Neck Relic

[momo]

So I want to relic my 62 reissue strat neck while I wait for a new bridge. I read up on this but I have one question, how do I sand down the finish on the neck?, Do I use heavy paper manually, or gradually with fine paper.Thanks, also, would shoe polish and dirt be a good way to stain the neck before appling the Minwax finnish?
Thanks

[sumgai]

momo,

If I've not already done so for you, then let me guide you to this site: ReRanch. They specialize in making new stuff look old. Lots of articles to read, and most of their products for sale have very detailed instructions, yet another learning opportunity.

I'm not big on dirt as a coloration agent. Shoe polish is not much better either, IMHO. But then again, I'm the guy who tries to keep his axe looking brand new, almost to the point of being anal about it - so I may not be the best source of information about what works and what doesn't. ;D

HTH


sumgai

[momo]

Again Sumgai, thanks alot. Im finging so many guitar workshop websites this week,and I missed out on the tutorial page from ReRanch, thanks alot again, this is it!

[momo]

So I finally did the neck relic, I must say, doing octave style long glissando's were always difficult to me, now I know why. The thick stock laquer was way sticky compared to the silky smooth feeling I have now. The thick laquer did have its advantages....
I play 011's and my neck has always been very flat. Now after sanding all that laquer, It developed a very slight dip, not a playing problem but still, it moved a bit. So I decided to compensate with the truss rod, now its perfect again. Now a little note to how the laquer can actually hold a neck together, when I tried to turn the truss rod screw, it gave a very easy 1/8 turn before actually "biting in the wood", so that tells me that the neck was so stable before that the truss rod was not even actively contributing, it probably was screwed snug but with very little torque and that over 20 years, it loosened the 1/8 distance. So now I screwed just a little to make the rod put a bit of pressure and that did it.

So now all I have to check is how the neck will react in spring with the change in humidity in the house.



Yea I know... I sanded a bit too high without using my hand as a "worn out template!"


I used the Walnut stain trick for the aging and finished with a wipe on poly satin, one application. Not much to protect the neck from warping, I will be relying on the truss rod and stable humidity to do that job!