Painted/stained guitar necks

  • Thread starter Thread starter MrDowntown
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MrDowntown

MrDowntown

Well-known member
at some point hand oils and dirt begin to accumulate... for those that have the painted / stained necks...do you:

clean them with something?
strip them?
sand them smooth?
nothing...?

other...? I'm listening.
 
Usually just spray some of that Finger Ease spray on the back of the neck and then wipe it down good with a cloth
 
If it’s bare wood I would clean with guitar polish and use 0000 steel wool. Cover pickups with masking tape. This works well with maple fretboards too.
Painted ?‍♂️ Like spray paint or clear over paint.
 
Tone Junkie said:
If it’s bare wood I would clean with guitar polish and use 0000 steel wool. Cover pickups with masking tape. This works well with maple fretboards too.
Painted ?‍♂️ Like spray paint or clear over paint.
Click to expand...
Think LPs or PRS, ESPs or Jackson neck thru fiddles. The neck is painted. That’s sort of thing.

Just curious what everyone does when the painted necks get the grim…
 
MrDowntown said:
at some point hand oils and dirt begin to accumulate... for those that have the painted / stained necks...do you:

clean them with something?
strip them?
sand them smooth?
nothing...?

other...? I'm listening.
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm missing something here, but are you saying that painted necks accumulate dirt whereas unfinished necks don't? Most of my guitars are set neck or neck thru and have painted lacquered necks and they don't accumulate dirt at all. Of course I also wash my hands on occasion. :p
 
Hand/palm sweat builds up and makes the neck sticky feeling (after a while)….on all necks I guess ?
Maybe I’m the one missing something here. Maybe I’m the only one with sweaty palms. ?
 
MrDowntown said:
Hand/palm sweat builds up and makes the neck sticky feeling (after a while)….on all necks I guess ?
Maybe I’m the one missing something here. Maybe I’m the only one with sweaty palms. ?
Click to expand...
I guess if dirt started to accumulate I would just wipe the back of the neck with a damp cloth and possibly use a mild cleaning agent if it was particularly bad.

Sometimes, especially on old nitrocellulose finishes, the surface of the nitro itself can break down and become sticky/gummy/dirty feeling. I don't know what causes this, but I think it may have something to do with the nitro not curing properly. I had a Lado flying V with this issue. I tried all kinds of different cleaning agents, rubbing alcohol, polish, etc. to get rid of it, but it would keep coming back. Eventually after cleaning it probably a couple dozen times, it actually started to go away. It's definitely not normal.
 
Here is what some people do. If you plan on selling it may decrease resale value. But it works.

 
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