Day Two

One of the themes running through the YouTube videos concerned with building a kit guitar is a mantra that seems to say ‘guitar necks should be as natural and untreated (ie unvarnished) as possible’. Yet when I look at my professional modern guitars, Gretsch and Gibson, at my grandson’s Epiphone, they all appear to have the same glossy finish on the neck as well as the body. I can understand it might be ideal to have only a light coating of polyurethane but at the end of the day, most professional makers seem to put durability above ‘feel’ or ‘sensation’.

So, today I purchased a tin of glossy polyurethane varnish and a large supply of white spirit intending to emulate a private maker whose guitar simply dazzles in his YouTube video - much as the genuine PRS guitars mine is based upon shine.

The man whose advice I’m taking gave his instrument five or six coats of very dilute varnish – he estimated a 4 to 1 mixture, each coat allowed to dry for 24 hours and rubbed down with 600 grit wet and dry before the next. Finally, he gave it two coats of a stronger mixture of the same ratio but with the ingredients reversed, ie 4 parts varnish, 1 part white spirit.