Alright my gentlemans. The temporary neck is repaired, finished being painted and polished, and finally bolted on. This was a mother fucking rollercoaster and total nightmare of a project to complete. I will try to (as quickly as possibl) detail all that had to be done.
Let me say right off the bat that I am aware that the pink is not identical. But it's close enough especially after the trouble I went thru looking for it. When I eventually get the Warmoth neck I will send it off to be professionally painted with swatches and the whole nine yards.
Nevertheless, I am still pleased with how both temporary necks became. Now that the scalloped neck is off, I will proceed with leveling the two dead frets and sanding the clearcoat off that headstock so I can paint that one next.
Forgive the wild strings, I am waiting till they stretch to clip them:
Here were the chores:
1. I had to put the proper Original Floyd Rose studs in. It was a terrible pain to remove the ones in the guitar, which I found out after installing the scalloped neck were worn out and overlong. These new studs and bevels were equally hard to hammer in, but they are Perfection (I mean they did come with the bridge, so...)
2. I had to nigger-rig some tuners. Big time. I had no extra normal or locking tuners, and this current set is broke broke broke. I managed to rig them up to work, and I can use them while I am waiting for the new set to arrive in the mail. This was an even more gigantic pain than the studs, and involved basically building a few of my own gear teeth. They definitely won't last permanently, BUT once I get these strings stretched and the nut locked down, I won't have to mess with them until I replace the whole set.
3. I had to blind-order a fuckton of paints until I got a pink sparkle that came even REMOTELY close to the body color. With the USPS mail being delayed for weeks due to the dangerous and
clearly lethal weather hazard of ~45 degree temperatures (lmao), finishing this neck involved a lot of waiting. And waiting. And frustration. And more waiting.
4. Remember that this was the neck that arrived broken, so I had to fix that. before doing anything else.
5. So this build is clearly cursed. But, the neck plays wonderfully, and I am very happy. I will keep the two cheapo necks as spares once the Warmoth arrives, and probably eventually have all three professionally painted. I like both of them so far. A lot. They exceeded my expectations and I am very pleased.
Finally, I know the headstock paintjob isn't perfect. I did everything with some painters tape, 4 colors, some clearcoat and a little 3000 grit sandpaper. It was as close as I could get to the reverse of the ESP Kamikazi pattern, which the body copies. To make up for several spots that are not identical to the original, I intend on possibly putting a cool sticker across those parts, probably with the "1986" kanji on it. Here is what that will look like:
The second sticker (circle) is where the ESP logo went on the original, which is why the paintjob there looks so wonky on my version. Some might say it looks okay and that I am nitpicking, but it bugged me enough to order some stickers to be made...so. yeah
Anyway, that's it. I will post pics of the Warmoth neck when it comes. The specs in case you are wondering are: Wizard profile, 16"radius, 22frets (prefer 24 obv. but this body is too short of scale), birdseye maple neck and fretboard, pearloid Nightswan inlay and a "Slapshot" headstock, of which is basically the same headstock as above but I will have to sand off the "Legal Nubbin" that Warmoth puts on all their licensed designs so they don't have to pay a fee.
Thanks for checking out my new completed project, it really was a rollercoaster ride of shit getting this thing put together. But I like it a lot. Busy breaking in the neck as we speak, it's got a bare wood and oil rubbed finish and feels wonderful and soft to the touch.
![img1[2690].jpg](http://uploads.kiwifarms.st/data/attachments/5638/5638295-73ffcdd8469a9c99902a5d7dfc452e40.jpg?hash=c__N2EaanJ "img1[2690].jpg")
