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"Gritty" neck


Dave1963

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Hi everyone.

 

I have been getting used to my rather stunning ES335 '63 and really enjoying it. However, one slight niggle.....The neck keeps feeling rather gritty and there is a deposit of some sort. My hands are clean and not particularly sweaty. I went over the neck with some 000 wire wool and then a dry microfibre, which polished it up beautifully, but I am still getting this grittiness occasionally, which does clean off really quickly with a dry cloth. It this a trait of a Nitro finish? My HW1 Tele has a nitro neck, but that is a matte finish, which has polished up to a gorgeous gloss over time and use and it doesn't have this gritty feel to it. Any ideas?

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Freshly painted necks can take quite a while to fully cure and lose that sticky feeling.

I had my Lucille redone and it was a good six months, maybe a year for it to feel normal.

I just aired it out a lot and wiped it down with an old t-shirt after playing.

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Is there any chance that anyone used mineral oil on the fretboard?

 

I put a tiddy bit of lemon oil on it when I changed strings, but nothing else. I bought the guitar new, so I would have hoped the shop haven't done anything with it.

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I had the same thing happen with my '06 es335DD. When it was new, I would get a sticky residue on the back of the neck whenever I played it.

It took 18 months to 2 years before the finish hardened up fully, at which point it developed quite a lot of lacquer checking - but it hasn't got any worse over the last 10 years.

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I had the same thing happen with my '06 es335DD. When it was new, I would get a sticky residue on the back of the neck whenever I played it.

It took 18 months to 2 years before the finish hardened up fully, at which point it developed quite a lot of lacquer checking - but it hasn't got any worse over the last 10 years.

 

Thanks Pitfall. I guess I just have to get used to it for a bit....

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Sometimes it can also be caused from polish on the back of the head stock.

My Martin developed that sticky feel recently so I wiped it down with a damp washrag and buffed it smooth and all is good.

 

If it's just new nitro the only cure is wiping it down, airing it out and lots of time.

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Not to worry, sometime the nitro just takes a while to cure. I had the same issue on a 356 I bought new last June and it lasted about 3 months or so. Gibson literature states that they put "at least" eight coats of nitrocellulose lacquer and it may take some time for it to fully harden and feel smooth.

 

I always wipe the back of the neck off after playing before it goes back in the case and the neck is very smooth and fast now. Just play it a LOT, your hand moving up and down the neck will help it too [smile]

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