Sand my neck?

[bassboy115]

If i sand the neck of my jazz will it get rid of the gloss and make it easier to slide up and down?

Will it damage my bass?

My jazz hasnt really got that much varnish from what i can see, its just occasionally when i sweat at gigs i find my hand stickin a bit and wondered if sanding it will improve its playability?

I heard Geddy did it?

any held is great!

Cheers
Alex

[The Burpster]

I guess it depends on what finish you put in place of the varnish.... I dont recomend sanding and leaving it unfinished! it will be horrid after a while....

Have you tried polishing the neck with a good guitar polish? I wipe my varnished Maple necks after every time I use then but every 6 months or so polish them with (in my case PRS ) polish and then they are lovely and slidey again.... Erine ball makes a good polish too...

I'd try that before you take sand paper to it.....

[Muppet]

Don't sand it but use a fine wet and dry paper (1500) with plenty of water and that will take the gloss off it without removing all the varnish. Works perfectly.

It won't damage it unless you take it all off and allow water into the grain of the wood.

[bassboy115]

ok thanks guys ill give it a go!

[Johnzy]

I've got the neck sanded on my musicman, and it certainly changes the feel of an instrument. the lack of finish has vastly changed the stability of the neck and it seems to move everytime the window opens or heating is left off!!! i have to reset everything about 3/4 times a year to have it playing well. this is a major pain for touring/travelling and i never use it as my main instrument.
the original finish was nasty and i hated the feel after 5 minutes sweat. the neck had to be cleaned after every gig to make it smooth again.
my warwick has never needed to be adjusted except after initial setup, and never moves. i've also never wiped it down, i've just layer it with more of the warwick wax. this has created an unbelievely smooth gloss which doesnt react to sweaty hands.
the sanded necks also adsorb all of the filth from your hands and quickly dark up maple necks. i'll post picture if you want examples, but my stingrays neck is turning creamy coffee colour. i'm sure it will come out with alot of hard work. looks kinda vintage!
i've thought about cleaning off the stingray neck and resanding it and sealing it with a few layers of the warwick wax, i dont know if this will cure the extreme warping!
good luck whatever you decide to do!

[simon1964]

[quote name='Muppet' post='87610' date='Nov 12 2007, 10:09 PM']Don't sand it but use a fine wet and dry paper (1500) with plenty of water and that will take the gloss off it without removing all the varnish. Works perfectly.

It won't damage it unless you take it all off and allow water into the grain of the wood.[/quote]

+1. I've done this on both my Jazz and Precision. It removes the gloss (and the stickiness you describe) without ruining the finish. I much prefer the feel. And I guess it would be easy enough to polish the finish back up to a gloss if you wanted to in the future.

[7string]

0000 grade wire wool works as well. Takes about 20-30 seconds to get rid of that 'sticky' feeling.

One of my students mentioned this very problem on Monday night. I got out the wire wool, rubbed it against the neck a bit, he checked it, needed a little more and problem solved. Took about 5 minutes from just mentioning the problem to the problem being solved...