lesson learned about finishing maple necks

hank49

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I have three Warmoth maple necks. The first one I ordered for my Vester Traditional strat was well....my first and you live and learn. I didn't order any finish for it since I like the feel of no finish...but then after, I noticed the warning that WM puts on the finish page on the website which reads, "if you don't finish it and it does the pretzel act, we don't want to hear about it". I called my son, who had received the neck to tell him not to play it since he would get oil from his hands into the wood...but I was too late. Anyway, he tried to put a finish on after and it didn't work at all. You could see where he had played mostly in A and B...it was dirty looking on the back of the neck there and the finish didn't stick.
Well, now about 8 months later, the neck is doing a bit of a pretzel act. It's twisting towards the bass E side. You can see it by looking down from the head that the head is off plane with the body. The other two WM "strats" I have are perfectly in line and both are Satin finished. But the main thing was I noticed a bit of flat note in the bass E 12th fret vs the 12th fret harmonic. I checked them all again ( it was set up perfect in Sept) and the E was way off, the A a bit better, the D a bit better. Anyway,...now I get a new project putting another new neck (and bridge)
[/img][/img] on the guitar, which is fun.
Anything you can do with a slightly twisted neck to repair it? Hang an engine block off of it to stretch it back?  :laughing7:
 
I've heard of people using some kind of special heating/steaming and pressing process, but it's likely not worth it, and not sure to work.
 
Wana's_makin'_a_guitar said:
Another strong argument for me to put a finish on my rosewood neck......

Rosewood doesn't need a finish though Wana.  Maple does.  Yours isn't gonna warp on you.
 
Hmm you can try to steam and clamp it straight.  However.........It'll honestly be less money and hassle just to get a new one from Warmoth.  It'll never be quite right once it warps.

Its a great learning piece for refretting and inlays :dontknow:
 
Tempest said:
Wana's_makin'_a_guitar said:
Another strong argument for me to put a finish on my rosewood neck......

Rosewood doesn't need a finish though Wana.  Maple does.  Yours isn't gonna warp on you.

I still think that you should put a thick coat of red enamel on it...
 
mayfly said:
Tempest said:
Wana's_makin'_a_guitar said:
Another strong argument for me to put a finish on my rosewood neck......

Rosewood doesn't need a finish though Wana.  Maple does.  Yours isn't gonna warp on you.

I still think that you should put a thick coat of red enamel on it...
Hmm, now that you mention It.....................  :icon_biggrin:

Lucky I don't have a maple neck then!
 
Blue313 said:
Hmm you can try to steam and clamp it straight.   However.........It'll honestly be less money and hassle just to get a new one from Warmoth.  It'll never be quite right once it warps.

Its a great learning piece for refretting and inlays :dontknow:

It is good for learning. I took it off last night and tweaked the side mount truss adjustor. I can get the thin E sting side straight but the other side is bowed backwards just a bit. It's not too bad. When I string it up, the backwards bow will come straight and there'll be a slight relief on the other side. It still played well.
Actually a guy here wants me to try and put it on his Indonesian made strat copy. His is really bad and this would be a huge improvement. So I'm going to try an upgrade it with the bridge and neck and a new set of Grover tuners I have. "Hank's Belizean Guitar Shop" is open for business.
So I've ordered a new neck with Pau Ferro fret board and satin finish. Plus a new bridge (sold the other one to the Indo guitar guy), pots, caps, 5 way switch..and it has pretty new Texas Special pickups. The only thing left on this guitar that isn't from Warmoth is the body and the pickups. It still has the Vester neck plate.
 
True, you might be able to fret the neck straight if you able to get that far with the side adjust.
 
The other lesson to learn is to re-sand and use some mineral spirits or naptha to thoroughly clean the wood, then re-sand, before applying finish to any piece of wood that has been handled!

I think for the price of Warmoth's maple necks, it'll be less stressful in the end to just buy a new neck. As already suggested, keep the old neck around to practice fret work on! It'd be great to have a neck to practice on with no consequences.
 
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