Refinishing sanded portion of the neck...

My Tribute has some areas where the finish is sanded off (there was a small dent I removed) and some overlay of the fretboard from the factory which I smoothed out when I rolled the edges and rounded the fret ends.

It feels good overall and I have used fine grit paper and magic eraser to get it very smooth, but I am thinking of applying a little tru-oil to protect it and seal the exposed wood. I have been applying fretboard oil, but that can make it a little gummy when some fibers from the gig bag stick on a warm day.

I want a very light and smooth finish and do not care about the cosmetics (I have a beautiful Standard 50s in Blueberry and this is the "beater" for live shows where it gets a little banged up form time to time).

Would I apply to only the exposed areas or all over including the rest of the neck which still has finish?

Would I put a coat of Renaissance "wax" over it?

You have several choices. I would not use Tru-Oil over existing lacquer. Tru-oil needs to soak into bare wood for best results. My choice would be thin coats of wipe on polyurethane. It's easy to apply, will protect the bare wood and likely be compatible with the existing finish. I would test first of course. If the neck color needs adjusted, a little stain/dye or color pens could even things up.

If I apply tru-oil to only the unfinished area do you think it will work well? I want the smoothest and most minimal coating possible.

On my Strat neck I sanded just through the finish and used what Ernie Ball does on the necks for their basses and guitars. 3 coats of Birchwood Casey Tru-oil with light sanding (0000 steel wool) between each coat, followed by a coat of gun stock wax and another light pass of the steel wool. The end result feels “clean” and extremely smooth. It’s sealed and doesn’t require reapplication for a very long time.

Two of my guitars have thin Tru-Oil neck finishes. Love the feel and they've held up for close to 2 decades.

I'd strip the whole neck and wipe on 2 or 3 coats of Tru-Oil. You can leave all the finish on the head and do a Stinger type of thing where the head joins the neck shaft. LP heel is a little tricky to strip, so here's how some people have done it (first pic was done by Gibson, second two are random folks from Google):

Soak the wood and wipe it right away. That way you'll feed it and not get surface residue. I do that with tung oil and it stays as smooth as it can be.

I'm planning on just finishing the worn areas and not removing any more of the finish. It feels good now and the goal is to lightly seal the sanded wood and keep it protected and smooth. I have been putting a little bore oil on it, but wanted to do something more permanent.

Here it is with a drop of bore oil...

Dilver said:

On my Strat neck I sanded just through the finish and used what Ernie Ball does on the necks for their basses and guitars. 3 coats of Birchwood Casey Tru-oil with light sanding (0000 steel wool) between each coat, followed by a coat of gun stock wax and another light pass of the steel wool. The end result feels “clean” and extremely smooth. It’s sealed and doesn’t require reapplication for a very long time.

Click to expand...

I have bought unfinished necks after a time the oils in my hand makes them glossy just lucky I guess

Daddy Deluxe said:

My Tribute has some areas where the finish is sanded off (there was a small dent I removed) and some overlay of the fretboard from the factory which I smoothed out when I rolled the edges and rounded the fret ends.

It feels good overall and I have used fine grit paper and magic eraser to get it very smooth, but I am thinking of applying a little tru-oil to protect it and seal the exposed wood. I have been applying fretboard oil, but that can make it a little gummy when some fibers from the gig bag stick on a warm day.

I want a very light and smooth finish and do not care about the cosmetics (I have a beautiful Standard 50s in Blueberry and this is the "beater" for live shows where it gets a little banged up form time to time).

Would I apply to only the exposed areas or all over including the rest of the neck which still has finish?

Would I put a coat of Renaissance "wax" over it?

Click to expand...

I've got a Les Paul Special DC Tribute - I didn't care for the finish on the neck, and I don't care about the looks of the guitar, but I like making some of my guitars 'my own'. So with the Tribute, I've been treating it as I wish. I started by polishing it which, because they don't have grain filler<?> or such a thin layer of nitro, it's now unique looking to me because it looks like it used to be perfectly shiny, but the finish has sunken into the wood.

I took the 'green' Scotch-Brite to the neck. In some places it's just about down to the maple, but the best part is it feels much better now. Each time it starts to shine-up from the oils in my hand, I hit it with the pad again and remove more lacquer. I'm careful to avoid hitting the fretboard, but I've polished the frets (do it to all my guitars).

Imo which doesn't mean much, the correct refinish method for a nitro finish, re-shoot the entire neck with nitro. If you don't have access to a auto paint gun and compressor you can hand brush it. New nitro over old, the new will melt the old making a great bond. You can try poly but I wouldn't, oil, no way. If you don't like the feel of nitro or your hands sweat making the neck sticky you can do a really light sanding to take the gloss off. For those of you who's hands sweat, baby powder is your friend. When I'm nervous my hands sweat!

EDIT: Dent removal, try a hot iron with a wet cloth, steam it out rather than sanding it out.

speyfly said:

Imo which doesn't mean much, the correct refinish method for a nitro finish, re-shoot the entire neck with nitro. If you don't have access to a auto paint gun and compressor you can hand brush it. New nitro over old, the new will melt the old making a great bond. You can try poly but I wouldn't, oil, no way. If you don't like the feel of nitro or your hands sweat making the neck sticky you can do a really light sanding to take the gloss of. For those of you who's sweats baby powder is your friend.

EDIT: Dent removal, try a hot iron with a wet cloth, steam it out rather than sanding it out.

Click to expand...

I got the dent out by steaming with cloth and iron. Then I smoothed the areas where the fretboard was overhanging the neck as there is no binding (and rolled the footboard edges and polished the fret ends). The guitar feels and plays great, but I want to "protect" the exposed wood areas with a thin coating of something. Bore oil works ok, but I have read tru-oil will harden and protect while being sandable with 0000 steel wool. I really do not mind the aesthetic angle and just want to be practical...

3 light coats of Tru-oil on the sanded area and 0000 steel wool between coats and then all over to match the feel of the surface across the neck. It is virtually impossible to tell now and it feels better overall than ever...

After feeling a difference between the sanded area and the factory finished areas I gave the whole neck a 0000 steel wool sanding and then applied 4 coats of tru-oil with light 0000 steel wool between and it is now fantastic! I applied a touch of gun stock wax on top and did not like it at all. More friction and less natural feeling than just the tru-oil with 0000 sanding. I carefully removed it with 0000 wool. There is just a very nice satin finish with the sanding and is super smooth!

I also used 0000 on my Standard 50s Blueberry without any tru-oil and it feels much smoother than the lacquer. Can see some fine scratches at the base of the neck and probably should have taped it off, but never look at the back of the neck so just happy with how it feels and plays...