The ESP Guitar Company

Hi Todd! In my opinion all the back of the guitar (including the neck) has to be not painted. Or at least not painted this way. The wood structure must be visible under the paint or lacquer, it makes all the pleasure of holding the guitar in hands. This is not a car, this is a guitar, so especially the neck has to be just the lacquered wood or like in this model as an example, very beautiful back of the guitar, link below:

https://www.espguitars.com/products/18750-mh-1000nt?category_id=1968878-exclusives

or this one:

https://www.espguitars.com/products/19126-m-1000ht?category_id=1963302-m-series