Neck finish question

[asdfjkl semi]

I've purchased a American black walnut neck with ebony fretboard from Warmoth. I'm planning on doing a gloss polyurethane finish with a final layer of satin poly. I've done several finishes on guitars and other woods before, but I wanted to get some input on a few things.

 

1. Do I take the finish all the way up the side to the fretboard edges, or do I mask off exactly where the ebony begins in the profile?

 

2. How much color will wood bleach take out? Will it leave any grain patterns behind? Is it really difficult to achieve this effect:

 

3. Does walnut need to be grain-filled?

 

Thanks guys!

[asdfjkl semi]

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[asdfjkl semi]

For anyone curious, I figured these things out the hard way.

 

 

1. The polyurethane finish really, really doesn't like to stick to the ebony. I tried taking the finish all the way up the side, but when it dried it stayed gummy on the ebony part for a long time. I wound up masking off the walnut part of the neck and using steel wool to rub the polyurethane gunk off the ebony. It looks and feels much better this way, as long as a sharp line is made at the transition from walnut to ebony.

 

2. I didn't have knotty, flame-y wood so I decided just to leave it alone. I didn't stain or bleach; I simply applied several coats of clear gloss polyurethane. I'll post a pic as soon as I can borrow a camera.

 

3. I probably should have filled the grain on the headstock before starting. The pores in the wood absorbed quite a bit of polyurethane before I was able to get a smooth layer. I wound up doing a layer, then sanding back several times. Somehow the pores in the long part of the neck were aligned differently and didn't pose any trouble.