Hello,
When I bought my first Bass a few months ago, a used Warwick FNA jazzman I brought it to the US distributor (Dana B. Goods in Ventura, CA at that time) for a tune up.
The neck had never been oiled certainly and the wood was not so smooth, like when you drop some water on unprotected wood, the wood's fibers erect.
The Warwick tech, who was really cool and really competent (for the anecdote he was setting up the bass of Fishbone's bassist), did something that scared me at first: he used a razor blade to remove the little little bumpy fibers and then use a very thin sand paper (>1000 if I remember). Then he put some "Gerlitz Guitar Honey" (
Link Removed). The neck was smooth like a baby butt and the bass perfectly set up
He told me that he never put wax on the neck, he doesn't like the sticky feel that MAY result, it's just for the body with certain kind of wood.
One more thing, I think you shouldn't be afraid of "sanding" a bit the neck, that's the good point of neck without varnish. Anyway those Warwick neck are so fat that you can remove half of it it will still be thick enough ! - you can make two Fender necks in a Warwick neck !
Joel
PS: This is officially my first post on this forum, so hello everybody !