RCG Posted July 28, 2003 Report Share Posted July 28, 2003 Hi! New to the forum here though I've been working on guitars for quite some time. I was wondering if anyone can offer up some methods for getting a nice smooth feeling guitar neck? Please try to include all steps to take as I've tried numerous methods and always seem to end up with a sticky or grippy feeling neck... so I'm convinced I'm missing some secret steps. As for comparisons, I love the feel of MusicMan necks. On their website it says they use a special blend of Gunstock Oil and Gunstock Wax. After trying these things out on a neck where I'd sanded off the finish it still had a grippiness to it-- kinda like how glass feels after cleaning it with Windex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jupiter Posted July 28, 2003 Report Share Posted July 28, 2003 Man, you're not the only one who wants the EBMM neck finish... i love it, and i've yet to find anything that feels like it. I recently took a maple neck that i had sanded the finish off of and put a couple of coats of low-gloss Tung oil on it. I rubbed the first coat in really deeply with a rag, let it sit overnight, then went over it with 0000 steel wool the next morning. Doing the same for coat number 2 right now. It leaves the neck with a silky smooth feel, very satiny. I like it pretty well. Tung oil can be almost anywhere for about $6 a bottle... Check out Wal Mart, Lowes, pretty much anywhere that they have stains and stuff, and they should have it. Hope this helps!!! Welcome to the forum ! Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 28, 2003 Report Share Posted July 28, 2003 Hi RCG and welcome to the forum Are either of you using a grain sealer or sanding sealer (basically the same thing) ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCG Posted July 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2003 Hi guys! Thanks for the warm welcome. Jupiter: I sanded the neck a little on my MusicMan Silhouette and it lost some of that original feel. After trying Gunstock Oil & Wax it really lost the feel and started getting grippy. I sent an email to EB asking how to get the feel back and as one might suspect they never got back to me about it. Tung oil is about the only thing I haven't tried even though it seems to be the stuff most people suggest. I guess the reason why I've stayed away from it is because Warmoth stamps all their necks with a warning about using an oil finish. Brian: I haven't tried it on a neck, but tried some Birchwood Casey Gun Stock Sealer on a scrap of maple which was sitting around. It dried very hard and had an almost plastic feel to it. Most recently I tried some BC Stock Sheen Conditioner (I picked up a whole bunch of BC product for experimentation). It took away some of the grippiness which was definitely a step in the right direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syxxstring Posted July 28, 2003 Report Share Posted July 28, 2003 how far are you guys sanding? It seems that you would need to sand to the finest of fine grits maybe even the stew mac kit LGM talks about. I've got a feeling he'll pop over to this one and tell us all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted July 28, 2003 Report Share Posted July 28, 2003 i take steel wool and rub down all my necks on any guitar i buy.smooths it right up if it has a paint finish of any kind.but just playing it will eventually smooth it out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Rosenberger Posted July 28, 2003 Report Share Posted July 28, 2003 Birchwood Casey Gunstock Oil and Wax is the brand EBMM recommends, read the instruction on the bottles. necks should be sanded smooth to 600 or 800 first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jupiter Posted July 28, 2003 Report Share Posted July 28, 2003 I used the tutorial on removing the gloss from your neck that is found on jemsite.com , then added the tung oil at the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCG Posted July 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2003 Birchwood Casey Gunstock Oil and Wax is the brand EBMM recommends, read the instruction on the bottles. necks should be sanded smooth to 600 or 800 first Yup... tried that route and it was still grippy. syxxstring: I've tried various grits of sanding. If I went too fine (1500) then things became extra-grippy. Anything greater than 600 was too fine even though it felt ultra smooth with a light touch. 400 to 600 produced decent results. Anyone out there use Stelling Glyde-Cote? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cr_XD Posted July 28, 2003 Report Share Posted July 28, 2003 don´t know if i should have started a new post, but this looks like the place. i haven´t got yet to the finishing state in my guitar, but it is a set neck, and i was wondering if there is any kind of special treatment i should do on the neck. i´m taking for granted i can use the same lacquer as for the rest of the body, but i really hadn´t think about the feel any guidances would be apreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodfixer Posted July 29, 2003 Report Share Posted July 29, 2003 I do gloss lacquer fininsh,600wet sand then, dry steal wool out #0000 then wool and lemon oil. Leaves the best fell with no drag.Also seals good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted July 30, 2003 Report Share Posted July 30, 2003 in regards to sealing, anyone else use regular old sanding sealer? then laquer.... then sand.... then oil? (i like double boiled linseed oil) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted July 30, 2003 Report Share Posted July 30, 2003 i just used tung oil on my whole v.great stuff i love it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCG Posted August 7, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2003 Mmmkay... I finally decided to give tung oil a try and I'm very pleased with the results. I've read lots of "If you use tung oil on your neck, it might warp" posts on the net, but I've yet to read a "I used tung oil and my neck warped" post. Warmoth states that using tung oil void warranty and they also post some neck warping statistical data with & without tung oil. Has anyone run into a warped neck due to using tung oil?... I've run into a few warped necks that were laquer finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted August 7, 2003 Report Share Posted August 7, 2003 tung oil wears away after time so just reapply it once a year or so and you will be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.