Removing the finish from the back of a neck

**Horny Toad** · #1 09-05-2011, 09:45 PM

I've got a 2010 Fender American Special neck on my Precision that has a semi glossy finish on the back. It feels sticky to me when I play, which I don't care for. My Stingray neck appears to be bare wood (not sure) and it's very smooth and slick feeling, which I love. What's the best method for getting my Fender neck to feel like my Stingray neck? I've tried some light sanding and some #0000 steel wool, but I'm not satisfied with the result. Is there a way to remove the finish completely? A chemical perhaps? Any help would be appreciated. I apologize if this is in the wrong forum.

4001 · #2 09-05-2011, 09:53 PM

Be careful doing that. I know someone that removed the finish from the back of the neck of an old Telecaster and the next day the neck was finished. For good.

**Horny Toad** · #3 09-05-2011, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4001

Be careful doing that. I know someone that removed the finish from the back of the neck of an old Telecaster and the next day the neck was finished. For good.

Hmmmm. Well, I certainly don't want to kill my neck. I love the profile and the comfy rounded fingerboard edges. I just want to permanently eliminate the stickiness.

steve_rolfeca · #4 09-05-2011, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Horny Toad

Hmmmm. Well, I certainly don't want to kill my neck. I love the profile and the comfy rounded fingerboard edges. I just want to permanently eliminate the stickiness.

i've had good results with lightly sanding the back of the neck, with 400 grade sandpaper. Since you don't have to de-gloss anywhere other than the area where your hand rubs on the back of the neck, you don't need to remove the neck, tuners or strings. It doesn't take a lot of strokes to remove the sticky feel, so you don't affect the neck profile (although you can gently round the fingerboard edges a touch if you want).

Depending on the type of finish, it may or may not start to feel sticky as it polishes back up over time. If so, you simply give it another rub in a few weeks or months. The cool thing, is that you don't remove much material, so there's minimal impact on the finish's ability to protect the wood.

Sam Hain · #5 09-05-2011, 10:06 PM

I have done it and know many who have....

I just taped off the area I wanted to sand, then used a course sand paper to take most of the finish off. Once I was close I went to a medium paper...then a fine paper and finally with a super fine paper. Then I applied Danish oil to the neck. Feels great....though I must say Im not a pro woodworker or luthier, but my results were great.

96tbird · #6 09-07-2011, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4001

Be careful doing that. I know someone that removed the finish from the back of the neck of an old Telecaster and the next day the neck was finished. For good.

Care to elaborate?

+1 on the LIGHT sanding with 400 or finer, just to degloss. You can use 000 steel wool too, just keep it away from your pickups!!!

Etchbass · #7 09-07-2011, 01:46 AM

micromesh works well

steve_rolfeca · #8 09-07-2011, 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 96tbird

+1 on the LIGHT sanding with 400 or finer, just to degloss. You can use 000 steel wool too, just keep it away from your pickups!!!

Superfine steel wool works fine, but it has a nasty attraction for the pickups. I found myself having to tape off the pickups when i used it in the past. Too much work...

steve_rolfeca · #9 09-07-2011, 05:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam Hain

I have done it and know many who have....

...I applied Danish oil to the neck. Feels great....though I must say Im not a pro woodworker or luthier, but my results were great.

I love the feel of nearly bare wood. I use polymerized Tung oil, which dries harder, is more chemical-resistant, and doesn't penetrate as deeply as Danish oil treatments. You'd have to check, but IIRC, Music Man may be using gunstock oil, like G&L.

Still, some necks develop stability problems without a film finish, so in the past I've been pretty conservative about what instruments I choose to strip. De-glossing an OEM polyester finish is a lot less work, a safer bet, and seems to work adequately for most people.

As a general rule of thumb, I would be more likely to convert to an oiled finish on a bolt-on, than a neck-through. I would also be more likely to do a bare neck on domestic hard maple, than the softer grades of Asian maple that you see in inexpensive offshore basses.

Also, some people have seriously funky perspiration and/or play in hostile environments. For them, an oiled neck will quickly start to look like 10 miles of bad road. That said, the bass in my sig is Tung oil from one end to the other, and after 16 years, it still looks like new.

bassman10096 · #10 09-07-2011, 07:12 AM

+1 for Danish oil. It's easy to apply and work with, feels great. On the other hand, if your sweat is too penetrating, Danish oil will deteriorate. Periodic waxing with Liberon polish all but eliminates this problem. Do not just leave the wood raw. Although horror stories about "moisture getting into and ruining the wood" are highly exagerated (how do trees survive in the wild without manmade finishes? - LOL), but a raw wood neck will get funky fast (I liked "ten miles of bad road" for an image).

