Old Harmony Neck Refinish
 

I have acquired some time ago, an old Harmony exactly like this one.

https://www.brokenstringguitars.com/...ic-guitar-300/

The back of the neck had chips, gouges and scratches that I had no choice but to sand out to make it smooth again. It's not a good sounding guitar but may as well make playable.

What would be the best procedure to refinish the back of the neck with stains or paint, varnish etc. that you can get from local hardware stores? I'm not real fussy about it.

You can get spray lacquer for the refinish. Make sure to tape off ALL areas not to be refinished. Spray on a few light coats, wet sand with 800 grit sandpaper and you’ll be good to go.

That could be tricky because the maple is dyed that yellow color and it may be dyed a second color under the yellow to pop the grain. You will burn through it when you sand it - then you have to match the dye color and progression or it looks weird.

If it was one of their black painted poplar necks - it’s easy to finish it up using hardware store fare....

I partially sanded the neck and to me it looks like it's just a solid paint and then the bare wood. May be tricky to find an exact color paint match or maybe go to a solid light colored stain and then a lacquer. Not sure.