Finally finished the lacquer!
After about 8-9 coats total the lacquer is finally done (not least because I’ve now finished up the can and that is a pretty substantial amount!). It does have a nice sheen to the surface, I haven’t sanded/buffed it to an ultra-shiny finish as it looks better slightly matt due to the design.
I left it quite a number of days for the lacquer to ‘cure’, as even though it appears to be dry it’s still possible to make marks in it by doing things like putting the control plate on too soon “to see how it all fits now” (I made this mistake!).
Now the neck is attached and it’s starting to come together and actually look pretty good! There’s still a couple more parts to get, but a trip to ebay will deal with that quite quickly!