do you sand down the neck?

do you sand down the neck?

  • yes

    Votes: 10 24.4%

  • no

    Votes: 31 75.6%
  • Total voters
    41
Re: do you sand down the neck?

I'm interested in doing this now. I boought one of the Squier Vintage Mod Strats and the only thing I hate in the glossy neck. Makes it semi hard for me to navigate if my hands are sweaty. I see the general consensus is the steel wool but what's concerns me is damage.



First time posting in 2 years woot!
 
Re: do you sand down the neck?

I don't sand them down. If my hand is sticking, there's always talcum powder. Sometimes the places we play even have a chalk block if they have pool tables. Accomplishes the same thing.
 
Re: do you sand down the neck?

It's all about looks to me. I find it no easier to play on one finish than on any other. I do have my favorites in terms of feel and looks, but not one of them make any difference in my playing. My first guitar had (and still has) a raw maple neck. I have thick gloss poly necks, thin matte poly necks, nitro necks, etc., and they are pretty much feel the same to me. Frets, radius, scale length, and neck contour make a difference to me in the ease of play, but not the finish.
 
Re: do you sand down the neck?

I answered "no". Pretty much all my players are either nitro-finished (it eventually breaks in so it doesn't get sticky) or unfinished rosewood.

esandes said:
it's one of van halen's tricks. i think his signiture guitars don't have a finish on the neck. at least i'm sure his music man's didn't.
Click to expand...
They're "finished" with gunstock oil and wax. It feels naked but if you don't have some sort of finish on a maple neck, you're likely to have stability issues at it absorbs moisture.
 
Re: do you sand down the neck?

i usually just break up the gloss, but occasionally you get a weird neck and it needs help...

although i did buy a warmoth neck, and its just bare wood, and its great. faster? no, but it just feels nice.
 
Re: do you sand down the neck?

esandes said:
i sand it just once. i'm not buying into the "damage" theory.
Click to expand...

The sweat and grime from your hands WILL make it more susceptible to swelling and shrinkage with weather changes there is no "buying" that part. You might be able to go years and it not be a problem. But why take a chance to have an axe you like go lame on you?
 
Re: do you sand down the neck?

You are supposed to do this on Music Man necks once a year. I sand with 1000 and 1600, clean with Murphy's Oil Soap and then put on this beeswax gun stock oil (what Music Man uses at the factory).
 
Re: do you sand down the neck?

grumptruck said:
I play just as fast on a satin as I do a glossy neck. Is it that hard to compensate?

What in the hell are you guys doing to get all "stuck"?
Click to expand...

You can live entirely on army rations, but that doesn't mean it's wrong to prefer other foods.
 
Re: do you sand down the neck?

i'm guessing by sanding, you're not actually taking the finish off, just roughing it up a teeny bit so it's less "sticky", right? a smooth finish, rather than a buffed finish. or am i wrong?

there are three gitters i play on a regular basis (ZOMG, THREE! i know, it's not that many, but i only have my own experience to draw on here). my acoustic has a satin neck and my strat has a glossy neck, and the bass...i can't remember, because i play her the least, and she's not technically mine. i think she's got a glossy finish on the neck too. anyway, maybe it's because i'm nowhere near *fast* yet, but i haven't really noticed a difference in my ability to play (or lack thereof) while playing them.

i can see where folks might want to sand the neck if they feel the glossy finish is imparing their speed and doesn't want to deal with powdering their hands, but i don't think i would. i'd probably be too paranoid of actually damaging the finish in some way and the neck twisting or warping as a result.
 
Re: do you sand down the neck?

I'd rather just buy the guitar that has a neck that I like. It isn't like switching pickups. If A guitar has a thick tacky finish on the neck I probably would just not buy it.
 
Re: do you sand down the neck?

I've never sanded, but now that I have a mighty mite tele neck, which is oil finished I believe, I have a hard time with the poly coated necks on my other guitars.
 
Re: do you sand down the neck?

Edgecrusher said:
The sweat and grime from your hands WILL make it more susceptible to swelling and shrinkage with weather changes there is no "buying" that part. You might be able to go years and it not be a problem. But why take a chance to have an axe you like go lame on you?
Click to expand...

+1. Necks swell and contract enough as it is, without asking for trouble. Play so gig in a venue with a big difference between inddor and outddor temps and humidity.
 
Re: do you sand down the neck?

depends on the guitar.

My '62ri strat never needed any sanding, ditto for my Epi SG.

My ibanez I lightly sanded down the polyurethane finish cuz it had too much grip when glossy.

My Jolly Roger cutlasscaster, which has a Fender MIM neck, I sanded down to bare wood cuz I didn't like the feel of the satin poly, but I also wanted to change the shape of the neck carve a bit. I plan to apply danish oil to it in a couple months after I finish some intensive recording.
 
Re: do you sand down the neck?

Depends on the guitar. Some have a finish that just really wants to slow you down. My BRJ Vixen has the look of a sanded neck (unpainted maple and a stinger by the headstock) but was gloss-finished (for whatever reason). I just hit it with a green scotch-brite pad and 0000 steel wool the other day and it's smooth as can be.
 
Re: do you sand down the neck?

No.

I either leave it completely (valuable instrument / tonal beast) or strip it and oil the neck.

Leaving a neck completely raw is just asking for funkage and pretzenling in the long term, I`ve seen many an irreparable neck caused by years of grime getting into the endgrain,. sweat causing the wood to well, and humidity changes slamming into the neck without any protective barrier.

So, I highly recommend everybody do it, to all of their guitars. Because it means guys like Phil, Eltham, Greg and myself won`t be going out of business anytime soon. :D
 
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