1) I've never done a set neck before. With bolt-on necks, I've always done the entire finish as separate pieces and put together after the polishing process. However, with a set neck, I'm concerned about damage to the finish caused by the clamping regardless of how careful I am. Since I'm doing the entire neck and body in the same finish, my thought would be to get the neck set as one of the first steps and do all the prep/stain etc afterwards. This would give me a chance to clean up and clamping marks early in the process. Other than the obvious difficulty of having one big lump of guitar to handle while trying to stain and finish, are there any issues with this procedure? I'm thinking it would allow for a nice clean, almost transparent join.
2) With the Dingotone stain, can I finish that with some clear nitro? I'm thinking that to get anywhere near the shine of the above pic, I'm going to need a nice hard finish that can be buffed/polished. I'm working on the assumption that the Dingotone kits won't really allow for that, but I've never used it before so I have no idea what I'm talking about. Assuming I can nitro over the top, and also assuming it's the best option, do I still apply all three layers of the Dingo (stain/intensifying/final)? If there's a better option to what I'm thinking, please tell me now before I invest in the nitro.
3) Any newbie tips for the set neck? Things to check for? Common pitfalls to avoid? Being my first one, I'm nervous about stuffing it up.
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