Does maple neck finish wear out under the strings?

[Kommerzbassist]

When you've got a one piece maple neck on a Strat, it has a finish where the strings hit the fretboard, so doesn't that finish wear off when playing (over time)?
thanks

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Does maple neck finish wear out under the strings?

Yes..... In time if you play a single guitar enough the finnish will start to come off... But we are taking years and years and YEARS of playing for most fully finnished maple necks to start looking like Clapton's Blackie.... Besides when you have Maple necks refretted the techs touch up the finnish on the neck anyways... You would have to wear the frets down for the strings to be touching the fingerboard....

My 18 year old American Standard Strat has the finnish flaking off the maple fingerboard..... The finnish on the neck seems really thick and it is coming off in large chunks in some spots..... Before i bought it it had been a busy stores rental guitar and a heavy metal band had it for a while and it was refretted a few times.... It has been really used! But the neck is years away from looking like blackie..

WhoFan

 

[FELIX57]

Re: Does maple neck finish wear out under the strings?

yes it definately does my friends dad has the old blue flower strat and u can see where he plays the most and especially where he does bends most often it turns a darker brown in those areas

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Does maple neck finish wear out under the strings?

How many of you like that worn in look of maple necks? I do! That is why i am thinking of using an oiled neck on my next custom homemade strat.... I have not made a neck in a couple of years! i had better start working on one soon! I love working with wood in the back yard in the summer! Beats staying inside!

WhoFan

 

[Stringmachine]

Re: Does maple neck finish wear out under the strings?

How many of you like that worn in look of maple necks? I do! That is why i am thinking of using an oiled neck on my next custom homemade strat.... I have not made a neck in a couple of years! i had better start working on one soon! I love working with wood in the back yard in the summer! Beats staying inside!

WhoFan

I love the look and feel of a worn in maple neck. The unfinished ones are the best. So it gets dirty, but I am willing to live with that as they are so nice to play.

 

[Imp]

Re: Does maple neck finish wear out under the strings?

heh damned right - if you have slightly taller or wider frets than usual, the wear will happen slower..

we're still talking decades of hard playing though, the stuff on my MIJ fretboard is hard as nails, its not going anywhere for a good while yet

tom

 

[guitarsrock5]

Re: Does maple neck finish wear out under the strings?

and on eddie van halen's kramer 5150 the finish is coming off it looks like blackie.

 

[Kommerzbassist]

Re: Does maple neck finish wear out under the strings?

hmm thanks for your infos guys...

 

[Kommerzbassist]

Re: Does maple neck finish wear out under the strings?

Also.. how about wear on rosewood necks... are there also major wear traces happening over time?

 

[TheJangus]

Re: Does maple neck finish wear out under the strings?

is this only with older guitars finished with nitro? how long would it take to wear that poly finish they use these days through?

 

[Kommerzbassist]

Re: Does maple neck finish wear out under the strings?

Yeah... we're actually talking really long times... just because I'm going to get me a high $ guitar soon and and want to decide whether I should buy one with a maple or rosewood neck and still have a neck that doesn't look too crappy after... 15 years or something

 

[TheJangus]

Re: Does maple neck finish wear out under the strings?

I think I read that's why Leo went to rosewood boards. He didn't like the look of the worn dirty maple boards.

 

[Kommerzbassist]

Re: Does maple neck finish wear out under the strings?

really? I always thought it was just for contrast/design reasons...

 

[Kommerzbassist]

Re: Does maple neck finish wear out under the strings?

hmmm... ok I think I'll decide what neck I'll take after I see my new pickguard installed on my current guitar...

 

[TheJangus]

Re: Does maple neck finish wear out under the strings?

I just prefer rosewood because I dig the feel of unfinished wood on the fretboard.

 

[Rich_T]

Re: Does maple neck finish wear out under the strings?

my strat is a maple neck, and its really worn down on the first 5 frets on the top strings. It looks great I think.