Sanding guitar neck?

  • Thread starter Thread starter maddnotez
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maddnotez

maddnotez

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I know its done alot to get a smoother feel. Esp on glossy necks.

But what about sanding it down to get a thinner neck?

Is it safe? and is there a limit to how much you can sand?


The subject guitar is a backup beater so I dont care about it too much, but I do need it for a backup so I do not want to ruin it.

LTD MH-50
 
You need to be very careful if you're sanding down the neck to re-shape the profile... It's possible that you could end up with an un-even profile if you were to work one area of the neck more than another.

If you've not done it before, i would suggest having an experienced luthier do a job like that. I don't know for sure, as all techs are different.. but I would bet that they would not use sandpaper alone to do the job. Probably a sharp scraper or plane it by hand, and then use sanding to even it out and smooth it so that it feels good.
 
Thanks, my buddy said the same thing. That it will be uneven. I think its worth the gamble. My only thing against having someone else do it is that. For the cost I could probably just buy a better esp neck.
 
Yep. dont do it. they prolly use a lathe and calipers to measure....
 
I took the gloss of my SG with some sandpaper. It sure ain't pretty, but it feels good.
 
There is definitely a limit to how much you can sand and therein lies the biggest problem. If you go to far you will hit the truss rod, and that would be very bad. How far is too far? Impossible to say for sure unless you know exactly where that rod is.

But having said that...

See how he's doing it here:

91.jpg


The sandpaper stays perpendicular to the shaft of the neck, and the motion is like a shoe-shining motion, against the grain. That helps keep the profile even as you take material off because the paper is just following the profile that's already there. Once the shape/thickness is where you want it to be then you switch to progressively finer grits going with the grain this time (parallel to the shaft of the neck) to smooth the surface and remove the scratches left by the shoe-shining. At this point you are just smoothing and cleaning up, not changing the shape. Then after the surface is smooth seal it with a finish of some kind - oil, varnish, shellac, whatever.

Having a pro do it is best, but it certainly isn't rocket surgery. Just go slow and careful and remember you can always take more off but you can't put it back on!
 
Thanks ratter, very helpful. I am indeed going to do it. However, I would have gone with the grain most likely so thanks for clarifying for me.
 
Normally you would always sand with the grain. But think of the shoe-shining process as shaping rather than sanding - it just so happens that you are using sandpaper for the shaping tool. Across the grain makes for more aggressive material removal while also maintaining good control over the shape.

For the actual sanding part of the operation after the shaping is done, absolutely go with the grain.
 
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