Aw, man... I think I just voided the warranty!!!

[KTFunkAlive]

I've always removed the finish from the backs of the necks of my main players. Upright too.

[Floyd Eye]

Far be it from me to tell anyone what to do with their instruments. I just never once felt the need to treat my bass like some crappy house pool cue.

[alembicguy]

Why would you sand a pool cue?

[Floyd Eye]

Originally Posted by alembicguy

Why would you sand a pool cue?

Ahem, that is "Crappy house pool cue". I would never sand my pool cues either.

[abemo]

Waaaaaay more confortable to play. And generally you don't sand through the full finish, just enough to satin it up a bit.

[Engine207]

Originally Posted by abemo

Waaaaaay more confortable to play. And generally you don't sand through the full finish, just enough to satin it up a bit.

Yeagh...I'm pretty sure I just knocked down the poly. The sanding mess was all white, like fine poly dust. I've been dragging my hand on my super smooth silky Jazz neck all afternoon!

[Floyd Eye]

Originally Posted by Engine207

Yeagh...I'm pretty sure I just knocked down the poly. The sanding mess was all white, like fine poly dust. I've been dragging my hand on my super smooth silky Jazz neck all afternoon!

Nice. Being proud of poor technique. lol

[two fingers]

Yep. I do it to every single bass I get. It's the first thing I do. Only my thumb touches the neck, but I can't stand gloss. It may have something to do with body chemistry though. My sweat corrodes stainless steel strings almost instantly. I can't play 3 songs on them without the strings getting all sticky feeling. Same thing with glossy necks. I even had a couple of USA Spectors in the 80s and I sanded the finish completely off of them.

Meh. It's not the Holy Grail. It's a tool for doing a job. Don't get so emotionally caught up in an electronic gadget made of wood used to make music. And that, after all, is all a bass is. It's a long, sometimes pretty, wooden electronic gadget that makes music. The wood isn't blessed by the Pope. There is no such person as Saint Leo. And if this one wears out, I get another one and move on. If I were to buy a museum quality perfect 1959 P bass, the very first thing I would do is flip that bad boy over and rough up the neck, then smooth is back out the way I like it. And little babies wouldn't die because of it. It's just really not a big deal AT ALL.

[Floyd Eye]

Originally Posted by two fingers

Yep. I do it to every single bass I get. It's the first thing I do. Only my thumb touches the neck, but I can't stand gloss. It may have something to do with body chemistry though. My sweat corrodes stainless steel strings almost instantly. I can't play 3 songs on them without the strings getting all sticky feeling. Same thing with glossy necks. I even had a couple of USA Spectors in the 80s and I sanded the finish completely off of them.

Meh. It's not the Holy Grail. It's a tool for doing a job. Don't get so emotionally caught up in an electronic gadget made of wood used to make music. And that, after all, is all a bass is. It's a long, sometimes pretty, wooden electronic gadget that makes music. The wood isn't blessed by the Pope. There is no such person as Saint Leo. And if this one wears out, I get another one and move on. If I were to buy a museum quality perfect 1959 P bass, the very first thing I would do is flip that bad boy over and rough up the neck, then smooth is back out the way I like it. And little babies wouldn't die because of it. It's just really not a big deal AT ALL.

While I agree that it isn't a sacred object and you should do to it whatever makes you happy or play better, I gotta say, if you took a museum quality '59 P bass and sanded the neck finish off, I would find you and beat yer ***.

[SolarMan]

Originally Posted by Floyd Eye

I don't understand why you guys are sanding on your necks. Are you dragging your whole hand down the damn thing or just your thumb?

Floyd Eye,

Dude, you have made my night! And I'm not kidding.

Your Avatar? Kicks ass. Period.

Your "title" - Registered Loser - (Which, you clearly are not) - Seriously makes me LOL!

and this response is classic:

Nice. Being proud of poor technique. lol

and this is even better:

Are you dragging your whole hand down the damn thing or just your thumb?

I would like your permission to make one or maybe both my signature tag. Probably both.

[SolarMan]

There is no such person as Saint Leo.

Now, you're just being silly.

[NYCbassist]

Originally Posted by Floyd Eye

While I agree that it isn't a sacred object and you should do to it whatever makes you happy or play better, I gotta say, if you took a museum quality '59 P bass and sanded the neck finish off, I would find you and beat yer ***.

I treat all my basses like sacred objects. I'm gonna make my drummer wrap the edges of his Cymbals with cotton gauze. As for sanding a neck, you would have to hold a gun to my head even if it wasn't my bass. My Ric is the Holy Grail IMO. I know! I'm a mess

[Engine207]

Originally Posted by Floyd Eye

Nice. Being proud of poor technique. lol

Easy bro... Im neither proud nor ashamed of my 'poor technique'. I just play my bass the way it feels good for me. I'm guessing every one of us has some poor technical habit that works for us, despite not being 'proper'. I remember reading about some Motown bass player who mostly used the index finger in his right hand, yet somehow managed to overcome his technique. He seemed to play pretty well.

Tell you what...I promise not to tell you how to play your bass if you don't berate me and derail the thread from the topic of altering neck finishes. Cool?

[uOpt]

About 90% of the stuff that is on my driveway in a package has the warranty voided before mightnight.

[PotsdamBass8]

Since when is it poor technique to move your hand while having contact with the back of your neck? What if you change positions while playing a phrase or slide a note? You aren't supposed to have contact with the back of the neck for that period of shift? Remember that this is electric bass and not upright, and only pulling back towards the fretboard with your hand could cause the tuning and action to shift temporarily

I prefer the unfinished/satin feel too. I have a BB424x and an SRMM5 and love the feel of both of them, and if I had a glossy finished neck I'd probably have to do something to it too.

[two fingers]

Originally Posted by Floyd Eye

While I agree that it isn't a sacred object and you should do to it whatever makes you happy or play better, I gotta say, if you took a museum quality '59 P bass and sanded the neck finish off, I would find you and beat yer ***.

OK, I was trying to make a point. I all honesty I don't think I could do it anyway. Maybe I took that one one step too far. I like a matte finish neck, but I'm not insane.

[Toptube]

Originally Posted by thedudebrah

I did this to my Road Worn P last week. It was already a bit worn, but I love the feel of a super worn in neck.

To the ones wondering about technique, I play my bass fairly low and I have pretty bad left hand technique. My thumb is almost always hanging over the top of the neck lol, so yes, I do drag my hand down the neck.

I couldn't play with my thumb hanging over if I wanted to. Little girl hands : \

[bassgod0dmw]

Originally Posted by Floyd Eye

I get that. Personal preference and everything. Would you actually take a piece of sandpaper or 0000 to your neck though?

As mentioned above, yes.

I take have taken #0000 steel wool to a number of my basses. If they don't come in a satin finish I will make the neck the way I like it. I don't need to do it to all of my basses, but whichever ones feel super sticky I will.

I don't understand what is so shocking about it. Lots of bassists do it, including pros. Geddy Lee sands his necks down to bare wood.

[Meddle]

I went the exact opposite direction. Bought a Yamaha BB424X and instantly thought "yuck, this neck feels like raw lumber". To me a satin finish feels cheap. I had a Washburn T24 that was satin finished on the neck and after a few months it went glossy anyway.

So my BB424X was de-necked, and the neck was sprayed with laquer then buffed out to high gloss. Much happier this way. Haters gonna hate.

[Rip Topaz]

Originally Posted by uOpt

About 90% of the stuff that is on my driveway in a package has the warranty voided before mightnight.

This. I think I've voided the warranty on every bass I've ever owned.