I have never dealt with splinters or heard of any one else dealing with them. Perhaps in an unfinished state, but not when Warmoth gets one to you. The oilyness of the wood does vary from neck to neck, and is helped out by playing the neck a lot. Once it gets "broken in" the oily ness and the grainy ness make it extremely fast and very comfortable. The other thing I have noticed about it is the necks have a lot of snap to them. They like to be very springy, very stiff, very alive. On a bass it is a great wood for a neck, the mids that are associated with it really match well. Shoot, it sounds darn good on a guitar as well.
Patrick