new 339 with sticky neck

[bluesrob]

So, I got a 339 this summer and it's great, but the neck is sticky. I read that naptha (lighter fluid) is good for cleaning, but what do I do with a new sticky neck? How do I get it to be as smooth and fast as my epiphone dot's neck? thanks in advance for your help, forum members!

[ZenKen]

So, I got a 339 this summer and it's great, but the neck is sticky. I read that naptha (lighter fluid) is good for cleaning, but what do I do with a new sticky neck? How do I get it to be as smooth and fast as my epiphone dot's neck? thanks in advance for your help, forum members!

 

Lighter fluid? YIKES!!! B)

[jmjohnson]

Is it sticky cause the Nitro isn't dry enough?

 

Naptha is fine for cleaning, removing wax etc., but I would worry if the Nitro is (still) too soft (??).

 

I have used naptha to remove wax build-up after using something like Zymol to smooth out a finish/repair - makes the application of Gibson Polish better/cleaner.

 

Hmmm...I think I would start with a damp rag (clean water) to see what you have there, if it is just goo, then cleaning with naptha should be fine - salivia would be a good start too.

 

Edit: Found this, from Gibson, in another thread! >>>

For "sticky" necks:

I would suggest that you apply naphtha (lighter fluid) to a clean cotton cloth and rub this on the neck of the guitar. Sometimes this will produce a cloudy or hazy appearance but, if you will follow up by polishing it with Gibson guitar polish, it will shine it properly. This is the method used by our repair facility and it is imperative that naphtha is the only liquid used as any other type of solvent can damage or destroy your finish.

[zigzag]

I'm really having a hard time believing the Nitrocellulose is not dry. NC resin dries very fast and hard, unless it has been modified. I've noticed that when I use guitar polish on my NC neck, it can get kinda (for lack of a better word) "boogery."

[ISirius42]

Just another data point--I received my ES359 in June and the neck is still a little tacky. I put a little Dunlop polish on it and it seems to help for a while. I've also got the "haze thing" happening where my arm touches the guitar. I try to keep that clean, but need to find a better polish than what I'm using (could be just water for all I know). It's the most "high maintenance" guitar I have, but it's a joy to play.

[FennRx]

just wipe it down when it gets too sticky for you to handle. playing the heck out of it is the easiest and cheapest way to go imo.

 

naptha is an option, as is using steelwood.but i personally wouldn't want to do either.

[vincentw]

I agree with FennRx.

[badbluesplayer]

My 339 had a sticky neck. I just kept cleaning the gunk off as it accumulated. Denim is good. I never used any solvents.

 

Also, keep your guitar out of the case when possible so it can air out.

 

I believe that some of the gunk on my guitar was from dye that was used on the fretboard. Once the dye was gone, the problem stopped.

[bluesrob]

PROBLEM SOLVED: I got some Gibson guitar polish and that took care of the sticky neck. I also used some Fast Fret on the strings -- good product! I will later get some Thomas Roche fretboard oil and apply it. The problem was the neck (the back of the neck, not the fretboard), it was sticky, and now it's smooth and fast. It was stickiest when the weather was really humid, and less sticky when the air was more dry. I recommend the Gibson guitar polish. Thanks everybody for your help!

[trotro]

PROBLEM SOLVED: I got some Gibson guitar polish and that took care of the sticky neck. I also used some Fast Fret on the strings -- good product! I will later get some Thomas Roche fretboard oil and apply it. The problem was the neck (the back of the neck, not the fretboard), it was sticky, and now it's smooth and fast. It was stickiest when the weather was really humid, and less sticky when the air was more dry. I recommend the Gibson guitar polish. Thanks everybody for your help!

I have your same problem; what is the polish you are using?

[ISirius42]

I've been following this thread because I had the same problem with my ES-359. After letting the guitar air out for a couple of months, it was still tacky. After trying a Dunlop brand polish, I decided to try Pledge furniture polish. After using it for more than a week, I'm happy to report success. In addition, I was starting to get hazying where my right arm touches the body. After playing, I now spray Pledge on a polishing cloth wipe the back of the neck and the body. I then wipe away any extra moisture. The haze no longer builds up and the back of the neck is now pretty slick.

 

Of course, your milage may vary, so test with caution.

[bluesrob]

I have your same problem; what is the polish you are using?

