Measured the ferrules: 10mm rim, 8mm shaft, 9mm depth.




Taped the drill bit, and set the drill press depth, and made a template for drilling the ferrule holes. End result = a little wonky (without a CNC machine, I reckon this job is always going to be a difficult one, getting all the ferrule holes to line up … any suggestions for anyone else viewing my build thread?). I’m not worried, as it’s on the back of the guitar, and still functions the way I want it to.





It took a lot of time sanding out the machine marks from the factory, especially in difficult spots, and the fretboard extension (progress pics).




I used a butter knife to cradle the decal into position, and lined it up using a clear ruler with parallel reference lines to align the decal with the top of the headstock.



A jeweller’s screwdriver helped get sawdust out of the fret grooves, before putting clearcoat on the neck. The decal is setting for the meantime.



Using the suggestion of wiping off excess Timbermate whilst it’s still setting, was a very helpful piece of advice. I used the advice of using a ‘washcoat’ before using the Timbermate, then dried, sanded and cleaned it with Shellite before putting on the first coat of stain. The washcoat really made the grain stand up (fluffy), which was removed with light sanding. The grain popped a little bit better afterwards, and the surface is significantly flatter (pores filled in).