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choosing not to finish a maple neck?

I may order a new neck from warmoth for my jazz. I was thinking of a replacement maple neck/fretboard.
I see they have the option of no finish listed. I know this may sound dubm, but I do not know much about wood. Will playing an unsprayed maple neck have adverse affects to the sound, playablity.? Thanks for any insight.
 
I personally think unfinished necks feel amazing, especially after your hand's natural oil has seeped into the wood. I actually sand down the necks on all of my basses and guitars. However, no finish means that the wood is wide open for punishment by the elements, and is much more susceptible to warping.
 
There is a reason that Warmoth will not honor their guarantee on an unfinished neck: In places where humitiy changes greatly (NOT So Cal, by the way), the neck can warp. Me, I've had no problem with unfinished necks here in So Cal, but I have had buds with issues in the south and NE.
 
:eyebrow: Thats actually kinda gross. :hiding:

And then neck will eventually be gross too! It will be all black and nasty looking where you hold it most.

I just went through a big decision on the LP guitar I just built. I simply LOVED the smooth fast feel of the unfinished neck. It played like a dream, especially compared to my new Gibson LP with the nitro finish neck that is SO sticky feeling if you don't put something on it all the time.

So I hmmmed and hawed and pondered and fretted and in the end decided the gross neck look was not what I eventually wanted. I also want at least some seal on the wood. So I went for very light poly that was then rubbed down to a satin finish. Almost as nice as pure wood without the open pores and gross look down the road.
 
No. It will have an adverse affect on the stability.

itll be fine

I've one long term experiment on this, though it was for a Strat. I sanded the back of the neck to a profile I liked, and the fingerboard (fretboard, whatever, not like there actually was one, it was a solid maple neck/FB, with the skunk stripe as the show of how the TR was installed) was bare too. I ripped the frets out, changed the clay inlays to pearl, put a compound radius on the board, installed jumbo fretwire, and did the back of the neck contouring within a week of buying it, and never put any sort of oil or anything anywhere on the bare wood.

Not surprisingly, I used the truss rod a bit, but it was all quite manageable. I've been a huge fan of a certain set of procedures, though. First of all, never use strings that are far past their prime. If they still have some snap, they're ok, but any hint of flub, they're history. Second, and this follows well, using the same strings (gauge, material, even manufacturer) when restringing. Third, following naturally would be making sure the instrument was set up exceptionally well, in a stable environment, with the strings of choice broken in but not even a little over used. Even with the trem on the Strat, and so long as I didn't bump the tuning machines after getting the strings stretched out, I never had much issue with the instrument being in tune, and here's the key point: When it was a little sharp, add a little bow into the neck; when flat, straighten out a little. Using the TR to counter the necks natural movement saved me from bothering with the springs in the trem messing with tuning. There are other important factors, but those are more related to trem systems. As bass tremolo systems are becoming more abundant, I'll pass on this advice. I remember reading a David Gilmour interview where he was asked about his divebombs and then hitting the next note (un-whammied) and not having it be out of tune. He said he quickly gives the bar a tug to take all the slack back between the nut and saddle, instead of any of it being lost between the nut and tuner post. I did some experimenting, and his trick works magic.

Once your instrument is set up properly, and if you can be careful enough not to bump the tuning machines, you should be able to maintain your instrument with simple TR tweaks. Necks move, Bass necks even more due to overall length. Busy gigging situations don't allow for such ease of maintenance, but around your house or studio, this approach can save you lots of time re-tuning, while retaining optimum feel (since that is the key, bringing the neck to the most desired position, and effecting the strings together, instead of individually tuning the strings on a neck that has moved).

YMMV, but this has worked for me for years, on an unfinished neck with a tremolo, and while living in three very different climatic locations.
 
Thanks for the advice in this thread.

I have decided to change the neck on my Sadowsky to an unfinished Maple neck with maple fretboard. Playability and feel is king.

Thank you Best Guitar Parts!

I would advise against unfinished maple. It will turn grey, and be very ugly in a short amount of time.

Why not just use a satin finish or an oil finish to protect the wood, and still have the satin feel of an unfinished neck?
 
I think Maple is termed an "open grained" wood, and thus requires finish in order to not warp. Oily woods (often tropical) tend to not require finish.

Theoretically, a neck with less finish should vibrate more, and more openly, and when wood opens up with time, the tone is supposed to improve, so a neck with less finish should sound more woody, natural, and just generally better. So that said, having less finish should theoretically be better tonally, but we can't really know for sure. And I think you need something to protect the wood. I wouldn't feel great about playing a totally unfinished maple neck.

Nitro is a great way to go. It's thin, and lets the wood vibrate a bit more. Theoretically, it should sound better. I can't say you'd actually notice the difference. It would protect the neck well and would wear in nicely though.

On my Warmoth neck, I finished with StewMac's tung oil. Great product, and the oil does a lot to feed and protect the wood. However, the Warmoth warranty is void with oil, which is something to keep in mind. I applied almost ten coats of oil, and it actually looks like a satin finish, and feels very smooth. I have had numerous techs and builders tell me it should never warp, but it's a risk.

I'm actually going to refinish my bass and neck in nitro this summer. I'm just paranoid. I doubt I would ever have a problem; I know others with 20+ year old oil finished basses that have gigged without issues... I just figure it cant hurt. Anyway that's my .02.
 
Nitro is a great way to go. It's thin, and lets the wood vibrate a bit more. Theoretically, it should sound better. QUOTE]

There isn't such finish that would not let the wood vibrate as long as the finish is not thick enough to become a structural part of the neck. Nitro vibrating, oil letting the wood breathe etc. are just myths that have nothing to do with real life.