Starting the Surfcaster

After gathering parts for a while, the Surfcaster is starting to take shape. Got an amazing neck from the great folks at USA Custom Guitars - one piece flame maple, small headstock, 7.25 radius fretboard and Paua dot inlays.

First thing was to make that great looking grain really pop. I generally followed HoundDog's Tru-Oil method. You can read about that on the Reranch Forums. Basically, I used a slightly damp cloth on the neck to 'raise' the grain, then sanded with 400 grit paper. The grain will feel 'fuzzy' and that's what you sand off. I did that 3 or 4 times until there was no more fuzz.

Stained two coats of Stew-Mac Neck Amber water-based stain, then I mixed up a combination of neck amber and a few drops of Medium Brown stain. The straight amber was a little too yellow for my taste.

After the stain was dry, I went after it with Tru-Oil. I wound up with about 14 or 15 coats. The pictures here are the neck after the stain and Tru-Oil. The Tru-Oil gives an incredibly fast feel to the back of the neck. I love the look of gloss lacquer on maple necks, so I wanted to leave the back of the neck unlaquered, but wanted the headstock and the fretboard to have lacquer. More on that (or I should say 'moron' because it wound up being a major undertaking) later.