Do Rosewood Necks Need Finish ?

DrBob

And just to clarify what I mean when I say 'Rosewood Neck' i do actually mean a neck made out of a single piece of Rosewood with a skunk stripe to allow for rear loading of the truss rod.

Reason I'm asking is because a friend of mine has asked me to build (I say 'build', "assemble' is actually a far more accurate description) a Strat for him and he's decided that what he really wants is a one piece Rosewood neck which I suspect will warrant a call to @GSPBASSES very soon.
But do I need to get a hard finish put on it ? I ask because I think I'm right in saying Maple fingerboards are finished whereas Rosewood ones usually arent..

lamf68

I did the one I sold to Jooky a while back Rob, there's always the fear of the finish blowing off over time, I was warned about it, but I lacquered it all the same, looked lovely from what i can remember. No Idea if Mark still owns the guitar!

JookyChap

Of the err, 'few' I've had, the ones that have had a tru-oil and wax finish to them have been by far the best.

Nitro just blistered over time and the acrylic one spoiled the feel totally.

Raw is fine though, but oiled and beeswaxed definitely felt the best (and wasn't quite as smelly).

Saying that I asked Jaden a while back and he used a different kind of wax and that was good - just can't remember what it was called. I've got a tin of it somewhere though, so I'll have a shufty in the morning

JookyChap

lamf68 said:

I did the one I sold to Jooky a while back Rob, there's always the fear of the finish blowing off over time, I was warned about it, but I lacquered it all the same, looked lovely from what i can remember. No Idea if Mark still owns the guitar!

Yes, that was the nitro one - it was nice (planet heavy) but the nitro did blow. It went to someone on here I think. There have been quite a few since then though...

WezV

Yeah, just oil and/or wax depending how shiny you want it

i would go with a lighter oil on rosewood.  Danish rather than tru 

GSPBASSES

WezV said:

Yeah, just oil and/or wax depending how shiny you want it

i would go with a lighter oil on rosewood.  Danish rather than tru 

   Totally agree.

 Over the years I've tried all sorts of finishes on rosewood, I haven't yet found any type of lacquer that I could be sure would not lift eventually. As a consequence, I've always used oil. I also found that tru oil or gunstock oil was a little bit too thick and didn't soak in very well, whereas Danish oil soaked in. I've now stop using Danish oil and switch to eazy oil, this is superthin and soaks in very quickly. The big advantage with eazy oil you can finish a neck in two days with no problem. I always remind people if you're using eazy oil only put on very thin coats, make sure there are no runs as this oil sets like concrete overnight, making it almost impossible to remove runs without going back to something like 240 grit glass paper to remove them, then you have to start all over again. Photograph below is of the neck I made several months ago, it had 4 coats of oil on the first day de-niped on the second then 4 more coats applied. On the third day the neck was de-niped with ultrafine wire wool using lemon oil as a lubricant. The neck has a very slight sheen to it, but most likely could be glossed up a bit more if required.

Kalimna

Of the single rosewood neck I have made I used tru-oil alone. 3, perhaps 4, coats and the last one applied with some high-grit wet'n'dry (sorry I cant remember exactly but it would have been at least 800). As is the case with tru-oil, I was careful to apply very thinly and I stopped at 3-4 as I wanted a satin-y feel to the neck. The end result was not dissimilar to the GSPBasses neck above.

I have enough in the billet to make perhaps 2 more spliced necks, so may just hunt out some eazy-oil to try.

Cheers,

Adam

GSPBASSES

Kalimna said:

Of the single rosewood neck I have made I used tru-oil alone. 3, perhaps 4, coats and the last one applied with some high-grit wet'n'dry (sorry I cant remember exactly but it would have been at least 800). As is the case with tru-oil, I was careful to apply very thinly and I stopped at 3-4 as I wanted a satin-y feel to the neck. The end result was not dissimilar to the GSPBasses neck above.

I have enough in the billet to make perhaps 2 more spliced necks, so may just hunt out some eazy-oil to try.

Cheers,

Adam

PM me your address and I will send you some.

Kalimna

Thank you - very kind of you. And in meant to say 'scarf' instead of 'splice' but I suspect folk knew that

Cheers,

Adam

PVO_Dave

@GSPBASSES - I've got Eze oil ready to go for both the body and the (rw) neck I got from you, do you recommend Briwax (or similar) after?

GSPBASSES

PVO_Dave said:

@GSPBASSES - I've got Eze oil ready to go for both the body and the (rw) neck I got from you, do you recommend Briwax (or similar) after?

I don’t use wax on Eze oil, I use Automotive Nanotechnology Coating, or Advanced Quartz Sealant. That all sounds very grand, but it’s basically what you use on cars now instead of wax. It is far superior than any wax coating you could use. There are basically two types, one (Gyeon Q2) you wipe on wipe off, this sets super hard almost instantly, two or three coats of this on top of an oil finish or any finished come to that, and it’s totally protected from nasty sweaty hands. The other kind (Autoglym) you wipe on allow it to dry polish off, this is a inexpensive way to protect your finish, compared to Gyeon. I have been using both types now for about 18 months with no problems at all. Both of these brands have cleaners that you can use to wipe down the finish every so often so you can re-coat if you think it’s necessary.  

PVO_Dave

GSPBASSES said:

PVO_Dave said:

@GSPBASSES - I've got Eze oil ready to go for both the body and the (rw) neck I got from you, do you recommend Briwax (or similar) after?

I don’t use wax on Eze oil, I use Automotive Nanotechnology Coating, or Advanced Quartz Sealant. That all sounds very grand, but it’s basically what you use on cars now instead of wax. It is far superior than any wax coating you could use. There are basically two types, one (Gyeon Q2) you wipe on wipe off, this sets super hard almost instantly, two or three coats of this on top of an oil finish or any finished come to that, and it’s totally protected from nasty sweaty hands. The other kind (Autoglym) you wipe on allow it to dry polish off, this is a inexpensive way to protect your finish, compared to Gyeon. I have been using both types now for about 18 months with no problems at all. Both of these brands have cleaners that you can use to wipe down the finish every so often so you can re-coat if you think it’s necessary.  

Wasn't expecting that answer @GSPBASSES - I've got a fair amount of gtechniq product (best car products I've found). 

Danchi

Do you put the oil and the finish on the rosewood fret board too?

GSPBASSES

No, only on the back and head stock, the finger board will only need a wipe over with lemon oil. Although you could.

DrBob

GSPBASSES said:

No, only on the back and head stock, the finger board will only need a wipe over with lemon oil. Although you could.

Right,

well the next step is to order the neck from you Graham !

Danchi

GSPBASSES said:

No, only on the back and head stock, the finger board will only need a wipe over with lemon oil. Although you could.

Cheers!