The refret went pretty well.  No more nibs, but I’m not a traditionalist.  I did come up with a nice trick to clean up the fret slots.  I did not have a fancy refret saw, so I picked up a $10 X-Acto laser saw kit at the local hardware store (the little red handled tools in the photo below).  It came with thin and medium thickness blades, both of which fit nicely in the slot.  I could get the heel of the blade down right next to the binding and easily remove any left over glue in the slots.

The tang on the new frets was slightly wider, so I had to widen the slots just slightly.  Again, to the laser saw for a cheep solution.  This time I bought another set of blades and removed the piece of metal that holds the blade itself and forms the attachment point for the handle.  A little heat from a soldering iron loosened the adhesive and it came right off.  Next I paired up the modified blade with one that still had the handle attachment point using double-sided tape, effectively creating a blade with double the kerf thickness.  By pairing the two thin blades I achieved the perfect slot thickness for the new frets.

After some hammering, a good leveling, fret dressing, and polish I’m ready for refinishing.  Some day it would be nice to have a fret press caul, but for one guitar a year it is a luxury.

As with the neck, I was a bit conservative when I stained the guitar on the first round.  On the deck, I did a hand-rubbed finish prior to spraying nitrocellulose lacquer clear coats.  While I liked the way it came out, it just never really popped to my eye.  I wanted a bit more of a burst with a deeper red tone to it.  But I didn’t want to go with a typical tobacco burst or sun burst.  These usually transition to nearly black at the edges, another look that just does not work for my eye.  But I was wary of spraying a burst on my first project with a spray gun and really messing up.

This time around, I just went for it.  I stuck with Mahogany Red with a touch of Bright Red (6:1) as a tint and closed the spray gun down so just a mist of tinted lacquer was coming out.  I could slowly build up tint, creating a really pleasant burst.  Here’s a before and after.

The photos don’t capture the difference very well, but it is pretty dramatic.  The gloss coats are already helping the color really pop.  So, if I don’t run out of lacquer thinner (likely), Tequila should be hanging out and curing for a couple of weeks as I take some time off.