Total Noob, Need Help With Neck/fingerboard

[White Summer]

hey i was wondering how i could make my neck both look good like its finished, but be able to play like its unfinished. i am using a rosewood fingerboard (aluminum inlays) with a cherry neck. i would like the neck unfinished for speed, but i havent even played it yet and it is grey with dirt. also, my fingerboard looks cool watered, but i dont want to finish that either. is there anyway i can combine speed and aesthetics? ive heard that rubbing tung oil into the rosewood and then rubbing with steel wool takes care of the fingerboard but im not sure. and if i dont fininsh the neck, how will i flawlessly transition the finish of the headstock with the raw wood of the neck? any help appreciated.

[Rick500]

You can use tung oil on the neck. I'd just leave the rosewood unfinished (it has enough oils and is dense enough that it doesn't really need a finish).

[CrazyManAndy]

You could use tru-oil for the neck. You could oil the fretboard, but that isn't necessary. I've seen people tru-oil rosewood fretboards and it looks great (very dark and rich).

There are some great answers to your questions over that the reranch forum, unfortunately it's down right now.

CMA

[White Summer]

so the verdict is to put tung oil on the fingerboard and tru oil on the neck? what about the headstock portion?

[ihocky2]

I would tru-oil all of the cherry. The fretboard has enough natural oils it shouldn't need anything. If it is not fretted yet, work on sanding and polishing the board better with high grits of sandpaper. If it is fretted, or that doesn't help, then rub on some bore oil (the stuff used for woodwind instruments) or in a pinch mineral oil. Let that sit for about 5-10 minutes and then wipe off the excess. That will help keep the board moist.

[White Summer]

if the rosewood has enough oils, then why does it look so much better moist? will sanding to a higher grit than 220 make it look better? is is a post from the build thread i made. im not sure if this will help but we'll see.

my guitar specs say it came with a satin poly finish

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/document?do...&sku=511388

my friends guitar has a super quick neck, and the specs say it has the same satin poly finish.

http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?partno=0265106537

the guitar on the first link isnt on the fender site anymore, so could the finish have changed?

finally another one of my friends (yea i have a lot of friends) has a fast-necked guitar similar to this one,

http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?partno=0118502767

but i think the parts were from fender and someone assembled it, because it has a nitro body finish, different inlays, pickups, etc.

why is my neck so slow? its definately not because of some slippery compound, its in the finish.

could someone link me to the different types of finish also? what is satin and varnish? why am i asking so many questions?

thanks ahead of time

[CrazyManAndy]

if the rosewood has enough oils, then why does it look so much better moist? will sanding to a higher grit than 220 make it look better? is is a post from the build thread i made. im not sure if this will help but we'll see.

It has enough oil and is dense enough to protect itself. That doesn't mean it won't look better with some extra oils (just about any wood looks better moist, IMHO). The reranch forum is back up, so I'll give you a link to some rosewood with tru-oil. Read the second post:

http://www.reranch.com/reranch/viewtopic.p...truoil+rosewood

CMA

[ihocky2]

Defintely sand higher than 220. That is considered a fine paper, but will still leave visible scratches in the wood. I would try and get up to at least 1000. Above that may or may not help.