Roasted Flame Maple Neck—Finish or Not?

[GuitarMadCap]

Should I finish my Roasted Flame Maple neck? I see that it’s not necessary but is it bad for wood longterm if it’s not finished.

How would unfinished feel compared to a standard maple neck with a satin finish?

 

[TBurst Std]

No don’t finish it. Burnish it and life is great.

 

[GuitarMadCap]

“Burnish”? Like with steel wool? Should I do the neck and fretboard? They will both be Roasted Flame Maple.

 

[TBurst Std]

Stratamnia, can you offer the link?

I believe it’s in his signature. No it’s with sanding pads. Never bring steel wool close to a guitar.

 

[TBurst Std]

Here it https://unofficialwarmoth.com/threads/burnishing-raw-necks.19901/

 

[GuitarMadCap]

Here it https://unofficialwarmoth.com/threads/burnishing-raw-necks.19901/

Perfect! Thank you! I’ll read through this. This is my first build. I might have my hands full with all the wiring so I might just get the neck finished. I’d hate to mess this thing up.

 

[TBurst Std]

You can follow this process with any exotic wood as well as roasted maple. Cagey did a couple of my necks.

 

[GuitarMadCap]

Never bring steel wool close to a guitar

Yet another example of bad advice I got from my local guitar tech. He once told me to take steel wool to the back of the neck to buff out imperfections in the finish. It seemed questionable at the time—glad I didn’t try it.

 

[stratamania]

The link can be found in the Welcome to the forum thread linked in my signature. Thanks @TBurst Std for posting the link.

There are lots of other really useful threads linked also in "Welcome to the forum".

 

[vetteman]

Just as an option you can apply a pure Tung Oil finish to the roasted Maple. Helps with the dry feeling of the wood and doesn't make it "sticky". It does darken the color of the wood slightly, but it is dead simple to do.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Definitely finish it with Tru-Oil and gun stock wax on the back.

 

[Rick]

I say do nothing to it and let it shine up with your playing. Absolutely. Now go out there and play.

 

[Hodgo]

Tru oil provides a nice light amber tint to roasted maple and helps make the figure pop.

This was sanded to 600, then three coats of tru oil, then sanded after curing to 2000 grit up followed steel wool and gunstock wax.

Very easy to do, and feels heavenly.

Having said that - here’s Warmoth vintage tint satin nitro on roasted maple. Really beautiful dark butterscotch sort of color, and feels great as is.

 

[Ma77]

+1, this worked for me

I say do nothing to it and let it shine up with your playing. Absolutely. Now go out there and play.

 

[VanHeGen]

If you want the color to stand out applying oilis a good option. If you just want to enjoy the bare wood (no, not that j leave it as is - as I did on Coffee. Feels great.