Roasted Maple Question

[Casey Ryback]

I think that is what's happening here. I sanded it a bit more with 800 grit and wiped it clean and now it looks even lighter color than it did yesterday. I noticed it had already developed some small, slightly darker areas after it had sat for maybe 24 hours or so, and I had played it about for a half an hour altogether and probably transferred some oils from my hands to the surface of the wood in the process. So yeah, it's dry, and the rest of the neck isn't.

There's no oil/grease/smudging from hands on the headstock and heel though, so playing and handling doesn't explain why it's darker all around, but I probably could bring that recently introduced new surface back to color of the rest of the neck with oil, as you suggested.

The options I have at my disposal at the moment are Birchwood Tru-Oil and D'Andrea Lemon Oil.

 

[dmraco]

I think that is what's happening here. I sanded it a bit more with 800 grit and wiped it clean and now it looks even lighter color than it did yesterday. I noticed it had already developed some small, slightly darker areas after it had sat for maybe 24 hours or so, and I had played it about for a half an hour altogether and probably transferred some oils from my hands to the surface of the wood in the process. So yeah, it's dry, and the rest of the neck isn't.

There's no oil/grease/smudging from hands on the headstock and heel though, so playing and handling doesn't explain why it's darker all around, but I probably could bring that recently introduced new surface back to color of the rest of the neck with oil, as you suggested.

The options I have at my disposal at the moment are Birchwood Tru-Oil and D'Andrea Lemon Oil.

Don’t use Tru-Oil.  Lemon should work fine.  I notice it discoloration more when I sand, not so much when cutting. 

 

[Cagey]

Lemon oil is just mineral oil with some lemon stink added to it. Somewhere along the line, some marketing genius decided everybody wants everything to smell like lemon. Not sure why. Maybe it's highly effective at covering up other less-desirable smells, kinda like chocolate and banana are common fixes for unpleasant-tasting medical concoctions.

 

[Casey Ryback]

Yes, it's basically just mineral oil to my knowledge too, but perhaps does the trick, since it probably just needs some oily substance on the surface to change how the light reflects. I'll try that later today and see what happens.

As I said before, I don't remember noticing any radical color change when drilling roasted maple, and I'd imagine that would be true when cutting also, like you guys said. It has something to do with sanding, and massaging the fine dust against the wood. Like polishing/burnishing makes things gloss.

I too remember reading about that dipping in the sealer procedure somewhere. What might that sealer be? And now if I remove it by reshaping, do I need to apply some specific sealer, or will sanding it fine and perhaps oiling it do the trick, considering this is roasted maple? I don't want any gloss, I'd like to keep it matte and I like the feel of natural wood, so any hard finish is out of the question. I mean, I was planning to keep it unfinished, but have I now removed some sealer that requires me to finish it somehow?

Are you guys opposed to tru-oil in general or just in this situation?

 

[Cagey]

The question about what sealer Warmoth uses has never been answered. Apparently, it's proprietary. One of these days, somebody's gonna have to make a pilgrimage to Puyallup, WA and do a little dumpster diving. The truth is out there! :icon_biggrin:

As for what to do with the neck once it's been sanded/polished/burnished, I never do anything and they're just fine. I don't think they need to be "re-sealed". I think that's a defensive move on their part in case the neck is going to get finished later on at order placement.

I don't think the everyone here is opposed to polymerized oil finishes in general; actually there are just a few of us who are less than impressed by it and feel as though it's a step backward. If the wood species is one that doesn't require a finish, putting a substandard finish on it isn't doing anyone any favors, and if the wood does require a finish, using something soft and permeable on it isn't much more than a lick and a promise.

 

[dmraco]

As an owner of “several” raw/unfinished necks (I refuse to disclose how many :doh, I have noticed the ones my son plays, get dirty fast.  It is probably a combo of how often he plays and simply his skin.  Every time we change the strings we clean the neck with the orange oil and it brings it back to new.

I even noticed this on his EVH branded guitars that simply have oiled maple necks.  I have asked him to wash his hand before playing but I don’t think it matters.  He had a friend that plays an acoustic Martin, (higher end model) and his frets actually will turn green on the sides where it meets the wood!!!  We have full time job changing his strings and cleaning the fret-board!

Bottom line to and the OP, I do think there is a usefulness to using a cleaning oil, regardless if you cut or sand the neck.  But if you do, it will restore a consistant color tone if needed.

 

[musicispeace]

I have three "raw" necks and so far have only noticed the fretboard on my all Bubinga neck seeming to show some tracks of frequent travel in my playing. Doesn't bother me and the back is perfectly fine. Cagey burnished and fretted that neck for me and it is like glass. I always wash my hands prior to picking up a guitar and am not an oily person. My two roasted maple necks look new still and I've had them a year at this point.

