Neck finishing for idiots.

WezV

There I was thinking I responded in a fair and balanced way but apparently we are falling out again. Some of us are here to discuss multiple approaches that can all work. Maybe share experiences of why one has been chosen over another and the different ways each method can be used. You are here to sell (and provide support for) a product, which is fine and even appreciated, but you often berate any method, material or viewpoint which doesn't put coins in your pocket. That, as well of my personal experience with a large variety of finishes ... including yours, is why I suggest your opinion should be taken with a pinch of salt.

WezV

There were paragraphs when I typed that!

jd0272

Deadman said:

I'm a dirty Darlo drinking bastard. I'll soon catch you

Start walking North fckr. Fetch a Palmo an' all. Never had one and I is hungry! Really, I'm starvin the night.

Mrs is a Crook fckn loon, I'd swap her for a Palmo an' all.  

Loobs

What's happening here

Deadman

Mmmmmm parmo. I'll be having one of those bad boys soon.
You'd swap your lass for one? Stop messing about. A chicken doner mebbees.

jd0272

Loobs said:

What's happening here

Misspelled food shit dude.

jd0272

Deadman said:

Mmmmmm parmo. I'll be having one of those bad boys soon.
You'd swap your lass for one? Stop messing about. A chicken doner mebbees.

Double hungry now.

Loobs

I live on Fuldastraße. Best döner in the city: Imren Grill. Beef, not lamb.

Deadman

That looks luscious. I've had shwarmer, in Roermond, just on the Dutch border. That was my best kebab meat experience ever.

jd0272

I have noodles in my locker at work.

Philly_Q

jd0272 said:

I have noodles in my locker at work.

I always wondered what became of The Offspring.

ThePrettyDamned

Philly_Q;454955" said:

jd0272 said:

I have noodles in my locker at work.





I always wondered what became of The Offspring.

I have hit lol, so I don't need to post this really.

But lol.

That made me laugh way too hard.

ThePrettyDamned

Interesting thread. I love the wudtone neck finish, it's quite satin and very easy to use. Thanks for correcting me Andy, I had the vintage amber one and a clear one. Both were great.

I was wondering, @wezv, would your methods allow any colouring of the neck? I mean, if I had a flamey or spotty neck, treating it like I would on a top - maybe using some ink to match it to the top, then finishing with wudtone or oil? The ink would dye it, but probably not saturate the wood, allowing the oils to get in, but I wonder if there are any obvious issues in the way.

WezV

I am doing eze oil and bright colour at the moment. Its working really well. I am staining first followed by rubbed in oil cut back every few coats. This is s build on the surface solution but my tests with the oil before seem to show it dries brittle rather than rubbery

Wetsanding doesn't really work with strong colours as you end up sanding the surface away. But I have pre-stained before wetsanding with tinted oil to get nice vintage tints.

Cant say for wudtone, or mixing it with other products because I have never used it like that.

ThePrettyDamned

WezV;455284" said:

I am doing eze oil and bright colour at the moment. Its working really well. I am staining first followed by rubbed in oil cut back every few coats. This is s build on the surface solution but my tests with the oil before seem to show it dries brittle rather than rubbery

Wetsanding doesn't really work with strong colours as you end up sanding the surface away. But I have pre-stained before wetsanding with tinted oil to get nice vintage tints.

Cant say for wudtone, or mixing it with other products because I have never used it like that.

Fair enough, thanks.

Let me know how you get on. I'm considering trying a slightly different approach on the next project, using a pretty maple neck, dark board and doing a matching burst on both the top of the guitar and the neck - I think it could look rather attractive, and "custom", but don't fancy the oil removing the colour, for example.

I have wudtone neck finish here somewhere, maybe I'll order some inks and do some experiments. Happy to report back if anyone is interested.

WezV

A burst finish is essentially replicating old hand rubbed finishes, so no reason you cant use the bad part about rubbing on an oil over stain to your advantage.

