A little progress to report, though nothing much to look at. While the neck from my Tele project is curing, I put finish on the Jazz Bass neck. My application technique is getting better. I switched to a 1" (25mm) brush taclon bristle brush, and have found that if I charge it with a bit of water before dipping it in the top coat it goes on thinner and I haven't had much problem with dripping. Also quick strokes seem to work best. Both necks are hanging on the wall curing, so I turned to the JB body.

I used a new wood pore filler with this. I have primarily been using AquaCoat Clear. I can get a very smooth finish with the AquaCoat but it takes a lot of iterations, and it is pricey. It's principle advantage is that it dries clear. It's great over stain or fix small problems over color, so I imagine I'll continue using it. But on this build I have decided to go with a solid color, after trying three different stain colors, an disliking all of them. I don't need the poor filler to be clear, so why not try something new?

I ended up getting Famowood Latex wood filler. I have have been hearing that it works more or less like Timbermate, but has less of an odor. I haven't used Timbermate so I can't do a direct comparison, but I have heard that they are comparable. In any case the Famowood product is the best I have tried. Goes on easy. Dries quickly (about 14 minutes and it was ready to sand). It's hard, but not crazy hard, so it sanded well. Very light, but pleasant odor. I looked up it's SDS sheet and was pleased to learn that the filler is actually wood, and that it's abut as non-toxic as you get. It has that in common with the Timbermate (I looked up the SDS on it too). It's funny that reports are that they work quite similarly. I am not a chemist, but they don't seem that closely related composition-wise.

I had previously coated with wood hardener/sealer. There were some small spots were I sanded through when sanding back the filler. After filling, I put three quick coats of shellac over it to seal for the paint. Will be using MTN94 "Ipanema Yellow"...once I get another can at the Art Store...