Think twice before sanding your hi gloss bass neck! (and how to do it)

[lungimsam]

You’ll be addicted to that matte slippery, non-thumb gripping smoothness afterwards!
I lightly sanded my Ric 4003 glossy neck and played it exclusively over the summer and fall and it is fantastic. Way less hand fatigue. But after picking up the Starfire it is like brake skid city on my thumb when I move around. Thumb sliding is like stick, stick,sticky.
Been thinking about sanding its neck. Used to feel just fine. But now I got used to the luxury of a matte neck.
So think twice! It’s addictive! (UPDATE: 7th post shows how I did it on the Starfire).

 

[davismanLV]

I just threw my D65-S (acoustic) into Drop D and played Shotgun Down the Avalanche (Shawn Colvin) after probably two years of not playing the song and month without playing the guitar. I guess because I'm an occasional player the gloss neck didn't bother me. But I really prefer my matte necks on the Breedlove and the Taylor. Much nicer to slide...... but I'm not gonna mess with my two really nice original acoustic Guilds .... nope.

 

[lungimsam]

Just a damp green scotch brite pad and a few minutes is all it takes. Tape off the f-board edge and the ends of the neck to make a clean job of it.

My thumb heel muscle used to ache sometimes when playing the Ric. After sanding, that went away. So much easier on the hand. It really works.
I’ll probably do the Starfire also but just waiting to see if I really need to or not.

 

[davismanLV]

The green ones don't ever come in my house. They only cause grief and heartache for every one.... okay, mostly me. They scratch EVERYTHING!! If you wanna napp up your gloss neck... there's better stuff.

 

[NadiaThomson]

The green ones don't ever come in my house. They only cause grief and heartache for every one.... okay, mostly me. They scratch EVERYTHING!! If you wanna napp up your gloss neck... there's better stuff.

I couldn't agree more.

 

[lungimsam]

It worked great on the Ric bass finish.
I'm gonna do the Starfire as soon as it warms up a little so it is not freezing in the garage. Or maybe I could do it in the basement without making a mess, since I dampen the sponge when I do it. Unless anyone has any recommendations for another type of sanding pad. Maybe I could use my stewmac graded grit sanding pads.

 

[lungimsam]

Super slick neck now! I did pointed ends on the headstock and neck heel ends of the neck because it is easier to tape off points than straight across, due to the neck being so contoured. The headstock point allows my thumb to still be on the slippery part while playing in first position. A cool idea would be to tape off the headstock end the same shape as the top of the headstock. Note that I taped off the rosewood fingerboards edges so they would be untouched and keep their gloss finish intact.

So recap:
1. Tape off with blue painters or other low tac tape. I taped plastic shopping bags over the headstock and body and taped the neck from the rosewood edge to rosewood edge, arching over the fingerboard along its length to cover the fingerboard (strings stay on. just takes three pieces of tape each the length of fingerboard laid longitudinally along board.). So the whole bass was encased in tape or plastic bags except for the part I was sanding.
2. Wet a Scotch Bite Heavy Duty green pad (the thin kind, not the sponges). Squeeze out as much of the water as possible.
3. Start lightly sanding the neck with long and light back and forth motions. After it starts hazing up, wipe off with a paper towel and evaluate if you need to do some more or not.

It is not a messy process. Nothing was on the counter when I was done. Very easy to do and no mess cuz the pad is dampened.
They say that after a lot of play, it will gloss up again. I did my Ric bass last summer and it has not glossed up again after playing a lot. But the striations of the sanding have smoothed so the neck looks like a uniform soft matte finish now and not "brushed" looking anymore.
Your thumb will never stick again. But the only drawback to this would be if you feel the change in color/finish of the neck was undesirable to you. I think a glossy finish looks nicer. But I think the payoff of ease of play (to these aging hands) far outweighs the look of the matte finish, which I think looks good anyway.

 

[jfilm]

Was researching this a while back and saw this video from Randy Schartiger. He uses 800 grit sandpaper and then blends the transition line with simichrome polish. Pretty good results with little effort.

 

[lungimsam]

I do like how the sharp line looks on mine.
But that blending he does is amazing!!
And looks easy to do!
I have some fine sanding pads. Maybe I will try it that way next time.
Excellent video for this thread! Thanks for sharing!

 

[chazmo]

Pretty cool, lungimsam!