Anyone using an unfinished maple neck?

[Disco Scottie]

I'm well aware of the dangers and voiding of warranty this would cause, but I'd like to hear from anyone who has left their maple neck unfinished. How long have you had it, and how is it holding up?

 

[Steve_Karl]

The maple neck, on my 1981 G&L F-100 II has no finish on the fretboard. I scraped it off with a pen knife about 3 yrs. after I got the guitar so it's been good since ' 94 or ' 95 with no problems. The back of the neck still has a solid finish on it.

 

[line6man]

The maple neck, on my 1981 G&L F-100 II has no finish on the fretboard. I scraped it off with a pen knife about 3 yrs. after I got the guitar so it's been good since ' 94 or ' 95 with no problems. The back of the neck still has a solid finish on it.

You haven't had any problems with it because you only have an unfinished fretboard. The only thing an unfinished Maple fretboard is going to do is get dirty.

 

[rockskate4x]

Max's first tele has no finish. If I recall correctly, it's holding up fine but has a ton of his dirt finger on it  :laughing7:

 

[Damon]

I once had a MIM Tele that I removed all the finish from the neck. Had it for several years and never had an issue. I think I remember reading somewhere on W's page that they were getting something like 10% of unfinished maple and mahogany necks returned for warping, whereas the woods they say don't need finish were less than 2%, so the odds are still in your favor of not having a problem, just not enough for W to risk it by covering it under warranty.

 

[elfro89]

my old kramer 1984 had some kind of small oil finish that doesn't really count as a hard finish. It was fine, but like others have said it got dirty, real dirty.  :laughing7:

 

[Paul-less]

Lurk moar. -1

 

[Disco Scottie]

Lurk moar. -1

 

[Death by Uberschall]

I have an unfinished Warmoth birds-eye maple neck that went on a guitar around 2004. Still straight and plays fine.

 

[keeper006]

I've got an old maple Warmoth neck from the 80's that I got off ebay. It had same kind of satin-like finish that I sanded down to a "C' shape and rubbed in linseed oil. (I'd read all the bad things that can happen too, and was prepared for it and was doing this to see for myself. Perhaps I'm just lucky, but for an old, unfinished neck it's still straight and my 2nd fastest playing one. I'm sure this is very hit or miss though. I live in Oklahoma now, where it's much drier than where I used to be on the gulf coast, I'm not too confident it would still be this true for that long if I still lived in higher humidity.

 

[swarfrat]

Odds are a funny thing. You or I might look at say a 1 in 4 chance that something bad will happen and say I'll take the risk - the odds are still 3 times higher that it will be ok. The warranty dept would likely look at that same chance and have nightmares for months.

Besides - Max's neck isn't unfinished, it's finished in finger oil. Ewww gross.

 

[Steve_Karl]

The maple neck, on my 1981 G&L F-100 II has no finish on the fretboard. I scraped it off with a pen knife about 3 yrs. after I got the guitar so it's been good since ' 94 or ' 95 with no problems. The back of the neck still has a solid finish on it.

You haven't had any problems with it because you only have an unfinished fretboard. The only thing an unfinished Maple fretboard is going to do is get dirty.

Yea. I has an only very slightly dirty look.

I've occasionally rubbed it with rubbing alcohol to clean it up, but of course that was way before I met everyone here.
If cleaning it now was necessary, ( it rarely gets played since I got my waromths ) I'd probably try naptha.

 

[Ron D]

Hi Guys,

As a newbie, (to the forum), I probably haven't earned the right to an opinion yet... but...
I have a parts Tele and Strat, both with Allparts necks, that I finished with tung oil over five years ago. No issues.

I'm here because I think... hope, that Warmoth necks and bodies are significantly better than what I have.

I'm sure that if we had access to Fender and Gibson's stats... we would find that their finished necks are prone to way more problems than the percentages quoted here.

Sorry if I overstepped...

Cheers, Ron

 

[Steve_Karl]

Welcome to the forum Ron!

All opinions are good to hear ... in my opinion. 

 

[DangerousR6]

I have an unfinished Warmoth birds-eye maple neck that went on a guitar around 2004. Still straight and plays fine.

I've got 3 BE maple unfinished myself, oldest one I got is from around '99-2000. All 3 str-8 as an arrow.... :icon_thumright:

 

[back2thefutre]

Does raw maple have a good feel?

 

[DangerousR6]

Does raw maple have a good feel?

I think it does, i just rubbed mine down with lemon oil a couple times. And then worked them over with #0000 steel wool....smooth as melted budda...

 

[Shadow]

This is probably a dumb thought but what if you coated the back of your neck with Teflon?  :toothy12:

(No intention to hijack)

 

[Nightclub Dwight]

This is probably a dumb thought but what if you coated the back of your neck with Teflon?  :toothy12:

(No intention to hijack)

It would be perfect for cooking eggs.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

The odds are that all will be fine with any neck never getting a finish.  Maple, mahogany, and a few others that are less oily and drier tend to absorb everything like sponges.  If one person takes that risk, the odds are in their favor.  If a company takes that same risk and makes X amount, that small probability times the number out there becomes a liability.  The Maple finish policy protects them when your neck will probably be fine.