 

I'm using Gibson pump polish -- that's all, with a clean cotton cloth (the polishing cloth that came with my 339). I find that after a long playing session the back of the neck is sticky and tacky, but the polish takes care of it quite well.

[Andre S]

just wipe it down when it gets too sticky for you to handle. playing the heck out of it is the easiest and cheapest way to go imo.

 

naptha is an option, as is using steelwood.but i personally wouldn't want to do either.

 

+1

[kaicho8888]

When I use to play a lot and got sweatty, I used baby powder all the time on my hands. I don't know if anybody uses; it but it did not seem to harm any of my vintage guitars and kept my hands dry and not sticky.

 

I had a LP that had the neck feeling like soft thick film. In fact I could use my thumb and move the finish like a rubber film....years later it dried out hard; but left wrinkled marks where I moved the clear nitro around. That's the same with my ES345.

 

By the way, a few days ago I watched Crossroads again...I noticed that Jeff Beck was sprinkling some white powder (like a baby powder container) on his hands right before playing! Reminded me of what I use to do but didn't know if anybody else used talc powder.

[craigaboy]

I quickly tape off my neck, lightly go over it with fine steel wool, lightly clean with naptha on a cloth, let evaporate, add a little lindseed oil to a rag rub it in, use a clean rag to remove excess, string it up. I have had great results with this. Sticky necks are the worst!

 

Craig

[dhstaab]

Just curious bluesrob, did this permanently resolve your problem? I bought an ES359 back in 2009, and the neck was so sticky that it was unplayable. I tried all of the suggestions in this thread, including the Gibson polish, but after a few weeks it came back again. I finally found a Gibson rep at a major Dallas guitar show and he said the polish only covered up the problem and delayed the permanent fix. He told me to rub it down very well to get off whatever polish or stickiness that I could, then to leave it out exposed to the air, preferably on a stand with a plain white cloth between the guitar and the stand. He said it could take several months. It did - 11 to be exact. Now it plays fine and is never sticky. I think he was right that the naptha, polish and other things I tried were only temporary solutions. I asked him about the theory that you should just play it until it wore off, but he said it was best to let it cure on its own if you wanted the finish to harden to its maximum protection.

 

The irony is I couldn't sell it and get my money out of it, and it was too late to return it. So I did what he said and after almost a year it was fine. Of course in the meantime I bought other guitars and found their quality to be better for a lot less cost, and now the ES359 spends most of its time in its case under the bed. It is still a beautiful guitar though, and the finish is great.

 

Does anyone have any long term experience with curing the finish on these guitars? If you use naptha and/or polish regularly, did the stickiness on your guitar eventually go away completely?

[bluesrob]

Bluesrob here. After some amount of playing I still have the sticky neck issue with the 339, but I use the Gibson polish and it smooths it out quite well. I would say that the polish is a continuing part of owning and operating the guitar. It needs some polish after X amount of hours of play. I also found that the stickiness is worse in the summer -- higher humidity I"m guessing. Anyway, i see the polish as part of the ownership and use of the guitar, so I don't mind using it. And it keeps the guitar in great shape! I also have left my 339 out on a stand to "air dry," with cotton covers on the plastic stand parts. I did this for easy access, but I'm glad to hear it helps the drying process. I've heard the nitro never really fully dries. is that true?

 

I've only owned this one Gibson, so I don't know if neck stickiness is common with nitro finish guitars or not. My other guitar is a fender american strat, and that requires no polish, and the neck is nice and smooth. It's built like a tank. But I don't mind giving the 339 extra attention. I suppose it's like owning a violin or other well-crafted wood instrument. My friend with a violin keeps it in a case with a humidifier gauge. Really, our hollow and semi-hollow guitars deserve to be treated like the fine instruments they are.

[strat-o-steve]

Just try to keep it clean for a few months, and the sticky-ness will eventually go away. It took my LP Studio 6 months before it seemed the finish hardened enough to stop being sticky . Now I no longer have the problem. :D It will go away eventually, I promise!

[DJScott]

Try this...

http://www.poolndarts.com/p-6026-Porper-Shaft-Polisher/

I am not affiliated in any way with that website or that product.

It's designed for pool cues, fairly cheap and works well on guitar necks.

