i just put the neck plate on, and marked them. I bought a gizmo from amazon to drill straight holes. Useful also for bridge and ferrules as its totally easy to pink torpedo it up
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B075MHP2TF/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Not drilling holes in body until grainfiling and sealing is done.
@BrunoBass bruno, as you know I'm doing a pawlownia jazz - I recommend using sanding sealer as it really makes the grain jump out - see my build thread photos; I've just uploaded an A/B photo of with and without sanding sealer on a piece of pine. Found that the perfect tool for applying it is a clean washing-up sponge.
there's something weird going on with that nut as well,
looking closely at the headstock photo you can actually see where the old logo was scratched away, does it say "Encore"? - or Columbus ?
early jap copy is my guess
@NancyJohnson I was curious about this - I found this discussion https://forums.fender.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=104873 - if you read down to "58", its stated that brass plates started in the 58 model and thus would not be present in his 57 model above (if they are trying for historical accuracy of course) - I've seen them on seventies models, but no later