Sanding a glossy neck: any advice?

[AK Bass Guy]

Another vote for the synthetic steel wool.

And some of this to pick up any debris before cleaning with mineral spirits.

If you take it to bare wood you could seal it with this.

 

[Dark Horse]

I use maroon scotchbrite followed by #0000 steel wool. But I remove the neck before doing this, and use an air compressor to remove any steel wool particles before reattaching the neck.

Before and after pics….

 

[SharpCat]

I use maroon scotchbrite followed by #0000 steel wool. But I remove the neck before doing this, and use an air compressor to remove any steel wool particles before reattaching the neck.

Before and after pics….

View attachment 7000005View attachment 7000009

View attachment 7000010
View attachment 7000008

You’re deglossing the headstock face too? That surprised me. Does look good though.

 

[Dark Horse]

You’re deglossing the headstock face too? That surprised me. Does look good though.

I degloss the entire neck usually with gloss poly… looks more consistent. But not always. My Geddy still has the gloss finish, untouched.

 

[AK Bass Guy]

I use maroon scotchbrite followed by #0000 steel wool. But I remove the neck before doing this, and use an air compressor to remove any steel wool particles before reattaching the neck.

Before and after pics….

View attachment 7000005View attachment 7000009

View attachment 7000010
View attachment 7000008

Is there still enough finish to keep the neck sealed from moisture? Looks like it in the pic.
Nice satin look.

 

[Dark Horse]

Is there still enough finish to keep the neck sealed from moisture? Looks like it in the pic.
Nice satin look.

Absolutely. I’m just knocking down the top layer a bit, not really removing any finish. It doesn’t take much.

 

[75Ric]

Before you start sanding or scrubbing:

If a glossy neck is sticky feeling, that's because it has a buildup of dried wax and hand grease on it. Clean that all off, and then apply a little bit of liquid spray wax, often called NanoWax. Then it will be super slippery and still be glossy.

I clean the goop off of glossy necks with Windex, the classic type with Ammonia. Don't spray it right on the neck. Spray a little bit on a soft cloth and wipe. It'll soften the dried wax and take it right off.

NanoWax is available in autoparts stores and online. Many different brands available. It's a liquid in a squirt bottle. Spritz a little on and wipe it around. Add a little more every so many hours of playing, when it starts getting sticky again. Every so often, clean it again with the Windex.

I ordered and got the NanoWax, so I tried this this morning. Wow! This worked so well. The necks on my p and j basses are now smooth, silky and speedy. I was using a bowling alley wax which is also a "Brazilian carnauba," whatever that is. There must be something to the nanoization of the wax because it feels substantially better than what I was using. Thanks for this; it gives me the smoothest necks ever.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

I ordered and got the NanoWax, so I tried this this morning. Wow! This worked so well. The necks on my p and j basses are now smooth, silky and speedy. I was using a bowling alley wax which is also a "Brazilian carnauba," whatever that is. There must be something to the nanoization of the wax because it feels substantially better than what I was using. Thanks for this; it gives me the smoothest necks ever.

Great! That's exactly what I found too. For the record, I learned about Nanowax from my friend, the late Paul Slagle. He was one of the top instrument painters in the US, with decades of experience. Sadly he died in 2020, after a long bout with Leukemia. About 10 years ago he was buying some brand of Nanowax from an auto detailer supplier, and rebottling it into little spritz bottles with his logo on it. He included them with all his basses, and sold them separately. I have one of his bottles here on my desk as a memory of Paul.

Nanowax comes from the auto detailing industry. It's carnauba wax, but it is ground down into very fine particles and mixed into a liquid carrier. As I understand it, the key to Nanowax is that it stays lightly on the surface, not really bonding down. Very slippery. As it finally dries up, it just rubs off and falls off. It basically wears off, leaving the smooth finish unharmed. Spray on a bit more and it's slippery again. How often you need to respray it depends on your hours of playing time, not length of time.

Regular carnauba wax, like bowling ball wax, automotive paste wax, and Howard's Feed 'n Wax, is thick and is made to be wiped on in a thick coat. It bonds down to the finish and stays on there. While the top surface of it is still somewhat moist, it's fairly slippery. But when it dries out, it becomes really sticky. Much stickier than the bare finish. It's a sticky coating that's bonded on there. And grease and goop from your hand will grind its way into that coating, If you wipe on more wax, it'll get slippery again, but you are just building up the thickness of the coating. And the thicker it gets, the stickier it gets as it dries out.

To get rid of the stickiness, you have to clean that whole layer of dried wax and goop off, using something like Windex. Clean it all off, down to the finish. But don't harm the finish. Then re-wax it and it will be slippery again. For a while.

The big advantage of the Nanowax is that it doesn't build up into a dried layer. It sort of self-cleans as it dries.

 

[75Ric]

Great! That's exactly what I found too. For the record, I learned about Nanowax from my friend, the late Paul Slagle. He was one of the top instrument painters in the US, with decades of experience. Sadly he died in 2020, after a long bout with Leukemia. About 10 years ago he was buying some brand of Nanowax from an auto detailer supplier, and rebottling it into little spritz bottles with his logo on it. He included them with all his basses, and sold them separately. I have one of his bottles here on my desk as a memory of Paul.

Nanowax comes from the auto detailing industry. It's carnauba wax, but it is ground down into very fine particles and mixed into a liquid carrier. As I understand it, the key to Nanowax is that it stays lightly on the surface, not really bonding down. Very slippery. As it finally dries up, it just rubs off and falls off. It basically wears off, leaving the smooth finish unharmed. Spray on a bit more and it's slippery again. How often you need to respray it depends on your hours of playing time, not length of time.

Regular carnauba wax, like bowling ball wax, automotive paste wax, and Howard's Feed 'n Wax, is thick and is made to be wiped on in a thick coat. It bonds down to the finish and stays on there. While the top surface of it is still somewhat moist, it's fairly slippery. But when it dries out, it becomes really sticky. Much stickier than the bare finish. It's a sticky coating that's bonded on there. And grease and goop from your hand will grind its way into that coating, If you wipe on more wax, it'll get slippery again, but you are just building up the thickness of the coating. And the thicker it gets, the stickier it gets as it dries out.

To get rid of the stickiness, you have to clean that whole layer of dried wax and goop off, using something like Windex. Clean it all off, down to the finish. But don't harm the finish. Then re-wax it and it will be slippery again. For a while.

The big advantage of the Nanowax is that it doesn't build up into a dried layer. It sort of self-cleans as it dries.

Yeah, I really didn't want to sand the neck. I have two very nicely made instruments. It just cuts against my grain to sand down the finish.

I've been using the bowling ball wax for several years. It's a paste and it's thick. I used only a little for each application, but like you said, that old wax built up and became pretty sticky. I was actually thinking that the wax must be wearing off and that's what made it sticky. So I just kept putting more on. I kept a cloth impregnated with the wax in the case and I'd wipe down the neck after every two or three tunes. I had no idea I was actually adding to the problem. So this is a nice change. It seems small, but not really. I was getting pretty stressed when the neck got sticky yet again. It was affecting my attitude, if not my playing. We had rehearsal today and I didn't have to wipe the neck once! This is good stuff.