon Pink neck, and im trying to figure out how to re-create it.
Absolutely. I haven't made a video about this yet (although I'm actually going to soon). I normally take the frets out, paint the neck,varnish, put the frets back, another varnish Iver the top, then clean up the frets. However you could just mask off the frets, paint and varnish. I would recommend though putting at least one coat of varnish over the frets themselves if you are painting without removing them, that will help seal the paint in where they join. You could then use a really fine sand paper on the frets to remove the varnish from the top and buff the the frets.
Hey Daniel! Excellent video and one of the few really useful ones for painting necks! How much paint layers did you apply in total. I am in the middle of painting my bass neck ... it already looks nice after 2 layers and I am planning on adding 3 coats of clear on top before buffing and polishing. Does it need more? I am using Dartfords Nitros :-) ... thanx and cheers from Germany! Keep up the excellent work! Great fun to watch!
Thanks so much for leaving a comment, I'm glad it was helpful. I would say you don't need anymore if you are doing three coats of top coat, however the edges of the headstock and the neck heel are always where the paint is thinnest so be careful when sanding those areas. I normally do 2 or 3 coats of colour then the gloss coat so I think you'll be fine.
@@DevilAndSons Daniel, thanx so much for your quick reply! What continuously get's me confused, is whether or not to sand after the final layer of colour before adding the clear coat ... in your video you wet-sanded in between, but did you do the same after the final layer of colour to smoothen things out before clear coating? Thanx in advance!
Can you use Spray Max 2K clear coat to finish your neck? I have a neck that was finished in tru oil I don't like I like the feel of Spray Max 2K clear coat
Will it work my friend
You definitely can. The problem would be the tru oil may not interact well with the spray max (I've never tried). Normally you would need to clean the neck as best as possible and put a sealer like shellac on before top coating over an oiled surface.
I think we were typing at the same time.
Hi Daniel loving your work.i have a quick question,I just got a new guitar and after checking frets just two are high,I don't have a fret leveling file would I be ok just taking two down with 600grit slowly checking with the rocker before profile and polish or is this in advisable.cheers sir,keep up the good work.
Hi, thanks for getting in touch and glad you like the videos. It sounds like you have double checked with the rocker and know it's just two frets. Firstly though I would check to see if you can fix any problems by either raising the action slightly or altering the truss rod (I assume you are having notes that fret out at those raised frets). Of course you may not want to the action higher.
You can level the frets like that, and actually if you then use a higher grit you'd be able to polish them, the problem is they won't be crowned and will have a flat surface. If you're not taking too much off it will be less noticeable and this naturally happens with wear anyway so won't make it unplayable, it just won't be quite as good as a crowned and polished fretm
@@DevilAndSons thanks for the advice Daniel,have you seen that home made tool on guns and guitars that he made from a block of wood.you stick sand paper to it,the wood has a 45degree angle cut so you maintain fairly accurate angle as you run it up each side of fret to crown .our American cousins love their guns.me not so much so.each to their own.thanks again.
I haven't seem that but I have the same thing with a diamond file for dressing the ends. By crown though I mean giving a curve to the fret so the strings rests on the very top of the curve and not a flat surface.
@@DevilAndSons yes perhaps I wasn't clear,the angled wood is run up the nut side of the fret then the bridge side giving an upside down v shape.he reckons it's the fastest way to crown then Dremel polish.cheers.
Oh cool, I'll look that up, sounds interesting.
Don't worry I didn't Leave haha, caught that damn covid
Oh no. How are you now?
@@DevilAndSons It's all good now, but it was rough for a couple weeks. But all is well!!!! Thanks for asking
Man, sorry to hear that. Glad you are recovered now though.
@@DevilAndSons It's all good, Thanks man. It wasnt the original one that got me, it was that damn variant. wasn't too bad though. just felt drained of energy and laid in bed for 2 weeks. Plus side I lost weight!!! I could breathe fine. but like they say it hits people different.
I had it almost the same, 2 weeks mainly sleeping with a fever at the start. So odd the extreme lack of energy. We're both lucky it wasn't worse.
I have never seen someone tattoo themselves to look like a zebra. I guess you are in that area.
I didn't actually do it to myself, but it really does help avoid the lions.