The neck on my Fender Tele is so heavilly varnished that it is just fucking awful to play as my hand keeps sticking to the fucker.
So, I'm thinking of sanding it down. Anybody here ever done that and would you suggest sandpaper or maybe even just going over it with wire-wool?
My Les Paul was extremely sticky. I used 400 grit wet /dry sand paper, slightly wet, and just buffed the shine off of it. Worked great - took all the stick and tendency to gum up away.
It would stay dull / slick for a few weeks then I would have to do it again. After about a year the fookin' thing must have cured well enough that it wasn't sticky and as a bonus it still has the finish. I never sanded enough to get down to the wood. It would end up shiny as new just from playing it.
Every time I use steel wool I get splinter of it in my fingers - so I avoid it if I can. It also tends to end up stuck all over your pickups...
A fine emery cloth might be good.
Been doing a lot of finishing and sanding lately on all sorts of finishes. Would be nice to know a little more about the finish, if it is poly or nitro. As far as sanding, if you want to remove the finish, use 220-320 grit dry sandpaper. By far the best dry sandpaper I have ever used is Norton 3x... you can sand for days with it without it clogging up. Second best is 3m Fre-Cut Gold, it goes by other names too. But it's kind of a distant second. Get off as much as you can, and when you start to sand off wood dust instead of lacquer (white) IMMEDIATELY stop and go to a higher grade. I feel safer going with higher grades than lower so I would start at 320 or even 400, then do 600. Then switch to wet sanding, and again, I love the Norton Black Ice paper (really auto finishing paper) for that--3m wet paper sucks, the stuff they sell at stewmac is just ok. Just remember when wet sanding to really keep the surface wet, or it will gum up and get cloggy. And wipe it down with a dry rag frequently.
If you don't want to totally remove the finish, use either light wet sandpaper (1200, 1500, 1800, or 2000) or use micro-mesh. In fact, the micro mesh kits at stewmac areincredibly handy and a lot of people swear by it. I was sanding way too much volume to get away with using micro-mesh exclusively, but it's pretty good for a small project...
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supplies/Abrasives,_polishes,_buffers/Micro-Mesh_Finishing_Abrasives_Kit.html
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supplies/Abrasives,_polishes,_buffers/Micro-Mesh_Soft_Touch_Finishing_Pads.html
Don't use steel wool. No matter what you do, you end up with steel particles on your pickup pole pieces. And if you want to refinish the neck, that stuff never comes off. Use the plastic wool equivalent, usually maroon or white.
As far as refinishing, if it's poly you really should strip it completely. Then you can reapply poly, if you want to. If it's originally nitro you can sand back and then reapply nitro and it will burn in to the old layers. If you use nitro (a la Deft rattle cans, or 99% of the lacquer you can buy in a can) wear a mask and do it outside, that stuff is incredibly nasty toxic and will fuck you up. My preference is Tru Oil, which is a gun stock finish, but a lot of guitar guys use it... it's low on the toxicity scale, easy to apply, and is partly and oil but also contains polymers, so it forms a hard finish. Wipe on a few coats, fine sand or even buff, it gets glossy but doesn't get that "finished" feel that lacquer gets.
Been thinking of doing the same to my SG's neck. Gets so sticky sometimes, I can't stand it. >:( Too chicken to do anything myself, though, so I might take it to a shop and maybe get a little of the neck shaved off too. Never been a fan of fat necks. Not even sure why I bought an SG in the first place. ;D
If it's not really old, and thus worth more with the finish intact, don't be afraid to do it yourself. There's nothing more satisfying than having the neck exactly the shape you want it, and Tru Oil is much more pleasant to play with than lacquer or even sating poly, I think. I assume that's a wine red transparent neck? If you strip it it's going to be plain mahogany, and getting that tint right is going to be tough. But my buddy and I did a plain mahogany neck with a red sunburst LP junior body, and it came out looking pretty good.
I will have a go at that this week.
Funny thing is, my sons Squire Tele has a really nice silky smooth finish on the neck, but the reall Fender looks like it has layer upon layer of yacht varnish ! I suppose it is laquer of some sort, but it really is horrible to play with that on it.
Jon — Aug 21, 2010The neck on my Fender Tele is so heavilly varnished that it is just fucking awful to play as my hand keeps sticking to the fucker So, I'm thinking of sanding it down. Anybody here ever done that and would you suggest sandpaper or maybe even just going over it with wire-wool?
I sanded the neck down on my 67 SG (back then) I later sold it to a friend down in Florida and it lived on a sailboat for many years. I think it is still true to this day. However why don't you just bust the glaze on the neck with plastic wool, and try that. And also you can put talcum powder on your fretting hand which is what the pool shooters do with sticky cues. I used to use talcum powder on my hands every time I played out, just to keep from sticking to the finish on stage.