Double Bass Sticky neck fix- if it's good for the goose...?

[krfoss]

My bass has a slight gloss on the neck and has begun feeling tacky and sticky after playing. The usual fix for this problem on the bass guitar side is to gently rub it down with 0000 steel wool. Is this a terrible idea for an upright, or a common solution?

Thanks everyone!

 

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

I’d tape off the top and bottom of the neck before you sand, so it comes out looking nice.

Hit the bare wood with some tung oil after sanding to protect the wood.

 

[krfoss]

Thanks KfS.

 

[lurk]

Mike at Gage's shop gave me instructions on this, and it worked great on a ply bass I found in the garage. When you sand the neck down to bare wood, rub with fine steel wool till your body aches. Then using a sponge and the hottest water you can stand, soak it. Then blow dry with a hair dryer. Then steel wool again, etc. When you've done this a few times, one final buff with the wool till its smooth and rub in some light linseed oil. Great results for me.

 

[David Potts]

Way back in this forum I posed the same question on September 25th, 2009. There you will find more suggestions.

There is a later site, "Condensation Control" in this forum started by flatback on February 6th 2017, that later discusses treating necks for a silky smooth lasting finish. My current method is there.

Have you cleaned your neck with a damp sponge and detergent to remove the tacky sweat, oil and dirt before doing anything else?

 

[csrund]

I’d tape off the top and bottom of the neck before you sand, so it comes out looking nice.

Hit the bare wood with some tung oil after sanding to protect the wood.

Years (decades!) ago, I took delivery of a Romanian bass that shipped with the neck completely varnished. (I was horrified.) My teacher gave me the steps that @KUNGfuSHERIFF describes, along with one intermediate step:

After sanding, wipe the neck with a damp sponge, and you'll feel raised fibers emerge, like razor stubble. Knock these down with steel wool prior to applying linseed oil or tung oil.

@KUNGfuSHERIFF, @David Potts, et al... are you guys familiar with that process? I'm describing it to the best of my recollection, but it's been a while.

 

[bassedsouth]

I take a brand new Stanley blade or two ( just the plain blade without the housing ) and carefully scrape the varnish off in long sweeps going with the grain. I find it less messy and more presise than sandpaper. It also leaves a very smooth finish and gets rid of the finish quickly

 

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

The few times I’ve knocked the gloss off a finished neck I purposefully didn’t go down to bare wood, on the theory that the finish protects the neck from humidity and therefore seasonal movement.

On my own ancient German, whose neck is bare, I simply scrub off the oil and gunk as needed.

 

[1st Bass]

On the instruments I build, (for what it is worth) I get the shape and size and feel of the neck exactly right, then sand with 400-grit, then wipe down with coffee, simultaneously raising the grain and adding a small amount of color. I allow that to completely dry, then sand with 400-grit until it is again silky smooth. I repeat the wipe-down with coffee/dry/sand routine until the grain no longer responds to the moisture at all. I have never had this take more than three attempts..usually two is enough.

Then, with the neck silky-smooth, dry and stabilized, I use a rag on my finger, with just a "finger-tip-full" of shellac, and rub all over the neck, polishing hard, until it is hard and dry and glossy-smooth. That seems to produce a lasting, smooth, pretty-much sweat-resistant finish.

 

[David Potts]

After the sanding process that you use, Ist Bass, I wipe the neck with diluted shellac until it starts to "grab". Then I wipe over the shellac with boiled linseed oil and polish it off. The result is a silky smooth neck that never needs redoing IME, and can immediately be used.