Gloss / Satin neck finish

[Skully]

I've been tinkering with a 69 Thinline Tele in the local music store, love the sound, love the F hole but can't stand the neck. It has the Gloss Poly finish. Picked up a Mex standard Tele next to it that has the Satin poly finish... love the neck, super fast! Ideally I would buy both and put the mex neck on the Thinline!
I would just by the Mex but I really like the body and sound with the F hole of the Thinline plus the matching white headstock looks killer and the pure weight of the guitar has to be 3 or 4 pounds lighter.

Does anybody else feel the playability issue with the 2 finishes? Will the gloss wear down after time and become faster... it feels real slow and awkard. Can you get the Thinline with a different neck?

[markD]

yes. i HATE finished fender necks. i always buff them with 0000 steel wool or wet sand them with 2000 grit paper. but i prefer not to buy them at all....

[rjohnstone]

+1
Strip the finish off and oil it.

I hate a glossy finish on a neck.
It's a preference thing really, but I always strip any finish off a guitar neck and oil it.
Even my Model 5A has an unfinished neck now.

[Bengal65]

The simple straight forward way to rid the Gloss "stickyness" is to do what markD said. 0000 or 2000 grit paper is the way to go. It can always be restored back to original by buffing if you decide to sell it.
The Fender satin finishes are really nice IMO.

[toejam]

The Fender satin finishes are really nice IMO.

Yes, I really like the satin neck finish on my Double Fat Strat. Fender's satin finishes don't seem to get as glossy over time as most other satin finishes.

[jtr]

You guy are so picky just get used to the necks the way they come. Or you can keep ruining your resale value by fucking with the neck finish.

[toejam]

You guy are so picky just get used to the necks the way they come. Or you can keep ruining your resale value by fucking with the neck finish.

I'm really not picky and do get used to any neck the way it comes, but the satin finish is smoother. Plus, if you lightly sand a high gloss finish to satin like Bengal65 stated, then you can easily buff it back out. Though a satin finish usually gets glossy on its own anyway from playing.

[markD]

You guy are so picky just get used to the necks the way they come. Or you can keep ruining your resale value by fucking with the neck finish.

yeah....resale...hmmm, what's that? i have 22 guitars. i rarely sell them. too much of a pain in the ass to post an ad, answer stupid questions, get low-ball offers from poor fuckers that shouldn't even be LOOKING to buy a guitar, let alone emailing me and try to get the guitar for pennies on the dollar.

i'll just keep stripping the necks and keep them for my fickle moods.

hahaha, then and again, i usually only BUY guitars with necks i like anyway, so i guess it don't matta much...

[Skully]

yeah....resale...hmmm, what's that? i have 22 guitars. i rarely sell them. too much of a pain in the ass to post an ad, answer stupid questions, get low-ball offers from poor fuckers that shouldn't even be LOOKING to buy a guitar, let alone emailing me and try to get the guitar for pennies on the dollar.

i'll just keep stripping the necks and keep them for my fickle moods.

hahaha, then and again, i usually only BUY guitars with necks i like anyway, so i guess it don't matta much...

You said it brother!... I feel silly now though, I only have 13. I don't buy guitars to resell, I buy 'em to play.

[VitaminG]

so you guys aren't putting your guitar in glasses cases in hermetically sealed underground vaults like the rest of us? It's the only way I can feel sure that I'm not harming my resale value....

[Rupe]

You guy are so picky just get used to the necks the way they come. Or you can keep ruining your resale value by fucking with the neck finish.

Spoken like a collector and not a player. That advice has no value to someone who tries to get the most out of a guitar in respects to playability and performance. With that attitude, I would guess you don't play outside of your bedroom.

As mentioned, 0000 steel wool is the way to go for a satin-like finish. My preference would be to strip the finish and oil the neck, but there is much more long term risk of warping by doing this.

[fett]

I keep my pricey guitars stock. I do have a few. The rest are fair game. And 0000 steel wool is the bomb.

[thetroy]

My strat has a raw neck. No oil or finish of any kind!

The steel wool idea is the best. Use it to polish the frets while you're at it - they will feel almost as good as stainless for awhile.

[jtr]

Not a collector but someone thats sick of seeing guitars butchered because somebody can't give a guitar enough playing time to get used to different feels. RUPE would you do anything like this to say your RAND guitars probably not?

[Rupe]

Most likely not, but they are not cheap import Fenders and I don't have a problem with the finish on them. I can see where you're coming from with respect to high end pieces, but not "commodity" guitars. Even so, I wouldn't criticize someone for what they did to their own guitar (high end included) if it truly enhanced it's functionality to them.