Luthier Question

It's a little overspray. I normally will use a razor blade and scrape it out. hold the blade perpendicular to the pocket and not at any kind of angle so you don't gouge it. then when I get it close, I will use a fine sand paper and gently sand the last bit off. Don't try to take all the color off but just take it to the wood. the color has also seeped into the grain so taking all of the color out will cause you to deform the pocket.

 

i agree just a light cleaning to rid of the overspray and you are back in the race.

 

@Believer7713 and @henderman, I have a question that is part curiosity and part devil's advocate. What would it hurt to just leave it alone? I ask this because I have cost myself some amount of time and money over the years fixing trivial issues, that in the broad scheme of things, didn't appear to matter. The money and time came from either fixing my "fixes", or my attempt at fixes created a larger problem. To me, this item is just something that had I not been curious what was under the neck, I would't know, and if the guitar was playing to my satisfaction before I removed the neck, I'd leave well enough alone. But that is just me.

To @CadillacBob, back in the day, I would have tried to remove the paint. Carefully, to be sure, but there is always a chance of causing another problem in the repair. As a friend of mine told me then, "You just can't leave sleeping dogs lie."; I caused myself some amount of grief because of that inability. However, over time, some of my OCD has self-cured, and "adequate for purpose" became something I could embrace in lieu of "perfect". So, for me, this would be one of those times when I would just put the neck back on. But, I don't do lutherie for a living, and my opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it.

 

I'd just leave it alone, it's not hurting anything. But then, this is

 

If it is playing fine then there is absolutely nothing wrong with leaving it well enough alone at all. I am just rather particular about stuff like that.

 

This.
There is absolutely no reason for there to be a "next time" to remove the neck unless the truss rod needs to be adjusted and can't be adjusted at the headstock (looks to be the case).
I have guitars that I've owned since the 80s that have NEVER had the neck removed.

Removing that little bit of paint may not change anything, or it may change the neck angle enough to require a shim, or readjust the saddles to lower the action.

It ain't broke... don't break it.
It is no different from most every other Fender body on the planet.

 

Neck is held on with sheet metal type screws (not tapered wood screws) so the number of neck removals is finite without repairing the holes. Curiosity just used up one of those neck removals.

 

as a guy that does finish work i would not let that leave my shop but truth is
it will not hurt anything, it worked good with it there before you even knew about it.

 

I don't understand the "I took the neck off my new guitar just to see what was under there" syndrome that seems so frequent on guitar forums.

 

Every connected joint is finite, but point taken, some have many more removals than others. OTOH, I have no idea what that number is. I have had the neck of my first Strat Partscaster off multiple times (because of the 22 fret neck and the hard AL shield plate, I cannot get the scratch guard up without removing the neck, and I've done several mods to the guitar requiring removal of the scratch guard. The joint seems to be holding up just fine.

Of course if you get to the point where the neck need repair, one could go to the insert/machine screw type connection, and get a much larger finite number of removals.

 

I'd leave it be.

 

I can think of two reasons. Curious and fear. Curious because some people like OP simply like to know and fear because there are very many fake guitars in the world now. Some buyers want reassurance that their guitar is genuine and everything will be positioned under the microscope and discussed in the forums.

 

The best way to fix that is to buy neck-thru builds only. If one removes the neck on one of them then you really have done something you shouldn't have.

 

Perhaps having the neck broken off my guitar and having to repair it before I could screw it back on and play it again, all those years ago, taught me something...

 

Your neck has been worked on/inspected by the same Corona plant employée as mine. Cool!

 

On my next build I will stamp the neck pocket... 'Property of La Cosa Nostra'.