ES-3 Kit - Neck Set Before or After Finishing with Wudtone

Hey,

I am planning on finishing my ES-3 kit with a wudtone burst. Should i glue the neck on before i do the finish or after? It seems from what you read online people go both ways….

on another note is there a step by step procedure for how to glue on the neck? i would assume it needs to be put as a specific angle and such. maybe the neck pocket comes sanded pretty close to the way it should be installed?

Hi Whalenb, welcome to the forum.
Depends if you want to work on a guitar with the neck set early can be awkward to work on. Usually you get a better neck/body transition when the neck is set before the finish. I usually stain and finish neck and body separately as they are much easier to work on.
If you use the latter method what I do is tape off the body where glue squeeze will come out so it doesn't touch the body finish. When you do set the neck it's worth installing both E tuners and both E strings, fit the bridge temporarily (don't knock the bridge bushes all the way in so you can remove them) and make sure the string offsets to the sides of the fingerboard are fairly even for high and low E strings. Also you can get a good idea of the string action before you glue it.
Once you are happy with the alignment, apply the glue, make sure there is good coverage of all the contact areas, but don't go overboard. Clamp the neck in place and make sure the string offsets to fingerboard are fairly even.
The tape should stop the glue touching the body. I apply a fair bit of tape around the body join to make sure

Normally the pocket is pretty close if not spot on. If you have any concerns / worries post some photos and we can give you more advice. Make sure you use a decent glue - aquadhere is just not up to the job - Titebond (available from Masters) is much better.