Fender’s head stock shapes are proprietary, so the neck that comes with the kit has a blank paddle head. Since I don’t have any real woodworking equipment, I drew the shape I wanted, then drilled holes around it and connected them with a hand saw. I smoothed out most of the roughness with a rasp and then sanded it smooth. Yes, this was stupid and quite a bit of work.

The head and neck were already pretty well finished, so I taped off the fretboard and rough sanded the rest to give the lacquer something to hold on to. I sprayed a few coats, let it dry, and wet sanded with 800 grit paper. No need to polish this one really, I prefer the dull look on the neck and I like the feel a little better, I just feel like I get smoother movement.

During all this I found a set of Gotoh tuners on ebay and picked up string trees at my local guitar store. I had to fill in the old guide holes since the tuners were shaped differently. Drilled new holes and attached the tuners, trees, and attached the neck to the body.