Neck Pocket Sanded Or Not?

[nicoyabe]

Hello

I'm building a guitar and the body is having a chrome finish done right now, all the body. When I get it back do I need to sandpaper the neck pocket for better tone or can I keep the chrome on, this way the whole body will be sealed against humidity and temperature variations? Would it affect the tone and sustain if the wood of the neck is not directly in contact with the wood of the body?

Thanks

[JohnA]

You will probably need to sand it in order to get the neck to fit, nevermind any tonal considerations.

[Curtis P]

just so you know, that chrome finish aint going to last forever

Curtis

[Guitarfrenzy]

True, I have a friend who has an original Chrome Boy and the paint job started flaking off, and on the newer ones they used a different method to prevent this from happening. At least, I guess they held up better, I don't own one, so I don't know. I know of only a few guitars with a chrome look that will last forever, and one of them was fromMetalcarver (member of PG).. Made out of aluminum though, but I still think it's a cool idea.

[Mickguard]

I think you wanted to tape off that neck pocket...most people seem to prefer wood-on-wood contact there.

[nicoyabe]

thanks for your quicks answers. I think I'll sand it slightly until the neck fit perfectly into the neck pocket...But I'll try to leave a slight layer to protect the wood from outside agressions (humidity and temperatures changes,) this way my finish will probably stay on longer.