Should I sand down the neck on my 1963 AVRI Precision?

[quindecima]

Start with 400 and go to 2000 in incremental steps and then use 4 or 5 coats of tung oil. It will be VERY nice.

 

[Mantis Tobaggan]

I have the same bass and 0000 Steel Wool works great. It makes the neck smooth and satin like.

 

[hennessybass]

Many years ago I got one of those AVRI P basses, and the neck was a little sticky.
I did the scotch-brite pad, and it was a big improvement. Didn't take much to get the neck feeling way better.

 

[Eminor3rd]

Just IMO but -- I wouldn't. You still won't be happy with the shape.

I'd probably look into getting a new neck made from Warmoth or something, and then do a swap. If it doesn't work out, or changes the tone too much, etc., you can just swap the original back in.

 

[JRA]

I have a 1963 AVRI precision with one of those semi-glossy nitro/poly necks, and I confess I have never loved the 1.75" neck or the feel, but the tone is definitely to die for. For those who know about this bass and the neck, would sanding the neck down with a scotch-brite pad offer any obvious benefits, like increasing the feel/speed? I've played some Nash basses and love the feel of my satin-neck Sadowsky, so I'm hoping it'll be similar. I've read a bunch of posts on tb about this topic but there seems to be a lot of conflicting opinions.

every neck i have has been 'reshaped' in some way or another: some very little (fb round overs and/or slight 'thinning' of the neck --- front to back) and some a lot (narrowing of the neck/fb from nut width of 1.625" or 1.75" to 1.5" and/or lots of 'thinning'). these are fretless necks, so things like fb round overs are easy. i do my own 'thinning' but i've had luthiers do the 'narrowing' to my preference of 1.5" at the nut. those were cheap alterations (~$80). the radius of a fingerboard can certainly be altered, too --- but that's a little trickier on a fretted ax.

some alterations/modifications to necks could be fairly pricey at the luthier shop, but if it's a matter of getting exactly what you want without the expense of a new neck/ax = could be the less expensive option. sounds to me like some 'thinning' and 'narrowing' could save the neck you're currently using!

 

[phillipkregg]

Used steel wool to sand down the nitro on my Mustang JMJ and it's a huge improvement in feel.

The "aged" grey look was achieved by applying a steel wool and vinegar based stain.

 

[1bassplayinfool]

+1 on the scotch-brite pad treatment...