Help please, used '08 SR706 with a sticky neck

[Sojo513]

Hi. I recently bought a used Ibanez SR706 from Guitar Center. Love the bass, love the tone, but the neck is a tad grody tbh. I cleaned the fretboard with F-ONE from Music Nomad and it did an admirable job. However the *BACK* of the neck is still an issue. You can rub the neck with slight thumb pressure and it the dirt(?) will kind of roll up. The end result is a neck that grabs the fretting hand a bit; it's not terribly slick.

The SR706 has a "five piece jatoba/bubinga neck" which doesn't really help me too much when trying to find a viable cleaner. It appears unfinished, as in it's not like the slick coated maple necks I am normally accustomed to.

So what is the best coarse of action/product to clean the back of the neck? I've seen naptha recommended, lemon oil, even Windex. Not really knowing anything and about the care and feeding of jatoba or bubinga, I'm hesitant to experiment. Hopefully someone here on TalkBass can answer in the affirmative.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Edarnott]

I think i would start with dawn dish soap and a sponge, then some 0000 steel wool. I know what you mean by rolling up grime, dawn should cut it.

 

[sharkbait130]

To get it clean , I've used dish soap , Pledge , and even some WD 40 sprayed on the rag. Be careful with WD 40 as some finishes don't like petro chemicals. If it's still a bit sticky , I put some cornstarch baby powder on my hand. If it's really bad , you can take a green Scotchbrite pad and run it up and down the neck a few times. I don't recommend steel wool because if any of it fragments , it can stick to the magnets on the pick ups. If you do choose to go that route , cover the pups well so this can't happen. If you don't like a slick neck at all , some 400 or 600 grit paper will take the shine off. This will alter the look of the neck a bit so make sure that you don't mind doing that.

 

[Sojo513]

Thanks for the responses.

There is no shine at all on this neck. Again, the bubinga/jatoba looks as if it's raw, though I doubt it. The Scotchbrite pad makes some sense, though I'm still hesitant to use any petrol-chemical based products as I don't know if or how the "nearly imperceptible" finish will react to it.

Are there any SR players *with similar necks* that can chime in? If this was a lower end SR or GIO I'd already know how to clean it up appropriately due to my familiarity with them. However it's the bubinga and jatoba woods compounded by the mystery finish (if any) of this SR706 that has me stumped. I understand that the 500 series of an equal vintage (2008-2011 or so) had the same necks as well, as least as I can gather searching through countless TB posts in and around this subject.

 

[Arie X]

imo, straight mineral oil usp. combine mineral oil with a scotch brite 7445 or 7448 pad as needed.

ibanez seems very fond of their discovery of wipe on tung oil. the finish possibly got attacked with acidy skin oils and it's disintergrating. after you remove the gunk let it dry completely for a few days then re-examine it. if the finish is clear but still rolling up under the finger or it's soft enough that you can sink a finger nail into it you may need to give it another treatment or two until you get down to a stable layer -which won't take much as it's very thin. if it still soft after all of this then it likely needs to come all off and you'll be putting on some new tung oil.

follow the application instructions on the oil and it's best done with the neck off.