I ordered a bass neck online from mighty mite recently. It's maple with a rosewood fretboard. I wanted to dye the maple green but my dad told me I had to take the finish off first, but I was wondering if stripping agents might weaken the glue on the fretboard. Any advice from experienced luthiers out there? I'm at a loss right now ><
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Taking the finish off a neck
- Thread starter ZachisSuperCool
- Start date
A lot depends on what the neck is finished with. If it's one of the very tough poly finishes which are quite common, then strippers are pretty well useless. Your only choice then is to sand it off carefully by hand. You can test it by applying some stripper to a small piece of the neck and see if it bubbles up the finish. If it doesn't you're into sanding. Or you could ask Mighty mite what the finish is.
If it does come off with stripper, I'd mask off the fingerboard to keep stripper from the glue joint It could loosen the glue depending on the glue that was used.
Stripping agents will not work on hard polyurithane finishes. Get some sand paper and go to work. It should come off pretty easily.
Luke Sheridan
Commercial User
- Dec 30, 2004
- 637
- 51
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- I build guitars and sell them. Strings, too
Their web site says that all their necks are finished in Oil Based Poly. To remove, I would suggest sanding with 220 grit until the white dust of the poly stops. Then clean dust of and wipe down with naptha. While naptha is still wet, looking down the neck for shiny areas, which would still need to be sanded.
That'll pull the poly off but if it has any type of sealer under the poly you may be screwed for putting a dye on it. I had a neck that I "thought" was completely stripped once and when I tried to dye it, it got splotchy due to the sealer being ingrained deeper in some spots thatn others. Be forwarned.
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That's true. If that happens you can apply a thin wipe on coat of a gel type stain which will cover more evenly and doesn't need to absorb much. However, you will still have to top coat it with a clear finish..
for best coverage why not a sprayed aniline dye? yep you'd have to top coat the neck - but you also circumvent the hardships of a sealer and the futzy application of a gel stain.
