Question on Neck Finish

[Benji5678]

I have a reasonably new Fender Highway One Jazz bass and i love everything about it. Ive played a bunch of vintage basses too and a couple of them had the finish stripped on the back of the neck. I loved the feel of the bare wood of the back of the neck. Does this come from just being played overtime or was this done by sanding the finish. If so i was wondering if it would be a Good or Bad idea to srip the finish off the back of the neck on my bass.

Might be a totally stupid idea but i was just wondering if i could get feed back from anyone who knows what they are talking bout.
Thanks for your help,

Ben

[Jim Carr]

I have a '55 P-bass. The back of the neck has large areas with no finish. It is player wear, not from sanding. The finish used by fender on the necks at that time was nitrocellulose lacquer, and wore off much more readily than the polyurethane they have used since the mid-60s.

I think stripping is a very bad idea. However, you may be able to get rid of some of the gloss on the poly by using very very fine wet sand paper or even steel wool. The problem with steel wool, is that the steel particles can get into the pickup and elsewhere, and can cause really serious problems.

I have never done this, but I'm sure there are folks here who have. It is not an unreasonable thing to want. You might consider using a professional to do this and also have them roll the fingerboard edges a bit.

[Jaco D]

Instead of using steel wool, I used automotive polishing compound (Turtle Wax in a white plastic can). Get a clean moist soft cloth, apply some of the white stuff on the back of the neck and rub. The flat finish would slowly change to a glossy, worn look. Continue rubbing till you get the level of slickness you like. Wipe away the leftover crud with a clean soft dry cloth and then buff the neck with a clean dry cloth. Did this on my Fender JB 24 fretter. Loved the resulting slick neck.

[mward69]

I sanded the back of my Marcus Miller jazz bass. I took some 220 extra fin and wiped the neck with it, NOT SCRUB, just wipe about 5 times, it feels much better, not "sticky" when I sweat from playing.
don't think it will hurt the neck, since it will "rub" off after playing it for years anyway.....{I hope not}