Finishing a Neck

[Yetti62544]

I purchased a new neck from my strat and it is unfinished. How do i go about finishing it?

Thanks!

[Crazace2006]

You need to make a simple neck holder, to make it easy to apply the finish. Just a piece of scrap wood, solid or ply, and two small screws, and a hole in one end for a loop of wire to hang it up. Use a small drill bit (1/16" diameter, 3/8" deep) and drill the holes off center as show below - you don't want to hit the truss rod! ...

you need to prep the wood by cleaning it with a paper towel that's got a bit of naptha (lighter fluid) on it - you wanna take off dirt and finger oil, so wear clean cotton gloves or better yet, throw away surgical latex gloves or reusable dishwashing gloves.

If the wood isn't really smooth as a baby's butt (this is highly unlikely and almost impossible with USA-CG or Warmoth wood), take a small piece of 220 grit in yer hand and buff the wood. Clean it all up again with the paper towel and naptha.

Buy a can of Min Wax Wipe On polyU (it MUST be Min Wax Wipe On polyU - no other polyU will do!), either gloss or satin - your call. Take a 3"-4" square of CLEAN, white, well washed T-shirt material and fold the edges inward to make a pad...

... the "business end" of the pad is the clean folded over edge (the left edge on the photo above - keep the other edges off the wood.

Shake up the polyU can, and with a rubber glove on yer "pad hand", hold the pad on the can's mouth and invert the can. Do this a coupla times to "load" the pad with just a LITTLE of the polyU - you wanna just dampen the pad, NOT SOAK IT. Now, hold the neck stick and wipe in the direction of the grain. It goes on real quick with a non-maple fingerboard neck - if you have a maple board, do the board first and use HALF the amount of polyU ... a VERY, VERY SMALL amount. I never give a maple fingerboard more than two coats. Needless to say, you NEVER apply finish to a non-maple fingerboard itself. Add more polyU to the pad as needed, and finish off the neck. These wipes are light, almost like painting - do not press.

Hang it up to dry. There IS a smell (okay, "stink") to the Min Wax polyU, but it is NO WAY as bad as turpentine or mineral spirits or alky enamel. It's really not that bad at all. Hopefully, where you hang the neck will not be cold (under 50F) or wet (more than 60% humidity). What's ideal is about 70-80F and 35-40% humidity. Cold and wet will slow the cure and the wetness (extreme humidity) could "blush" (milk white) the polyU.

Now, take the finish pad in your disposable surgical latex gloved hand and pull the glove off and over it - tie a knot in the end and toss it. Take a 3" doubled square of sandwich bag plastic and place it over the mouth of the polyU can, screw on the top - this will effectively seal it. Don't shake the can or get polyU on the plastic - let it sit as is for now, 'til you're ready to use it again.

Three hours later - or better yet, overnight - check out the neck to make sure it's dry to the touch. LIGHTLY buff the wood with 0000 steel wool. Instead of using the big muffin pad of steel wool, I cut it in half, and unfold each half, cut into 6" lengths - makes a wool pad last a long time. After wool buffing, take a paper towel and buff the neck again. Now, take a magnet and pass it over the neck, specially the tuner holes - this will pick up any steel wool "lint".

Start the finish application process all over again. If the neck has been lightly pre-sealed (Warmoth does this), 3 coats will make the neck mirror gloss gleam (if you used gloss polyU) and that's it - you can 0000 wool the back of the neck if that pleases you and your fretting hand, else leave it alone and enjoy your professional handiwork. If the neck is raw and hasn't been sealed, it may take 6 to 8 coats to get it snot slick 'n' glossy.

[Yetti62544]

Wow! Thanks thats what i wanted to know.