Finally got the candy on, 5 coats in all of Port Red, so under normal lighting it has the colour of red wine, but in the sunlight it really lights up, not that I'll be playing outside much.....
I took the painting handles off to check the colour match between the body and the neck. At this stage before clearcoat I could blow in a little black with an airbrush around the joint to blend them in if there were any problems. Thankfully all's good, the colour was fine, but there now is so much paint on it the neck wouldn't fit in the body socket!
After about 30 mins of careful sanding all is good.
Now to flat and polish and some more additions to the pick guard assembly and I should be close to being ready to put it all together.