Removing dings from the back of the neck

[Old Horse Murphy]

A while back I got hold of a used Fender US Jazz bass fitted with Wizard 64 pickups. It wasn't in the best of condition (nothing serious, just a few knocks) but it is simply the best sounding Jazz I've ever played.

The only thing that's annoying me are a few dings on the back of the neck. Again, nothing major and nothing that seems to be through the lacquer, but they're putting me off a bit and are noticeable when I play.

It's a 2000 US Jazz, so doesn't have the sarin feel of the new Standard US Fenders which incidentally I love so my question is, what is the best way of removing the dings and unevenness of the back of the neck?

Please bear in mind that I am pretty hamfisted and certainly nowhere near capable of doing anything intricate!

Thanks for your help

[stu_g]

i use wire wool on my bass necks seems to work well taking out minor dings

[Pete1967]

I don't know of a technique that's not intricate.... except replacing the neck

Techniques I've heard of or used are filling them and flatting and polishing the lacquer back or sanding them out by re-profiling the neck slightly and refinishing completely.

I've heard of people making them less noticible by steaming them out with a steam cleaner... the type with a nozzle that you see on the crappy JML ads on telly, or a damp cloth and an iron tip but I am certainly not going to endorse those!

Personally I'd take it to a good luthier if it's a keeper.

P

Edited November 2, 2013 by Pete1967

[hamfist]

If it's a deep ding, I can't see any other way but filling, sanding and re-lacquering those bits. The negative will be that it is difficult to make it invisible, as I assume you have a natural grained wood finish with clear laquer. Therefore filling a ding with filler takes away the grain. There are ways of imitating a grained finish on these bits of filler but it's not something I've tried. It'll certainly make them impossible to feel, but the invisibility issue may be a problem for you.

Not too difficult for a luthier, and maybe even worth doing yourself, depending on your experience at this sort of stuff I guess.

[Old Horse Murphy]

They're not actually too deep; just enough to make them noticeable.

The back of the neck is a little bit sticky too and despite cleaning it, it's difficult to remove the stickiness.

I think I might go over it with wire wool as suggested to make it feel a bit more satin and see if that helps at all

[3below]

Damp cloth (smooth texture), hot iron. Cloth on the dent, apply steam. It is quite surprising the depth of dents that will respond to this treatment. If this does not work then it may be remove the finish as above. Before using filler I would attempt the damp cloth and iron technique on bare wood as well. You could then oil the neck - which oil is another debate in itself - Tru oil or Tung? Hope it goes well.

[Pete1967]

[quote name='Old Horse Murphy' timestamp='1383388974' post='2263882'] They're not actually too deep; just enough to make them noticeable. The back of the neck is a little bit sticky too and despite cleaning it, it's difficult to remove the stickiness. I think I might go over it with wire wool as suggested to make it feel a bit more satin and see if that helps at all [/quote]

Cool... I'd try some 0000 grade wool first. You might find that 000 puts too many noticeable scratches in. I've got whacking great rolls of both - more than I'll ever use, so I'll happily send you a chunk of both if you want?

P

[EBS_freak]

If you aren't confident with the soldering iron method above, first port of call can be holding the neck over a boiling kettle. Steam it... and then wipe it down with some kitchen roll. Repeat. The dings will soon react.

Without going all pro, you can also drop fill with some superglue and sand back. Remember to use a block - do not be tempted to do without!

[gary mac]

I had the same with the neck on my G&L SB1.

I went with very fine wet/dry paper, worked a treat. The dinks are still visible but can hardly be felt when playing now.

In my opinion the soldering iron/sponge method is better on non lacquered surfaces.

[Old Horse Murphy]

Thanks for all your help. And a big thanks to Pete for his kind offer.

I've got some fine wire wool so I will try that and the kettle method too.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Cheers

Nick

[bassmachine2112]

[i]Soldering iron and a piece of chamois leather-wet is the method used by gunmakers and furniture guys,no need for filler.[/i]
[i]If you have paint,varnish ,laquer it really needs to be removed and the area refinished afterwards or strip the lot off and finish in oil.[/i]
[i]A ding is the wood compressed so all the steam does is loosens the wood allowing it to spring back by expanding-be careful as it can expand more than it,s original size by quite a bit.[/i]
[i]Goudges are wood removed,torn out but the steam method allows the remaining wood to expand and fill the void within reason.[/i]
[i]If the hole is too big then piece in a plug of matching wood-doesn,t need to match the grain if painting afterwards.[/i]
[i]If it doesn,t affect the playing then it,s mojo[/i]

[bumnote]

A friend of mine who makes and repairs for a living suggested a few drops of superglue in the dent, leave to dry and sand flat if necessary. I tried it on a bear up Tokai and it works a treat. t
he colour of the superglue is a pretty good match to the lacquer

[ezbass]

[quote name='bassmachine2112' timestamp='1383984488' post='2271472']
[i]If you have paint,varnish ,laquer it really needs to be removed and the area refinished afterwards or strip the lot off and finish in oil.[/i]
[/quote]If you find the neck sticky this is what I would do, not only will it allow the repair of the current dings but also allow easy repair of any future ones.

[discreet]

Scotchbrite pad works for me.
Wire wool can shed tiny fragments which make their way to your pickups - via the gift of magnetism.

[Grangur]

Also, depending on what the stickiness is, white spirit on a soft cloth may get it off.

Good point about using a scotchbrite rather than wire wool.

[Phil Starr]

Don't use scotchbrite or wire wool. You need something flat or you will sand unevenly and end up with something which has bumps in the surface. The idea is to only remove high spots and fill the low ones and you can only do that with a flat surface. Use wet and dry start with 400 grade (careful with this as it removes the lacquer quickly) and then work up through 600 grade 1000 grade and 1500, then T-cut. This restores the shine to new.

The sticky surface is either just accumulated filth but more probably someone has tried to oil a lacquered surface or used spray polish on a wax polish. White spirit should clean it off.

[blunderthumbs]

Dings give a bass it's mojo... I'd leave em.