But test on scrap first

Misterg

[Regarding Tru Oil...]

[Loobs said:

You think this method gives a durable enough finish? Is the neck gonna get dirty or warp?

[...]  And how do I go about doing this if the neck is already fretted? Do I rub it off the Frets with wire wool?

I did my DIY Tele neck with Tru Oil after fretting. It adds a little colour, but not the yellowed, 'vintage' shade:

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh143/werdnayarg/webstuf/TC/DSC_3847_zpsb2e126c6.jpg

8 months of daily use later, it isn't showing any sign of wear or distress, and doesn't pick up dirt.

I honestly wouldn't worry about warping - Tru Oil isn't an oil finish - it's some sort of varnish.

Dealing with the frets was a royal PITA!

I used the technique that Wez described with (IMHO) excellent results for finishing a body, but I wouldn't be confident of using it on a fretted neck: Sanding between the frets is fiddly in the extreme; sanding with the grain doesn't let you reach right up to the fret, and sanding across the grain rips up the neck (IME).

Allowing the TO to pool up against the frets and then scraping it off doesn't work well, because it doesn't cure properly where it has pooled, and you end up with a rubbery area right next to the fret that won't scrape neatly,

I could never build up a thick enough film between the frets to allow me to wet sand it without sanding through, either.

In the end, after much frustration, I used the 'coffee filter' method on the whole neck - get a pack of paper coffee filters and use one to wipe a drop of TO onto the surface, then, immediately use another clean, dry one and try to wipe off as much as possible - honestly try really hard to wipe it all off. Pay particular attention to clearing out the angle between the fret wire and the fingerboard. It will be very wasteful to start with, but you eventually get a feel for how little you need to put on. Work on 1 or 2 frets at a time, and buff the finish smooth before moving on. It feels like nothing is happening for ages, then the gloss starts to build up. I found that if I made a conscious effort to try and build a layer up that I got streaks and lines in the finish. I had to use the 'wipe it *all* off' approach to get a smooth, shiny finish - YMMV

You can do the rest of the neck the same way, but it won't need as many coats.

(If you do a search for 'coffee filter' on the ReRanch forum, you should get quite a few detailed explanations)

Just my experience - I'm sure that there are a whole range of workable answers, and if anyone has better suggestions about how to work around frets, then I'm all ears (at the moment, I would finish the fingerboard, at least, before fretting!).

WezV

I agree with all that, there isn't an easy way to wetsand between frets on an all maple neck, I did mention this on page one but may not have made it clear when talking about this before

My solution is similar to yours, a lot of rubbing rather than sanding... But I still wetsand the back to make it super slinky

Also, reading your comments it sounds like you where trying to build up a finish then wetsand(possibly with water) to get it level - like doing a lacquer finish.

That is not what I do. After one coat if oil I wetsand with the oil. No chance of sanding through because you are applying more at the same time. All the gunk gets buffed off each time leaving a super thin and sleek finish

Misterg

WezV said:

...it sounds like you where trying to build up a finish then wetsand(possibly with water) to get it level - like doing a lacquer finish.

That is not what I do...

  Sorry for potentially causing confusion - I started off talking about the 'sanding in oil' that you described (and I've also done, but not on a fretted board), but I then drifted into another suggestion that I had seen that TO can be built up and cut back by wet sanding (with water) like lacquer - don't bother (IMVHO).

redrighthand

I have a maple neck that needs finishing, and I'm wondering whether to go for a Wudtone finishing kit or to try some kind of oil finish. 

 So I search the forum to see if there are any threads on this topic. Not only do I find this thread discussing that very topic, but (I believe) the neck that started the thread is the exact neck that I now have in my possession.  

@WezV Some great stuff you've posted on here - especially for a newb to all this like me. From my perspective, thank you for sharing your experience and wisdom. Quick question if I may be so bold: I'm combining a pine body and the maple neck. Have you any experience of oil finishes on pine, and should I expect it to react differently to the maple?