Finishing experts - need advice on painting neck

[devrock]

So, I've been slogging away at a Gibson V replica since December, as time has permitted. Been a long slog, as it's my first build. Perhaps the biggest headache has been the finish. Too many mistakes to list. But, basically tried doing a candy red with white primer underneath, in order to get close to a KK Downing replica V. Anyway, I actually got to the point where I started applying the clear last week. However, in order to get some help on the frets this past wknd, I took the tape off the fretboard. Well, along the entire edge of the fretboard, on both sides, was a sharp lip where the primer and paint had built up. Long story short, I ruined the finish by trying to carefully scrape this edge away to make everything flush again. All I did was expose the primer and bare wood. I decided to look into sending it out to someone like Stike to do it right.

Anyway, my question (for future reference) is: how the heck do you avoid getting that edge when painting a neck???

[cmatthes]

I'd paint the fingerboard.

 

[gorch]

Watch U2b videos on the task before the job and try on plain wood first.

[devrock]

5 hours ago, gorch said:

Watch U2b videos on the task before the job and try on plain wood first.

If you can point me to any, that would be greatly appreciated. Seems all the ones I can find are for Fender-style clear, with no taping of the board.

[Steve Haynie]

How long did you wait to pull off the tape?  Tape needs to be pulled while a finish is still soft. 

You can drop fill the bad areas since you have to sand down the finish.  The sides of the fretboard should have clearcoat, anyway, so you could work the finish to not have an edge.