Raw Maple Neck

[Duff Beer Man]

I was working on my jem neck standing it the other day and start thinking about just sanding it up to 2000 grit or so and leaving it raw. Althought i have never played a raw maple neck, it would be interesting to have one. I know some people love them, like zakk wylde and some people hate them. I just wanted everyones ones opinion who has played one, also if i left it raw what kind of oil would i put on it to preserve it and how ofter

Thanks

[jnewman]

It feels nice, but it gets really ugly really fast - have a look at the cover of "Layla and Assorted Other Love Songs" by Derek and the Dominoes. That's Eric Clapton's strat on the cover, that he played so much he wore all the finish off and filled up with hand oils.

You can oil it with any kind of oil finish, but then it's not raw anymore .

[Gemleggat]

Use some tung oil on it, maple gunks up real quick when raw and turns green, infested with bacteria from your sweat UGH! You don't want that on your new Jem neck do ya?

[soapbarstrat]

paste wax might do a better job of keeping dirt from sticking to it. I've done the oil finish a few times, even on my own necks, but will try paste wax neck time, because I think the oil finishes soak too far into the wood, which can only deaden the tone of the wood (although not a whole lot, because it doesn't go THAT far into the wood ).

I've also noticed that on containers of oil finish, where some of the oil is on the outside of the spout, and "dried", it's like a gummy dry, and I don't like the idea of something that gummy filling the pores in the wood.

What I like least is the plastic feel of the regular spray-on finishes, but sometimes I can just play a guitar and not think about that a whole lot.

If it's a new neck, you're more likely to have issues with the lack of a finish causing the neck to do weird stuff, depending partly on how/where you store the neck on a regular basis.

[guitar2005]

I prefer natural maple necks - meaning a Tung Oiled neck.

I have a 1987 Jem that came with a Tung Oiled neck from the factory and its been my favorite neck by far. The feel of the neck is real smooth. When you're playing a show and you're under the spotlights, it will get dirty and you will have to wipe it down; but that can be said of any neck.javascript:emoticon('')

I just finished building a Rhoads inspired V with a natural maple neck that I tung oiled after having sanded it down to 1000 grit. The cool thing about a tung oil finish is that changing the neck profile is a piece of cake. I just re-profiled the neck with the neck still on the guitar and with the strings still on. Sanded it back down to 1000 grit and applied a fresh coat of Tung Oil. When I finish a natural neck, I go an extra step. I buff the neck with a diamond buff, followed by a caranauba wax buff. This makes cleaning the neck easier because its smoother and helps in keeping the neck stable during humidity changes with the seasons (thanks to the wax).

My two current projects involve building a Jem neck and an EVH neck. The Jem Neck is Birsdeye Maple with a Jatoba core (beautiful piece so far) while the EVH will be plain maple with a walnut stripe and beautiful birsdeye maple fretboard that I've been hand planing down to 1/4". Both of these projects with be tung oiled then buffed. This shows you how much I like the feel of a natural neck.

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[crafty]

Apparently, EVH had to do some serious repair work to a couple of his Wolfgangs before cutting tracks on the Best of Both Worlds compilation. The necks on two guitars had warped so badly from not having any kind of finish or oil treatment that he had to loosen the truss rods and clamp them back to shape on his workbench. It's also the reason Warmoth doesn't warranty-replace unfinished necks.

Keep that in mind before you start playing on an unfinished neck you just spent a few days sanding on.

[Duff Beer Man]

how often do u guys oil them? seems like a lot of upkeep and time, in which i dont have sometimes, i might just spray it cause i wont have time to sit down and oil it all the time.

[Southpa]

I prefer my maple necks covered in poly and then I hit them with 000 steel wool.

[soapbarstrat]

The two EVH Wolfgangs might have been "road guitars", meaning they were taken all over, in various conditions (perhaps freezing in winter, and super humid in summer, in an equipment truck).

I re-fretting a wolfgang two years ago, and it was a mess, but I fixed it. I now know it's held up fine all this time, because the customer now bought a second used one, and wants me to tweak that one too, as soon as I can get to it.

But, I've worked on PLENTY of necks with a regular sprayed finish that needed as much, sometimes more , work to unwarp than that oil finished wolfgang.

I oil finished a few of my necks between 8 and 10 years ago, and have not re-applied anymore oil since on those. The one with the maple fret-board (others are oiled maple backs with rosewood boards) is fairly dirty , because I don't wash my hands before I play it. On the others, where the oiled maple is the back of the neck, there is no dirt issue at all, or not enough for me to notice.

[Duff Beer Man]

Once the dirt is on there do u just have to sand it off to make it go away or is there a removing process?

[soapbarstrat]

if the dirt is really stained in there, then sanding will be the only way to make it go away. I use naptha and steel wool, just to make it feel cleaner sometimes, but that doesn't remove everything. I don't think I ever applied a coat of wax over the oiled finish, but maybe if I would have, it would have kept it from getting as dirty.

If you clean your hands before playing, I think the oil finish can remain quite clean looking. That also keeps your strings more like new too.

[Nalo1022]

I personally love maple necks oil finnished. I got a cheap strat for tinkering around on and I stripped all the finnish oof the neclk then sanded up to 600. After sanding with 400 for a bit I then wet sanded my oil fiinish on the neck i let ti soak in for a bit thne wipe off the extra. I wetsand entirely with 600. After that i buff it heavely with an extra extra fine synthetic steel wool pad after its dried for a day i polish it up a bit with a lint free cloth. I use a equal parts tung/poly/naptha mix and this gives me a very smoth neck. ive done this to a couple necks now all are heavely played and have been for several months and they arent dirty at all. This is how i do my necks and i absolutely love it.

[guitar2005]

how often do u guys oil them? seems like a lot of upkeep and time, in which i dont have sometimes, i might just spray it cause i wont have time to sit down and oil it all the time.

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Up keep is not a problem for me. I re-oil once a year. It takes no more than 5min. Then apply a wax if you want. Tung Oil does harden over time and does provide protection.

[Sambo]

I personally use danish oil. It feels exactly the same as without it if you sand it slightly (with say 1500 grit) after applying and makes the grain stand out nicely (flame maple ahoy!). But hey. If you need extra protection then beeswax works loverly

thats what the petrucci was done in. Smoooooth as a baby's backside