Dealing with sticky guitar necks
If you have small kids, you'll be all too aware that they, and everything around them, seem perpetually sticky. They appear to secrete stickiness, bless their tacky little hearts. 😉 And, as musicians, you're probably aware that some guitar necks can have similar sticky qualities. While it's usually not the same weird syrupy, candy residue of little kids, you don't want a gummy neck interfering with your blistering shredtastic solo so let's look at some ways to improve neck stickiness.
Lubricating your hands is NOT the answer to a sticky guitar neck
Before I go on, I'll add a disambiguation note. I'm talking about stickiness on the back of the neck — where your palm will contact as you play. This email isn't considering any of those fingerboard lube-type products.
Gloss finish
A glossy neck can sometimes be a sticky neck. Sometimes this will get worse as you play and build up a little hand sweat. The finish will grab your palm as you move. This is really common and it's relatively easy to deal with. We knock back some of the gloss.
When I'm advising players on this, I usually recommend a 'stepped' process. Start with something that makes just a little impact and see how you get on. Move to the next step after some playing if you feel it's needed.
With that in mind, I'd recommend starting with some fine steel wool. Go with #0000 grade and rub (reasonably gently) along the length of the neck. This grade steel wool is relatively forgiving but go carefully and keep checking as you do. The gloss will disappear quickly and be replaced by a smooth, satin look and feel.*
See how that works for you.
If you feel it's still a bit sticky, you can move to some sandpaper. I'd probably recommend about 800 grit to begin. Same process: Gently run along the neck in the area where your hand will be.
Try it.
You can continue to move down the grits if you need it but, once you get towards rougher papers, things get more serious. Anything less than around 400 grit will start to leave bigger scratches and — more importantly — will remove a lot more finish as you work. That's to be avoided. Unless, of course, that's what you want.
Remove the finish
Some players need to go all the way and that's definitely an option if you're sure about it. Removing all of the finish on your guitar neck is the ultimate step.
Moving down to a 220 grit paper will pretty quickly remove thinner finishes. Some thicker poly finishes might need a lot more work, though. I've often deployed a scraper to remove the bulk of a thick finish before switching to sandpaper to tidy things up. Something like a penknife blade can be used as a scraper if you're careful.
Once you're back to the bare wood, you can start to move back up the grits. Go from 220 to 320, 400, 600 and see how things feel. It's not uncommon to go higher and it's a good idea in most cases. Smoothly polished wood will feel very different to smoothly polished finish.
If you're taking your neck back to bare wood, I'd recommend a treatment of some sort to provide a little protection. There's a reasonable argument that this may not be absolutely necessary on a frequently-played guitar as it'll build up its own 'oil finish' over time but, if possible, I think it's a good idea to give things a head-start.
A couple of applications of oil (linseed, Tru-Oil, Danish oil, etc.) and wipe it back each time. You can go a step further and add a coat or two of wax after the oil's well dried. I do this with most of the guitars I make and I love the feel. A re-waxing from time to time will keep things in good order.
What if my neck's already a satin finish?
It's great that satin finish necks have become more common on guitars. Remember though, that a lot of playing can act like you're polishing the neck with the really fine sandpaper of your palm. Satin necks can become more glossy as they're played over a period.
No problem. Knock it back. Follow the steel wool steps and move to higher grit sandpapers if needed.
Cleanliness is next to shrediness
A final tip on sticky necks. Sometimes it's not completely the fault of the finish. Sometimes players, like those weirdly sticky small children, leave a gummy residue that builds up. Nitrocellulose finishes seem more stickyphilic (that should definitely be a word) and appear to build up cruddy tackiness more readily than modern finishes. No finish is completely immune though, so clean that neck often.
Last ditch
It's worth considering that a very small number of players will just keep sticking. As the steps above are executed, this will usually be not near so much as before but some players are just ‘sticker' than others. You could take a leaf out of one of my customers’ books and wear a fingerless glove. He realises it looks odd but he reckons it helps so he’s made his peace with it. He says it’s a rock and roll thing. 😄
*A quick warning on steel wool. It's steel. Your pickups have magnets in them. As you work with steel wool, it sheds tiny fibres that can get attracted to the pickups and I get nervous at the idea of lots of tiny abrasive fibres being embedded in pickup coils. Also, you don't want this stuff on the parts of your guitar you want to remain shiny. So, if possible, remove the neck from the guitar before you work on it and, if not, mask off at least the pickups but ideally the whole guitar body. A big plastic bag works well.
This article written by Gerry Hayes and first published at hazeguitars.com