Taking care of a bare wood neck

[Ed Bickert]

I own a 2006 Fender Custom Shop Heavy Relic Telecaster. It's modelled after a late 60's Telecaster and has a humbucker in the neck.

One of the greatest features of the "Heavy Relic" treatment is the back of the neck is bare wood. Sort of like the Rory strats.

Since this is literally bare wood, how do I take care of this? Do I use standard guitar polish or cleaner (Virtuoso) on bare wood? I love the way it feels, but I've never had something like this. Not sure what I should do to keep it clean without affecting the wood since there's no finish on it.

My instinct tells me to simply leave it alone.

[mellecaster]

Trust your Instincts.....

[Wally]

I would leave it alone...other than playing. I would try to always have clean hands when picking it up to play, but I would not worry about cleaning, polishing it. If I just had to clean it, I would use naptha/lighter fluid and a clean rag....let it dry...then use some lemon oil on it applied lightly and wipe with a clean cloth after a few minutes.

[Pete Galati]

I have a Tele I put together with a relic'd alder body from GR-Guitars. It has quite a bit of bare wood.
I doubt that a guitar would look that beat up if I played it for 30 years. But I was looking for a body with a nitro finish, and that one was available, so I bought it.

I pretty much ignore the bare wood, which has gotten darker from a few years of playing. I just wipe the guitar down after playing it, just like any other guitar.

It's one of my favorite guitars. Not because of the relicing, but because by freak chance all the elements come together on that one.

Pete

[jwells393]

I would probably finish the bare wood with some Watco Danish Oil Finish - Natural. I've used in extensively in oak furniture and cabinet making. It would provide protection and if you didn't like it, a little sanding with fine paper would bring it back to it's current condition.

[abraxas]

You would consider the Oil/Wax method, as recommended for EBMM guitars (which come with unfinished necks). Not much is really needed, only about twice a year.

[e-merlin]

Peavey made the Wolfgang with an unfinished neck. They recommend lemon oil as needed to keep it from drying out and shrinking. It has two graphite rods parallel to the truss rod to keep it from twisting.

[morroben]

Originally Posted by abraxas

You would consider the Oil/Wax method, as recommended for EBMM guitars (which come with unfinished necks). Not much is really needed, only about twice a year.

+1
When I worked at EBMM we used TruOil oil and wax. At home I use untinted Briwax.

[lownslow58]

I've always used the watco danish oil myself,used 600 grit paper then the watco, wiped it once or twice with the oil on a t shirt rag, let it soak in and then sanded again with 600, I worked for charvel in the early eighties and that was all we used and it seems to have held up well, to me there is nothing like the feel of an oiled neck...

[woodman]

the few times i've been lucky enough to play Teles with the finish worn off the neck, my sense was that the neck was nicely oiled from the hand of whoever wore the finish off. not like playing bare wood, to me.

i've never played a relic like yours, but if it's a factory job, you'd hope they had the good sense not to sand the sealer off. if it wuz me, i'd just play the dog out of it and let nature take its course! [IMHO, YMMV, etc.]

[WrapAround]

My beat up old Tele had no finish on the back of the neck when I got it. I felt just great as long as the surface remained dry but it felt sticky when the sweat would get on it.

I now use wipe-on satin poly. 2 coats with steelwool buffing after each coat does the job very nicely. And the surface feels pretty much the same as dry no finish surface. If you *want to* feel the finish a bit, put 2 or 3 heavier coats.

[ddewerd]

I removed the finish on the neck of my 63 tele about 20 years ago. About once every 2 or 3 years I take some light steel wool to it. Other than that, I just play it - never oiled or treated it in any way, and too me it's still smooth as silk. FWIW, pics in my photo link.


Cheers,
Doug

[markophonic]

I use Tung Oil on the back of my '52.

Wipe on with a clean lint-free cloth. Let set for a few minutes...wipe off.

let it dry up...hit it with some 0000 steel wool and it will be protected and great feeling!!

['caster oil]

Wipe it down and call it good. It'll be fine.

[Rob DiStefano]

Truly unfinished, raw neck wood is a problem waiting to happen. Seal it ASAP.