Sanding Paint off of a neck

[Ben...]

I have an old Cort neck that I got off of one of those crappy Effector guitars. It's a great neck. I'm not 100% sure what the wood for the fretboard is or if it's even wood; all I know is that I like it. I normally wouldn't care that it's painted but it's incredibly dinged up and looks absolutely terrible. It also is starting to chip in a few places; primarily around the headstock. I prefer unfinished necks anyway so am planning on oiling it after I'm done. So I'm wondering if there's any tips for sanding the paint off. What grits do I use and so on. It's an incredibly thin layer of paint so I shouldn't need a heavy grit.

Thanks in advance. I'll see if I can borrow a camera for pictures.



Oh, and the body is probably going in the garbage. It has way too many holes to fill. Stupid effects unit!

[bfloyd6969]

In general I would say to use the smallest grit for the job. I would start with a mild grit - say 180 and see how it goes. You'll know where to go from there. Of course you'll just want to get the paint off the wood and no more. I think the trick here is to sand only the paint and not the wood. You'll also want to finish sand the wood once all the paint is gone to smooth out all left behind coarse sanding marks.

[Ben...]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Start at about 180-ish and go up from there. Any recommendations for sanding over screw holes? I imagine I'll probably have to redo them. The last truss rod cover isn't going on again so I don't have to worry about that.

I'm still trying to determine what exactly the fretboard is made out of. You can see a woodgrain but there are literally no pores. I'm thinking it's either some synthetic material or, even though I doubt it, ebony. It's definitely not rosewood.

[metalchurch79]

I usually hand sand my necks to in order to keep the neck profile or shape the same.
Unless you are really good at a palm sander I suggest to stay away from using that unless you are using 400+ grit, and if so keep it moving and dont stay in one place too long.

One other thing is to sand up and down the neck just as if you are playing to keep a natural feel to it, as opposed to sanding side to side.

Also, tape off the fretboard and anything else you dont want scuffed up from the sand paper.

[bfloyd6969]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Start at about 180-ish and go up from there. Any recommendations for sanding over screw holes? I imagine I'll probably have to redo them. The last truss rod cover isn't going on again so I don't have to worry about that.

I'm still trying to determine what exactly the fretboard is made out of. You can see a woodgrain but there are literally no pores. I'm thinking it's either some synthetic material or, even though I doubt it, ebony. It's definitely not rosewood.

I don't know about a synthetic material. It still could be a rosewood as there are different shades of it. Though I would say that you would still see some pours in it. Ebony is actually a lighter shade than you see mostly on guitar necks as they usually stain it darker. Thing is Ebony is usually more $$$.

[Ben...]

I know it's not rosewood. My DK2 has incredibly dark rosewood but it still has the pores that I see in all of my rosewood fretboarded-guitars. This guitar's fretboard has none at all. It's incredibly dense. It's also jet black. I can't see how a guitar that retailed new for about 200 bucks could have ebony. It is a weird guitar though. It's explorer shaped, has a vintage trem and a explorer-esque headstock that I mistook for a Gibson when I first saw it(back when I knew little about guitars). Not to mention the stupid effects unit that caused so many issues. I had so much fun smashing that piece of crap when I was taking the guitar apart. All the electronics went in the garbage. The only hardware being salvaged is the bridge because I always block off vintage bridges so it'll work fine as a hardtail. The neck also has a brass nut though I have to re-stick it on. The adhesive seems to have given up. A good thing is that it has a battery compartment that fits 2 9v's so I can possibly do the 18V Mod for EMG's if I so choose to (If I actually keep the body. It's gonna be a lot of work to get all the holes from those buttons for the effects filled. Not to mention it's a plywood body).

Thanks for the tips, MetalChurch. I was planning on hand sanding it. I was wondering what direction to sand it. I already have taped off the edges because I'm getting ready to do some fretwork so I just did that at the same time.

[bfloyd6969]

Now that I think about it, Cort usually did/does offer better options on their guitars for less money. The fretboard could be ebony . . .

[elysianfield]

i'll bet the fretboard is covered with ebonol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebonol

[bfloyd6969]

i'll bet the fretboard is covered with ebonol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebonol

Good call. But is it more cost effective to use this over ebony? I didn't see a price comparison.

[Ben...]

i'll bet the fretboard is covered with ebonol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebonol

That's exactly it. I looked it up and it looks the same on all the guitars that have it as compared to my neck I'm working on.

Good call. But is it more cost effective to use this over ebony? I didn't see a price comparison.

They put it on Squiers so it can't be too expensive.

Thanks everyone!

Edit: It seems to be more common on basses. I've only found a few guitars that have it. Here's some basses:

http://bass-guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/MTD-Kingston-Artist-Fretless-Bass?sku=513934

http://bass-guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Squier-Vintage-Modified-Fretless-Jazz-Bass?sku=519637