Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi, Friends. I hope some of you will have personal experience with a situation similar to mine. For some time, I've wanted to change the contour of a neck a built a few years ago (it's a little "clubby"). No real problem with that, nor with refilling and staining the back of the neck. But the guitar is finished in Target Oxford Ultima Gloss--a product which has been discontinued. I know the folks at Target can advise me about compatibility with their newer products, but in the past they have always referred me back to OLF and MIMF, too, for direct advice from luthiers. So I thought I'd start with the building forums. Here's the deal: I don't want to refinish the entire instrument. I can work up to good "stopping" places everywhere except where the neck meets the side in the cutaway. At that point, I will either need to butt the new finish to the old one, or successfully blend them together. Obviously, blending is much preferred. Have any of you run into finish repair situations where you were able to burn in a newer Target product on the feathered edge of Oxford Ultima? If so, did you run into any particular problems? The photo will illustrate the area that worries me--where the side of the heel meets the side of the box.
Many thanks!
Patrick

Hi Patrick-You could try contacting the guy that I get my Target products from. His name is Jeff, and he is very knowledgeable about what he sells. Here's the link to contact him. http://www.woodessence.com/ContactUs.aspx . Best of luck!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Removing the neck isn't an option? Anyway, I don't use waterbornes so I can't advise on the compatibility, but I'd recommend refinishing the entire neck. You can still get a seamless feeling transition at the cutaway/neck joint with different-separate finishes. If you can't remove the neck score the finish at the neck joint, all the way around, and mask the body. Completely strip the neck, do your shaping, and finish the entire neck.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Thanks Guys. Alex, I will contact your supplier and see what he has to say. I appreciate the link.
Woody, I could remove the neck, but I frankly don't see much advantage. Sure, the neck alone would be less cumbersome to work on, but I'd still wind up with butted finishes that I'd need to touch up. And Omigosh, what a lot of extra work to remove the neck. I'd much prefer to mask off the body and do the job with the neck on. If, in the contouring process, the thing just gets to be too much to move around, I would reconsider. In the second part of your response, you described my
action plan pretty accurately.