Painted neck - Transition between neck and fretboard.

[Unrealize]

I'm building a guitar with a painted neck, and I'm worried about the transition between the neck and fretboard. I've done it (read: failed at it) a couple times before and had a fairly substantial ridge running along the neck where the masking tape was. 

This time I'm thinking about doing the base color, and throw on one coat of clear, and then remove the masking, gently sand the ridge, then mask only the front face of the fretboard and then clear the neck. 

Does anyone have any input on this? How do the 'pro's' do it? 
Any input would be much appreciated!

[Bizman62]

Don't know about the pro's, but...

I saw a pro answer that question on some video long ago. If memory serves me right, your idea is not far from what he suggested.

One way would be to mask the neck and apply a pretty heavy layer of clear on the fretboard edge. Then you can freely paint the neck including the fretboard edge. When you've got the paint good enough, simply scrape the edge to reveal the clear and polish it the normal way.

[Crusader]

I did that exact same thing with a Neck to Body join on one of my earlier guitars (it was not a normal neck join) I wish I had something to show you but the guitar and photos are back at my parent's house

I found the lacquer needs to be really thick to prevent the paint getting into it, and therefore the masking also needs to be really thick