[marvar]

I've been following this thread too-

I got a Les Paul Trad+ on new years eve, the serial number look up says it was made in Sept 2010, inspected and set up in Nov 2010. This guitar is only 6 mo old, and I've had zero sticky neck problem- smooth as glass.

Could it be that this is happening only to the Memphis made guitars?

I remember back in the 80s, a friend of mine got a new V, it had a sticky neck too, and no matter what he tried, it never went away, until he took it to a luthier, turned out, it was a bad batch of the finish materials.

[CR9]

The answer is "air & time". Clean the neck with naptha and leave it out of the case. Wipe it down after each playing until the nitro cures. Humidity in the air will cause the tackiness to last longer. In some cases it could take over a year to fully cure if it doesn't get exposed to lots of air and is kept moist.. Nitro does not cure as quickly as it dries, so it leaves the factory all dry and shiney but not cured. Polish covers and prolongs the problem as it rubs moisture into the nitro. One thing to remember is to NEVER use anything with silicone on your Nitro or you may be dealing with the problem forever. Silicone eats into finish and soaks into the wood beneath the finish and keeps it moist from the inside out which keeps the nitro from curing. Humidity and temperature also determine how fast a finish will cure. No exact time can be determined as there are too many variables in each persons life. A cloudy finish also indicates moisture in the finish. You hardly notice any sticky necks in the guitars displayed in stores because they hang them in the store where they are open to the air for a long time, unless you get a new one out of the box or it hasn't be hanging long. I have had many new Gibsons shipped from them to the dealer and then straight to me and all of them were sticky until left exposed to air for a while. the first one i got was sticky for a long time because I always kept it in the case. Then someone told me about the air curing it so the next new one went straight to a stand for a while. It took a lot less time, but who knows what all the variables in temp., humidity, etc. were.

 

 

1. Give it lots of air

2. NEVER any silicone products

3. keep it clean until it cures (remove moisture by wiping it down)

[Larry Lion]

The powder used by professional pool players works great on sticky necks. I have very sweaty hands when I play, and the powder fixes that. Damn powder is messy, but the neck is slick, and I can get some good speed up & down the neck which I would not achieve otherwise.

 

 

When I use to play a lot and got sweatty, I used baby powder all the time on my hands. I don't know if anybody uses; it but it did not seem to harm any of my vintage guitars and kept my hands dry and not sticky.

 

I had a LP that had the neck feeling like soft thick film. In fact I could use my thumb and move the finish like a rubber film....years later it dried out hard; but left wrinkled marks where I moved the clear nitro around. That's the same with my ES345.

 

By the way, a few days ago I watched Crossroads again...I noticed that Jeff Beck was sprinkling some white powder (like a baby powder container) on his hands right before playing! Reminded me of what I use to do but didn't know if anybody else used talc powder.

[kaicho8888]

... I finally found a Gibson rep at a major Dallas guitar show and he said the polish only covered up the problem and delayed the permanent fix. He told me to rub it down very well to get off whatever polish or stickiness that I could, then to leave it out exposed to the air, preferably on a stand with a plain white cloth between the guitar and the stand. He said it could take several months. It did - 11 to be exact. Now it plays fine and is never sticky....

 

Yes, it took a year of air drying. However, make sure you do not keep the guitar supported the same place all the time. I had mine hanging by the headstock and it produced a huge wrinkle on the nitro...like the thick nitro film got pushed by the guitar hanger bolted on the wall.

[AlanC]

PROBLEM SOLVED: I got some Gibson guitar polish and that took care of the sticky neck. I also used some Fast Fret on the strings -- good product! I will later get some Thomas Roche fretboard oil and apply it. The problem was the neck (the back of the neck, not the fretboard), it was sticky, and now it's smooth and fast. It was stickiest when the weather was really humid, and less sticky when the air was more dry. I recommend the Gibson guitar polish. Thanks everybody for your help!

 

I have a Gibson L5 with a sticky neck. I believe that the nitro was still soft when I got it but I'm only guessing. The neck had a problem when I bought it brand new as it was starting to delacquer near the nut and around the binding. This resulted in me having to get the neck resprayed. What I do know is that the Gibson polish only fixes my problem for a few minutes and then the sticky neck problem returns. Like others have said my view is the same - 'time and air'. Some 12+ months later the neck is less sticky but not yet normal!!!! I'm just hoping!!