Regarding roasted maple, since they cook it and the outside will display that outcome the most does it not hold that the more you sand it the more you get past that layer down to what is not the top layer that would reflect the darkest coloring?

Lastly I have never been to Warmoth although I live an hour away but pictures of the facility lead me to believe they may very well lock their dumpsters (we, regionally, have seen things go from time honored dumpster diving to drug addicts emptying out the whole thing looking for anything of value and property owners are now sometimes caging their dumpsters behind  lock/key/chain link) In the old days it certainly could have been a dandy bit of urban exploration.

Intriguing about the mystery party dip for raw necks. I know Musikraft offers something similar for $20 but they don't consider it enough on their maple necks to be covered by warranty. So far I have not had any issues of concern but I am literally just playing what I was sent. No mods aside from the one Bubinga neck I sent Cagey.

 

[Cagey]

Regarding roasted maple, since they cook it and the outside will display that outcome the most does it not hold that the more you sand it the more you get past that layer down to what is not the top layer that would reflect the darkest coloring?

Maple is roasted by the board, and then it's cut into whatever somebody wants to make from it. When Warmoth buys it, it's in bulk and probably looks much like this...

Then, they torture it into necks and bodies. The roasting isn't like meat, where you maybe get some medium rare, medium, etc. where it's cooked more on the outside than in. It's all done through. So, if there were color change in the wood, it would show up at mill time, not when you shaved a few thousandths off the neck meat.

Lastly I have never been to Warmoth although I live an hour away but pictures of the facility lead me to believe they may very well lock their dumpsters (we, regionally, have seen things go from time honored dumpster diving to drug addicts emptying out the whole thing looking for anything of value and property owners are now sometimes caging their dumpsters behind  lock/key/chain link) In the old days it certainly could have been a dandy bit of urban exploration.

I remember about 100 years ago seeing the first locked dumpsters. This was in Detroit, at one of the early McDonald's. Couldn't figure out why anyone would want to lock up their trash. Then, somebody from school got a job there and we found out. Back then, they threw away a great deal of food. If you'll recall, they used to have burgers and whatnot already made, so when you ordered something, they just packed it in a bag and you were outa there. It was truly "fast" food.

Problem was, that stuff had a pretty short "fresh" life. If they didn't sell a burger within X minutes, they'd toss it. Meant the dumpster was full of food that had never been touched. Bums, dopeheads, po' folks, etc. loved that stuff. So, McDonalds had to not only lock up the dumpsters, they'd build  6 foot brick beauty walls around them with barbed wire on the top to keep people out, lest somebody get hurt and sue them into insolvency.

Nowadays, the burgers are usually pre-cooked, but the sandwiches aren't assembled until order placement, so they don't throw away as much, other than what gets pulled from the tables in the eating areas. And, now it's not "fast" food anymore. It's just...questionable food  :icon_biggrin:

 

[musicispeace]

Good grief! Of course they were locking dumpsters in Detroit while all the little hippies out on the west coast were frolicking in dumpster diving with unicorns and rainbows! With us here the past couple of years its been drug users leaving literally everything emptied. When we were without a manager for six months I used to go clean it up and one diver I talked to told me he had gotten 19 pairs of Nike sneakers out of our trash the past couple of years because it was mostly international students living in the buildings who had no idea about Goodwill or thrift stores. One man's trash is another man's...

Thanks for the clarification on the roasted maple. maybe Warmoth is dipping stuff in Soylent Green?  :laughing7:

 

[Logrinn]

[youtube]https://youtu.be/6zAFA-hamZ0[/youtube] :laughing7:

 

[Casey Ryback]

I've now oiled the sanded part twice with lemon oil and it's looking a lot better. The area that is near the fretboard is almost darker than before but the area in the middle of the neck where I stopped sanding is still lighter, you can see a line there. But I guess that's just a question of making the transition smoother so the colour kind of fades. So yeah, I'll probably now can finish the reshaping and eventually get it in uniform colour and tone with the rest of the neck by sanding it smooth and applying a little mineral oil afterwards. Thanks for the advice and help!

 

[Re-Pete]

Just wondering what a roasted maple neck would look like if it was finished in Vintage Satin or Gloss? Does anyone have a decent pic of a roasted maple neck that Warmoth have applied finish to?

 

[Chipss36]

Wood that is treated is diffrent in a few ways if done correctly, the sound velocity increases, cells in the wood open up, like older wood does say after 50+ years,  its weight decreases slightly,
The wood is more stable, if the wood is overcooked it will not curl with a wood plain, it just crumbles....

The stable part with necks is pretty intersting.