Telecaster Two - 20 - Smoothing the Body and Neck

The neck has now had a couple of coats of sanding sealer and after sanding the back of the neck smooth (down to 1500 grit wet and dry sandpaper) I removed the masking tape protecting the fingerboard.  There is a nice contrast at the moment but the fingerboard has no protection at all so I want to add a very thin coat of Tru-oil just to act as barrier against moisture, dirt and grime.  I don't want a shiny fingerboard but it needs something for protection.

I sanded the fingerboard lightly and gave it a final clean with lighter fluid making sure I cleaned right into the edges of the frets. After applying a light coat to the fretboard I turned my attention to the rest of the neck adding a coat of Tru-oil all over the headstock etc.

After this coat has dried I added another coat and set the neck aside to dry.  It is very shiny at the moment but I may have to sand this back as a glossy finish on the back of the neck will make it more difficult to slide up and down the neck smoothly.  I the turned my attention to the body.  The sanding sealer and grain filler have done a fabulous job of smoothing out the grain on the front of the body so time to turn my attention to the back and sides.

There is a lovely natural grain and knot patten on the back and sides of the Telecaster body so I want to preserve this and show it off as much as possible.

There as some quite deep marks round the sides from earlier machining so I will spend a lot of time smoothing these blemishes away and making sure the sides are smooth.

The grain is beautiful but scratches easily, a lot happened while I was routing the edges smooth and then sanding with my newly acquired drum sanders which fit in my drill but seem to leave lots of marks.

I stopped working on the sides after a couple of hours of sanding and turned my attention to the back, I scraped the surface with a cabinet scraper and smoothed out any remaining lumps and bumps with 120 grit sand paper.  Finally I applied a couple of coats of sanding sealer which I let soak into the wood.  This will both fill the pores in the wood and also provide some protection as well as helping prepare the surface for the final finish.  At that point I decided to call it a day!