Anyone using an unfinished maple neck?

[Cagey]

Good point. According to Warmoth's experience, about 10% of the necks they believe need hard finishes go wonky without them. That means 90% don't. Not bad odds, really.

I have an unfinished maple Carvin neck here that's about 9 years old and is still fine, and I would think that would be enough time for it to warp/twist if it was going to. So, I beat the odds with that one. But, I built a stool with a maple seat for my brother about 20 years ago that I never put a finish on, and it looks like something out of a high school woodshop. You'd swear I never measured any of the planks or sanded it when I was done. Unbelievable how distorted that thing is.

 

[Bruno]

Good point. According to Warmoth's experience, about 10% of the necks they believe need hard finishes go wonky without them. That means 90% don't. Not bad odds, really.

These percentages are nightmare now for me ...  :icon_tongue:
I really want to buy a unfinished maple neck with pauferro fingerboard.
Really, but I don't care guarantee, I care the percentage: 10% has defects and in this case there is not q-sawn, '59 thin etc. that can reassure me.  So nothing unfinished maple neck for me, only Pauferro, Indian rose, bubinga, etc.
Sic et simpliciter

 

[Cagey]

You may be over-thinking this. An unfinished maple neck may move on you, but it doesn't happen overnight. It can take several months. It is a fairly dense wood, after all. I mean, it's not pine, where you can almost watch it warp right before your eyes. It's certainly not going to happen inside a week or two during  shipping. So, as long as you intended to finish it fairly soon after you get it, you would be fine.

 

[Bruno]

ok but...
I don't know how to say in English, in Italian there is a way of saying: "luck is blind but bad luck see very well"
:icon_thumright:

(only my fear, it's not the truth, of course)

 

[Cagey]

I get the idea. But the situation brings a couple other old sayings to mind, such as "Worry is like a rocking chair. You work your ass off and don't get anywhere." Also, "Fear of death is worse than death itself" <grin>

 

[willievega]

I just put a new Maple neck on one of mine. It's a Fatback contour so I'm hopeful it will be ok.
I hate finishes on necks. In fact my next guitar body will go without one too.
The Goncalo/Goncalo neck on my other guitar is heaven after two intense years.
I even have a Rosewood/Ebony neck. Have had it over twenty years no finish no trouble.
I had a Bubinga neck for over ten years with no finish, again no trouble.
And twenty years ago when I placed an order, I bought two Rosewood necks, the one I still have
and another got stolen. It never warped in the year or so that I had it.
Oh, I remember I ordered one in Maple without a finish that I gave to my buddy, it's still fine.
That's;
2) Rosewood/Ebony,
1) Bubinga/Ebony 
1)Goncalo/Goncalo
1)Scalloped Maple/Maple

No issues with any of them. I have my fingers crossed for my new one. I think I'm starting to temp fate.
Also of note is that up until recently I lived in humid, South Florida. I would routinely (almost every day)
have a film of water or sweat on those necks.

 

[pabloman]

I've lived in Hawaii, California, texas, and now Colorado. I can definately tell you lack of humidity is far more evil than humidity is. Before the only thing I had to worry about was rust, especially on strings. Now fretboards want to shrink and let the frets hang out, Set necks like to get humps where they meet the body. Now it's humidifiers and hard cases all the way around.

 

[willievega]

Interesting. Never would have thought so. Thanks 

 

[Justinginn]

I play a raw Goncalo neck and it's great but it does need a light sand every once in a while. I figure I'm mostly sanding off lemon oil and dirt but I imagine that over time it might get thinner. If I were to go with raw Maple, I'd grab a bigger neck and anticipate sanding crap off a lot. Then again maybe  I just like big necks.  :dontknow:

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Just clean it with Naptha instead of sanding it when dirty.

 

[dc127]

I once had a Jazzmaster that the Fender neck twisted even with a finish. At the time a new neck cost more than I paid for the guitar. That was when Jazzmasters had no value (a LONG time ago). I traded it for an old beat up Honda motorcycle. I have very acid perspiration and strings go bad very quickly for me. I have a Warmoth tele with the satin finish and love that. Although I have played it so much that my hand burnished the back of the neck to where that part looks almost like gloss.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

My Baritone Tele neck is unfinished, but I hope to finish it in Tru Oil in the spring, but as far as humidity goes, my necks are far more consistent since I moved into the Puget Sound area 4 years ago form Modesto, Ca. 

The humidity levels up here are far more consistent, resulting in less (if any) truss rod adjustments through the year.  I've had to adjust them maybe twice in the 4 years we've been here, and that was a couple of years ago when we had a longer than usual string of dryer weather.  In Modesto, I was adjusting them every few months due to the fluctuating climates.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

The neck will get oil in it from your playing, and eventually be a oiled neck.  If you want to make a pre emptive strike you can use tung or boiled linseed oil.  I would suggest cutting the oil with naphtha, you'll have to look it up using the search function to get some of the recipes that are on this forum because I am lazy tonight, to make it penetrate the wood better on the first coat.  After that, it would just need a couple of coats.  I know that Tonar, one of the extremely well respected finish guys on the board, uses the boiled linseed.  I hear it is a very nice finish from people here, but I have never tried one.  Yet.
Patrick

 

[fdesalvo]

Lurk moar. -1

lol

 

[bagman67]

My Baritone Tele neck is unfinished, but I hope to finish it in Tru Oil in the spring, but as far as humidity goes, my necks are far more consistent since I moved into the Puget Sound area 4 years ago form Modesto, Ca. 

The humidity levels up here are far more consistent, resulting in less (if any) truss rod adjustments through the year.  I've had to adjust them maybe twice in the 4 years we've been here, and that was a couple of years ago when we had a longer than usual string of dryer weather.  In Modesto, I was adjusting them every few months due to the fluctuating climates.

Plus all the other myriad advantages associated with being anywhere but Modesto.  Congrats on your escape!

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

My Baritone Tele neck is unfinished, but I hope to finish it in Tru Oil in the spring, but as far as humidity goes, my necks are far more consistent since I moved into the Puget Sound area 4 years ago form Modesto, Ca. 

The humidity levels up here are far more consistent, resulting in less (if any) truss rod adjustments through the year.  I've had to adjust them maybe twice in the 4 years we've been here, and that was a couple of years ago when we had a longer than usual string of dryer weather.  In Modesto, I was adjusting them every few months due to the fluctuating climates.

Plus all the other myriad advantages associated with being anywhere but Modesto.  Congrats on your escape!

Yes, this is true!  Did you escape from there as well?

 

[bagman67]

Plus all the other myriad advantages associated with being anywhere but Modesto.  Congrats on your escape!

Yes, this is true!  Did you escape from there as well?

Never lived in Mo-town but I've spent plenty of time in the Central Valley.  A good place to be... from.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

It has its benefits, but I love Washington more.
Don't have the allergies I used to have living in orchards & fields, don't miss the 110 degree summer days.