Query on Finishing one piece Maple Neck

I have a new one piece neck for my first homebuilt.

Tru-oil or Nitro or ??

I like a nice satin / naked wood feel, but don't want to void my warranty.

What is the best way to keep it off or remove it from the frets?

The body is Nitro with a tint, starting final coats and I am comfortable with the nitro.... if that makes a diff.

I don't like the way Tru-Oil accumulates around the frets.

Nitro doesn't offer that much protection anyway. I don't think in terms of the warranty, I just use nitro because it is familar, I seem to have the knack of it, and it feels more natural to me than the catalyzed finishes that have to removed mechanically.

The other thing I like very much is, if the neck gets looking strange to me and I want to try again, I just wipe it down with acetone and start over. Can't easily remove the Tru-Oil.

Try some Watco Satin Wax. Just wipe it on let it sit 10 minutes and wipe it off. Apply as many coats as you want and reapply anytime. It gives a nice satin finsh and won't accumulate around the frets. Feels smooth and looks natural. You won't be able to apply a finish on top of it without removal with lacquer thinner, however.

I like to finish necks in satin polyurethane. Durable, effortless to finish (ie. leave the sandpaper in the drawer!), dries quick, looks great, feels super-fast ... and it's used by more guitar companies than you can name - for good reason. :mrgreen:

I really like the way Nitro feels - I buff mine to a shine. I got some clear and some neck amber from ReRanch - lots of very thin coats, just tape off the bottom of the heal and the nut slot (I like to only hit the nut slot and bottom of the heal with the last clear coat to maximize the mechanical coupling), wait until all of the cloudiness is gone (about 3 weeks) and some buffing. It's good to rebuff after some playing and about 6 months too - then the finish is really hard.

To remove from frets, mask off the frets, use a razor to cut out the frets from the tape, use some 0000 steel wool wrapped around a small magnet (the magnet catches the steel fragments) and buff each fret and you are done.

A Nitro finish always feels to me like your playing on a really broken in guitar - so I like it. A thin coat sprayed over a thin coat that was buffed out would likely make a great satin finish, but I have not really tried this except in playing with intermediate coats after buffing.

I did both. I used nitro on the heel and headstock and tru-oil on the rest. Yeah it can glob up around the frets but is ok. Next time I may just use the oil on the back of the neck and laquer over the frets.

Thanks Guys. As you can see, I am just a pup on this forum.

I am kind of leaning toward the lacquer since I have done the body that way and I don't want my maple fret board fussed up.

I am tempted to try wipe on poly (hold the flames, please). But I figure if the Nitro doesn't work out I can remove it - the poly, not so much.

Thanks Guys. As you can see, I am just a pup on this forum.

I am kind of leaning toward the lacquer since I have done the body that way and I don't want my maple fret board fussed up.

I am tempted to try wipe on poly (hold the flames, please). But I figure if the Nitro doesn't work out I can remove it - the poly, not so much.


Dbeeman, my girlfriend saw your avatar and now she wants to go over to the animal shelter as soon as she gets out of work! And we already have a wonderful dog, Daisy. She says Daisy needs a puppy of her own.

:grin:

Dbeeman, my girlfriend saw your avatar and now she wants to go over to the animal shelter as soon as she gets out of work! And we already have a wonderful dog, Daisy. She says Daisy needs a puppy of her own.

:grin:
Definitely nothing wrong with having 2 dogs, right?
We used to have lab/golden mix called Daisy.

The avatar is my son's beagle a few months back I will update the pic when I get my guitar up and running.