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Sanded the varnish off my Strat neck


tedmanzie
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I always like the feel of the 'road worn' Fender guitars I pick up, and put it partly down to the bare ('worn out') necks.

I finally took the plunge and sanded the back of the neck of my 80s Strat Plus. Easy to do and I have to say I'm loving it. So if you're in the same boat, I say get the sand paper out! :)

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I did something similar and used a green pan scourer on a Black & Decker Mouse on my old Epiphone SG and it was great, the neck was smooth and fast and the body was much more resonant. It's so easy to do and it made it much more playable.

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I did this to my Squier CV tele - the neck has a very high gloss finish so used a grey scotch brite pad and knocked down the shine a bit . feels really nice. It is slowly glossing up again due to playing. May consider using a rougher pad next time for an even more satin finish, but not sure.

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[quote name='AntLockyer' timestamp='1406621189' post='2512984']
What are you going to use to clean and preserve the wood from now on? I ask because I have a genuinely worn through neck.
[/quote]

I use Briwax mate. Rub it in, leave it for ten minutes and then polish off.

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[quote name='AntLockyer' timestamp='1406621189' post='2512984']
What are you going to use to clean and preserve the wood from now on? I ask because I have a genuinely worn through neck.
[/quote]

sorry just saw this - I'm not sure if I've sanded right through to the wood or if there is a little varnish left on, but it has such a good feel i'm tempted to give it a little extra sand to make sure i'm through to the bare wood. i don't know if maple requires any preservation oil or wax as it is such a hard and tight grained wood. The Roadworns I have picked up and some other bare wood necks (Charvel did one recently) seem to be untreated wood and consequently do get in-grained dirt, but I like that look so I think I'll be leaving mine untreated.

I might be kidding myself on but I could swear it sounds better with the sanded neck?! I'm tempted to do the body but that is thick poly so would be quite a task...

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[url="http://www.mother-of-tone.com/lacquer.htm"]http://www.mother-of-tone.com/lacquer.htm[/url]

This might be an interesting read. This guy has a philosophy which some might consider "out there" but he is obsessed with removing the obstacles to good tone in his ultra-fi products, and there is this bit on lacquer on guitars.

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My newer Peavey Grind is one of the gloss black ones and it sounds a lot more "plasticky" than my older natural finish one... Would sanding down the neck make a noticeable difference in tone? I'm not all that fussed if it doesn't, but it might save me a pickup upgrade that I've been considering for a while..

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[quote name='tedmanzie' timestamp='1408109613' post='2527233']
As for the Peavy - I assume the thickest lacquer is the on body so you would think that has the main impact on tone. But who knows… :gas:
[/quote]

You're probably right, but (don't laugh) the only reason I bought that bass was because it was black! :blush:

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I'd only be sanding the neck anyway, I don't give a monkeys what the back of the neck looks like as I'd be the only person to see it anyway... Plus Grinds have a 5 piece neck so how bad can it possibly look? If it plays better (which it will) it will be worth it.. If it affects the tone in a positive way even slightly that's a bonus in my books :)

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