sanding finish off back of neck, what should i use to seal?

[Deathshead]

Hey guys, im picking up the supplies to sand off the ten feet of poly from the back of my epi lp standard neck..

on my fenders for years I never "sealed" them, and never had a problem, the pores of the wood just filled in with hand grime, etc..

On the epiphone, im worried about the scarf joint, I would not want to risk the possibility of compromising that joint.

What can I use to rub in the bare wood that will still feel nice and silky like bare wood?

I have had alot of people suggest tru-oil, but I never used it, is this stuff have an "oily"
feel?

thanks!

[Deathshead]

thinking possibly a good caranuaba wax rubbed in and buffed out nice?.

[drbassman]

You should probably use something with a little more staying power.  Tru-Oil or tung oils give more protection and last a little longer than wax.  I like Danish Oil for hand applied finishes.  A satin finish nitro spray would be good too.  There are lots of alternatives.

[godofthunder]

I would use a coat or two of sanding sealer and call it quits.

[jmcgliss]

A few guys on the Lakland forum did this with their Skylines. The factory advised using light coats of tung oil.  Burnish with a cloth or very fine steel wool in between.  Tru-Oil on the other hand is more like a varnish, will dry hard, and will build up layers - probably not what you want for a velvet-y feel.

[Dave W]

I would never use a pure tung oil (or straight BLO). Offers almost no protection and never dries hard. Yuck. OTOH a "tung oil finish" is typically a thinned wiping varnish and often isn't even tung oil-based, but you can at least wipe on thin coats that dry hard and even a few coats will offer some protection.

Tru-Oil is a modified-oil alkyd resin wiping varnish, no matter that they market it otherwise. It's not the most durable but you can rub on thin coats, it will build as little or as much as you need, and it feels good to the touch if you put it on right.

Danish Oil is a mixture of varnish and oil, less durable than a typical straight varnish but looks and feels nice and does offer some protection.

[Deathshead]

so i was board on sunday and had at it,. Still obviously needs ALOT of work,
I was very surprised to find the Neck wood is very nice, decent figuring and even some birds eye.
Im going to go with Tru-oil, just enough to make the figuring pop, give it some amber but still have it feel like bare wood.
a few coats are going to go on the fretboard to darken and gloss it up a bit too.




the question is, the headstock, should i leave the peak in the paint or just go straight acrossed?

[Dave W]

I would leave the peak painted. YMMV.

[Deathshead]

 


Tell ya what, just noodling arounda bit, Idk if its just me or that you can "feel" the sound more but the neck really came alive, the whole bass
seems alot louder and more open, it was like removing a prophylactic lol, totally night and day difference.

[Nocturnal]

Leave the peak.

[Freuds_Cat]

My usual mantra:"UnSung make great instruments"

[Highlander]

I wouldn't leave a "clean" edge to the fin but just fade it if you can...

[Deathshead]

too late,....



i tried to make the finish fade up nice i found its hard to do. so i just taped off a little above the neck joint and went to town. feels great raw, although it appears to be sealed, a couple of very light rub
on coats of true oil should give the maple a lil color and make the wood pop.

[Lightyear]

I would suggest that you let each coat dry overnight and right before each new coat buff the freshly dried finish with 0000 steel wool.  I would use at least three coats as it is extremely thin - especially when it's polished with the steel wool.  I did this with my Stingray and it feels great.

[jmcgliss]

+1 to knocking down the gloss with steel wool. 00 leaves a velvet-y feel; 0000 is more polished.  Just refinished a parts bass neck today with three coats TruOil followed by steel wool each time. For the fretboard I use Howard's Feed n Wax (beeswax and orange oil).