Nitro and squeaky necks

dvadneau

dvadneau

New member
So, last week I got my 91 ES 335 and really liked playing it. Then I decided to clean it with some cleaner/polish. I did the body, then the neck. Felt fast and smooth. Then I heard it - the dreaded squeak! I never owned a nitro guitar before so never experienced this. I thought "oh crap! I messed up my guitar!"

If you've never heard it before it's basically the sound you hear when you rub a dish you've just washed. It's very noticeable.

I searched online for a solution and read that it's typical for nitro necks. Yay...

The workarounds include sanding with 0000 steel wool, or using baby or talcum powder. Neither option sounded particularly appealing. One suggestion was to use Fast Fret. At first I thought it would do the opposite, but as I thought about the idea I figured why not?

Well it works! It's still not ideal, but it got rid of the squeak completely. Immediately after applying the squeak was still there but less prevalent. I was away for the weekend and tried last night and it's non-existent. It does feel like it has finger smudge - like you want to wipe it off, but not so much that it slows you down or is really all that noticeable while playing.

Thumbs up for Fast Fret!
 
Re: Nitro and squeaky necks

Steel wool actually works very well to take the edge off such things - visibly though, you'll barely notice it if you're using something like the 0000 grade. If I had that issue with a new guitar, I'd use it without hesitation and have done many times.
 
Re: Nitro and squeaky necks

Nice! I'm surprised you got a squeak when the guitar is 20 years old... Play that sucker in!
 
Re: Nitro and squeaky necks

I've never heard squeaking on any guitar neck.
 
Re: Nitro and squeaky necks

I don't really know what you are talking about. You speak of it as if it is a commonly known thing, but I don't think it is. So, hooray for Fast Fret, because it kept you from doing something dumb...but what is this "dreaded squeak" of which you speak, and why would it indicate that you had messed up your guitar?
 
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Re: Nitro and squeaky necks

I was gona say... if you're playing so quietly that you can hear that sound...you're not playing loud enough. You're also probably squeezing the neck too hard as you move around it.

That said, i work in a huge music store with at least 50 gibsons at a time....never heard a squeaky neck....
 
Re: Nitro and squeaky necks

I was playing it unplugged at home so it was very evident - even plugged into my rig with headphones on. Sure playing in a band setting you probably won't hear it. In a recording, I imagine you would.

I'll see if I can wipe off the fast fret and replicate the issue on a recording for you guys. No critiquing my playing, I know I suck ;)

ConvoysToNothingness said:
the squeak is the polish, not the nitro!
Click to expand...

See, that's what I was afraid of. I was originally looking for a way to take off the polish and ran into some threads of people having this issue with nitro.

It could be partly technique along with polishing the neck that really exaggerates the issue. I do grip the neck with different parts of my thumb depending on what I'm playing - as in I don't often have my hand in the proper C shape unless I'm playing up higher on the board. And yes, I do silence the E string with my thumb on occasion.

Maybe squeak isn't the best descriptive word, but there's a vibration as my thumb attempts to slide around. I say attempt because after the polish it's as if the surface is grippy. Think washing a dish and your hand and the dish are still wet and you rub the dish. That's about the best I can describe it.

I'll get a clip if I can get it do misbehave again tonight.


In the meantime, let me ask this:

Does anyone polish their guitar necks? If so, with what and how often?

I usually don't. I usually don't polish my guitars at all, maybe once a year, and then never the neck. I only did in this case because it seemed dirty and I thought guitar cleaner would be a good move. :banghead:
 
Re: Nitro and squeaky necks

Not sure if the Fast Fret removed some of the polish, or I just can't wipe it off so easily, but I can't get it to make the same level of noise as I did originally.

So, does anyone polish their guitar necks?
 
Re: Nitro and squeaky necks

I'm wondering whether you have discovered the literal meaning of the expresion 'Squeaky clean' ? Maybe the neck is better with some remnants of playing residue left on there.

Lately i've taken to wiping my guitars down with microfibre cleaning cloths available cheaply almost everywhere. If there is too much greasy stuff on a guitar, i wash it down with a product called (here in Australia) 'Prepwash' or 'Prepsol', which is a wax and grease remover used in the auto industry for keeping paintwork free of oily fingerprints between coats (such deposits could cause paint to fail to adhere properly). It looks like water and evapourates almost immediately, and is harmless to plastic and other materials found on cars and guitars.
 
Re: Nitro and squeaky necks

You can do better than 0000 steel wool (nasty machine oil, sticks to pickups, flies all over the place so you breathe it in)...either micromesh pads or 2000+ paper.
 
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