showing off nice ibanez rgt42 walnut+maple neck

[fguihen]

so i found out the rgt42 neck is made of walnut and maple which looks lovely.i have an rgt42 and the neck is painted green ( perl grey is what they call it i think). if i wanted to show off the wood of the neck , but leave the body as is, how would i do that ( like in the ibanez rgt 3120 prestige)

[GEdwardJones]

My first thought would be sanding, very very carefully would be the most easily controlled way to do that. I've removed the laquer on the back of a bunch of necks (but not any tinted paint). This is how I do it.

Since you cant remove the neck, mask off the body where you want to stop. You should also mask off any holes and cavities to keep crap from getting them. MAKE SURE you mask off the pickups (this will be important, later). Also, mask off the fretboard (this helps give you a quicky visual, and tactile, reference to where to stop sanding.

1. Start with a heavier grain sand paper, I actually used sand paper labled "coars" which, I believe, is around 60 grit. You're going to use this to take off the paint. Since your paint is colored it will be easier to tell when to stop. That is, when you see bare wood.

2. When you've got the paint more or less taken off you're going to want to smoothen the neck with progressively finer grades of sand paper. you want it smooth to the touch, but you don't want to sand TOO much, because you're not trying to reshape the neck, you're just trying make it smooth again.

3. You can keep going with progressively finer sandpaper. I always finish with steel wool. You want to be POSITIVE that your pickups are either removed or taped off very well if you use steel wool, 'cos you'll end up with it stuck to your pole pieces and, if you're like me, that's just crazy annoying.

After you're down to bare wood you have a couple of choices. I've left my necks raw. Some people finish the neck in an oil (lemon, linseed and tung seem to be favorites). Some people would suggest that you spray the neck with a protective coat of lacquer or one of the harder oils (Wes LOVES Tru oil). Fended finishes Eric Clapton's personal strat necks with super glue, which, apparently, leaves the feel of raw wood, but has very good moisture repelling properties.

That's all up to you.

I'm sure other people have other ways that work for them, this is just how I've done it.

[Setch]

Woah Mama!! - I'd sure as hell keep 60 away from a neck if I didn't want to alter the dimensions. I wouldn't use anything coarser than 150, and even then I'd go carefull. 60 grit scratches can be *very* deep, and you'll have to remove neck material to get the surface smooth again. I'd try to strip as much as possible, then use scrapers to remove the last bit upto the body.

[Nalo1022]

ya 60 is pretty harsh i would use it very lighlty to remove some of the lacquer but soona as you hit paint go for something finer and thats jusat a maybe....i have the exact same guitar i love it but i need to throw some new pickups in it

[MzI]

from personal experience i would go with the 60 or 80 grit laquer or whatever is on there is a pain in the butt to remove but when u see that you are startin to get into the paint switch to a higher grade immediately

MzI