Neck finishing

At Warmoth, they spray over the frets.The frets will polish themselves when playing, or you can shoose to do the polishing by yourself

 

I see a lot of folks mask. Look through the builds. Fretboards are masked since removing the finish would be much more work that masking it.

 

Ric bass necks are oversprayed with the same clearcoat on the bodies, then they just level the fret tops to flat with no attempt to crown them. The "ramps" of laquer either side of the frets sometimes separate leaving a cloudy line along the frets. In your shoes, id finish the back and headstock with satin poly and use something like Stewmac Fingerboard Oil, which is basically a penetrating oil with driers so it hardens. That would give you some fingerboard protection without gunking up the frets. I suppose you could mask each individual fret with fineline masking tape, sounds like a PITA.

 

Stewmac Colortone "Vintage Amber" can be used to stain the neck, then the whole thing coated with Tru-Oil, that's a stupid-easy finish that's reasonably durable and repeatable. If it ever wears thin, you just re-apply over whats already there. You could do the whole neck with it, the act of wiping off the excess will take it off the frets. You can do repeated coats until it gets up to the shine level you want, the more coats, the shinier.
http://www.stewmac.com/Materials_an...Tints_and_Stains/ColorTone_Liquid_Stains.html

Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil® Gun Stock Finish : Cabela's
Here's a discussion of the technique:
http://www.tdpri.com/threads/can-i-use-tru-oil-over-stewmac-colortone-stain.122899/