Good luck. I've generally liked poly finishes (for durability) and have found the best solution to stickiness is to release my "death grip" on the neck a bit. Nonetheless, I own an Danish oil-finished Alembic and just finished applying Danish oil to a 100% rosewood Warmoth neck for a build I'm doing. Oiled necks definitely do feel friendlier to the left hand

onosson · #11 09-07-2011, 07:23 AM

Don't mean to hijack this thread

but I have a MusicMan Sub bass which has a painted neck. I would love to remove the paint and oil the neck, but I'm not sure if it would be a good idea - anyone with any experience care to make any suggestions? Is there anything to worry about beyond what's been discussed already re: a finished neck?

mdogs · #12 09-07-2011, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onosson

Don't mean to hijack this thread

but I have a MusicMan Sub bass which has a painted neck. I would love to remove the paint and oil the neck, but I'm not sure if it would be a good idea - anyone with any experience care to make any suggestions? Is there anything to worry about beyond what's been discussed already re: a finished neck?

I have a SUB also and did not like the painted finish on the neck too much. I took a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and removed the paint, took about 20 minutes. Underneath the paint there is a sealer, but it is not sticky at all. To me, it feels as good as my Stingray's neck...

1958Bassman · #13 09-07-2011, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onosson

Don't mean to hijack this thread

but I have a MusicMan Sub bass which has a painted neck. I would love to remove the paint and oil the neck, but I'm not sure if it would be a good idea - anyone with any experience care to make any suggestions? Is there anything to worry about beyond what's been discussed already re: a finished neck?

If the neck has been primed before painting, you may need to do some sanding after removing the paint, even if you use a chemical stripper. Also, chemical stripper can affect the finish where you don't want it to, so be careful. Sanding the finish off can be a PITA and you need to be careful, but it can be more controllable. The type of finish will determine how hard it is to remove- some are catalyzed lacquer, some are polyester, some polyurethane. The catalyzed finished can be really difficult to remove and you'll need a lot of sandpaper- using coarse paper will make it extremely difficult to eliminate the sanding marks and they will show up when you oil it.

If gloss finish is too sticky, sanding with 400 grit and adding a coat of satin finish works well. You would need to make sure to use a finish that will actually stick to the underlying material and preparation is key- any oil, wax or other contaminant will cause the new finish to peel off. Also, the finish must be allowed to dry/cure completely before playing.

FWIW, I have a Strat Plus with satin finish, a Tele with gloss finish, Ibanez bass with satin finish (or oiled- I haven't really checked yet but it has some damage that needs to be repaired) and I use Eagle One 'Wax As You Dry' car polish. I got a sample when I went to a car show and it makes the neck very slick, without silicone. It also makes wiping the instrument off easier after playing, especially when the temperature and humidity are high.

If I were to decide that the Tele neck was too sticky, I would use green ScotchBrite, followed by the white version (mush finer and there's no metal particles to deal with).

onosson · #14 09-07-2011, 09:02 AM

Wow, two radically different answers! I'll need to think about this some more...

96tbird · #15 09-07-2011, 09:25 AM

Hello from down the highway a piece, Onosson! Sanding is the solution. Stripper is too dangerous to areas you don't want stripped, the fumes can mar a smooth finish nearby, like the face of the head. Sanding is nice and controllable, though much slower. There may be some paint left in the pores if the sealer didn't fill them well, but if it's maple under there it shouldn't be too bad. MDOGS said above he did it with Magic Eraser, so there you have it. Magic eraser does have a formaldehyde compound in it so.....

EDIT: if I were sanding, I would find a fine grit and work slowly using lots of elbow grease and lots of paper instead of course and working down to fine. More work but little chance of gouges to work out. Once I got to where I wanted it, I would put on a couple of thin coats of satin poly.

onosson · #16 09-07-2011, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdogs

I have a SUB also and did not like the painted finish on the neck too much. I took a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and removed the paint, took about 20 minutes. Underneath the paint there is a sealer, but it is not sticky at all. To me, it feels as good as my Stingray's neck...

Did you have to do anything to the wood after you got the paint off? This is my main axe and sees 4-5 gigs a week, so I don't want it out of commission too long!

bombpop14 · #17 09-07-2011, 09:35 AM

I use a scotch brite pad to lightly sand off the gloss....steel wool causes other problems like the metallic dust etc.

The scotch brite pad removes the tackiness and leaves it smooth like a baby butt.

tZer · #18 09-07-2011, 09:48 AM

+1 on the 400 grit, light-sanding to de-gloss. Start there. If that's not good enough, explore the other options.

MarTONEbass · #19 09-07-2011, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bombpop14

I use a scotch brite pad to lightly sand off the gloss....steel wool causes other problems like the metallic dust etc.

The scotch brite pad removes the tackiness and leaves it smooth like a baby butt.

+1, Scotch Brite works great.

I would be careful not to remove too much finish if your hands sweat too much. I have heard that can ruin a neck quickly if your sweat penetrates the wood deeply.

john grey · #20 09-07-2011, 04:16 PM

I have a SUB and had thought about the painted-neck feel also. I decided not to sand what-so-ever. Sanding a painted neck is like playing baseball, you can always run up but it's damn tough running backward. The removal of paint from a painted neck would sink resale value. Note that I am talking about real sanding: not some roughening that you could buff out. Yet I found alternatives that worked.I found that alternatives such as talcum powder or rosin - or a high buff shine could remedy that "sticky neck feel" issue without doing anything permanent.