Ageing a maple neck?

lovestrat74

I have a maple neck that looks like plastic against the body of my telecaster.  The body has been stripped and oiled and is full of the character of the grain of the ash . Now my neck looks like it does not belong to the same guitar.

I have 2 options 1) get a new neck and 2) create some character to my existing neck to blend it in with the body.

If I get a new neck I think rosewood would be better but I would prefer to do something with the maple neck as it is a lovely neck and feels right. 

Has anyone had experiences with ageing and basically removing the bland factory look on a maple neck?

The back of the neck has already been rubbed down so it is the front (mainly) that I am looking to do something with. Has anyone ever used controlled heat from a heat gun to enhance/warm (pardon the pun) the look of maple?

Any thoughts, ideas, experiences welcomed

WezV

Don’t use a heat gun on a neck, certainly not near the frets.

You can try stripper but beware of the inlays. Scraping and sanding is sometimes the only option.

easiest way to get a bit of age is with a tinted overspray.  

lovestrat74

WezV said:

Don’t use a heat gun on a neck, certainly not near the frets.

You can try stripper but beware of the inlays. Scraping and sanding is sometimes the only option.

easiest way to get a bit of age is with a tinted overspray.  

Yeah I've done a bit of scraping and sanding before. Dunno where heat gun came from just throwing it out there really to see if there were any other methods. So it looks like it's roll the sleeves up time!

4114Effects

Pack of 100 disposable razor blades from eBay and shove a film on. Only way to do it on the fretboard side. Did it last year, leave 2-3 hours for patient scraping. :-) 

lovestrat74

@4114Effects ; ;
Got the razors out - it's amazing what you can achieve when the wife is at work   

@WezV ;;
I'm not much of a sprayer, so could I use a dark wax? Or is wax a no-no.  I've got tru-oil but I don't think the colour will darken/change much....

WezV

wax isn't a no-no, but it does rule out more lacquer and even dark wax won;t do much.  Its useful if you have wear you want to highlight as it gathers in the imperfection... it wont add much of a tint to a finished neck

GoldenEraGuitars

Look at that lovely neck. Now it can finally breathe!

WezV

lonestar said:

Look at that lovely neck. Now it can finally breathe!

Let’s not get silly

GoldenEraGuitars

WezV said:

lonestar said:

Look at that lovely neck. Now it can finally breathe!

Let’s not get silly

You know it’s true, don’t deny it. Next you’ll say tonewood doesn’t exist in electric guitars *runs like hell grabbing coat on way out*

lovestrat74

WezV said:

wax isn't a no-no, but it does rule out more lacquer and even dark wax won;t do much.  Its useful if you have wear you want to highlight as it gathers in the imperfection... it wont add much of a tint to a finished neck

Okay so spray tint is the way forward as at least a base then I can build from there.
Think I'll give it a go  

lovestrat74

WezV said:

easiest way to get a bit of age is with a tinted overspray.  

Any brand you'd recommend? I know north west guitars sell all that stuff..

randella

I used this on a Strat neck to match the existing 28 year old nitro...

http://www.rothkoandfrost.com/tinted-coloured-nitrocellulose-guitar-lacquer/

It worked well, I used clear lacquer and mixed in the tint until it looked right and sprayed it with a compressor and gun.  They sell the same stuff pre-mixed in a rattle can. 

There are others on here who rate Northwest too, I've yet to try them but gather they're good. 

lovestrat74

Thanks @randella . Got any pics of your project?

tampaxboo

i've seen pics of people who have used shoe polish to give new maple necks an aged look. not sure what colour they used and how they do it but the results looked great. maybe google it?

randella

Sure. The headstock is the existing nitro finish from the factory, I stripped, refretted, and resprayed the fretboard. The colour is probably darker than the photos. The maple underneath is very very pale in comparison.

And yep, there's a string tree missing, it pinged off the headstock one day when I was tuning up, like a bullet from a gun. Mrs. R. found it on the other side of the room, I must put it back. 

lovestrat74

@randella Looks good! Is that a 67 reissue?

randella

lovestrat74 said:

@randella Looks good! Is that a 67 reissue?

Thank you! You're one year out, it's a '68 Japanese 'Hendrix' reissue. Not historically accurate but they were very well thought of, some say they were comparable to the USA guitars in '89 when it was made.

Either way, it's very well made, light, resonant, and the neck pocket is *tight*. It's my security blanket

menamestom

I used instant coffee on mine.  Only on the back, but sanded off the nitro, rubbed in in instant coffee paste, then wiped it off and just did 1 layer of true oil, knocked back with wire wool.

lovestrat74

menamestom said:

I used instant coffee on mine.  Only on the back, but sanded off the nitro, rubbed in in instant coffee paste, then wiped it off and just did 1 layer of true oil, knocked back with wire wool.

Gold blend or kenco 

lovestrat74

randella said:

lovestrat74 said:

@randella Looks good! Is that a 67 reissue?

Thank you! You're one year out, it's a '68 Japanese 'Hendrix' reissue. Not historically accurate but they were very well thought of, some say they were comparable to the USA guitars in '89 when it was made.

Either way, it's very well made, light, resonant, and the neck pocket is *tight*. It's my security blanket

Nice Strats I had a mid nineties mij 67. Lovely guitars? Typical japanese craftsmanship 

lovestrat74

tampaxboo said:

i've seen pics of people who have used shoe polish to give new maple necks an aged look. not sure what colour they used and how they do it but the results looked great. maybe google it?

I've used wood dye before but never tried the polish method