[Davey]

Eggy I'm looking at YOU

I bought an Epiphone goldtop off of e-bay and it arrived today. WOW, this one *just* edges out my other Epiphone (which is to say, this thing is AMAZING.) Got some new pickups and parts on the way.

One problem though, the neck has some stress cracks in the lacquer. Now I was told in the auction that you couldn't feel them, which is true. What the seller DIDN'T tell me was the reason for the cracks in the paint was 3-4 dings on the back of the neck! And yes you CAN feel those!

Now it's no big deal since they're only superficial, but I know they're there so I have a bad habit of rubbing my thumb on them. So, rather than try and repair the dings I've decided I'm going to strip the neck since I prefer the feel of bare wood (let's hope no dyslexic RSPCA officers read that) and make it silky smooth, a'la Zakk Wylde sig axes.

So here's the question:

Have any of you got experience removing paint from the back of a guitar neck? If so, how did you do it and what where the results? Has anyone got any pics of their finished products?

Any help from knowledgable folks here would be mucho appreciated

 

[brothersnowgone]

I've done it, just by gradually sanding my neck up to about a 2000. You could do that or use a sharp scaper or single edge razor to remove the majority of the finish.

 

[Davey]

The only thing that worries me about using scrapers is damaging the end product if you get what I'm saying.

Using a coarse sandpaper is one option I guess.

 

[Davey]

Also, anyone know what would be recommended for protecting mahogany after I've removed the paint?

 

[Eggy]

Give us 5mins and I'll have pictures and explanation up

Eggy

 

[Davey]

Cheers fella!

 

[Eggy]

DISCLAMER - In light of recent flame wars on this board may I firstly say that I fully appreciate that this mod is not to everyones tastes and I also understand it may devalue a guitar. It's not pretty, it's not big and it's not clever.
If like me you can't get away with paint finishes on your guitar neck then the the way I get round it is as follows....

Tools - A multi pack of sandpaper (400 - 800 grit) from your local pound shop, Selection of finishing grade glass paper from Halfords, 1 x double page of newspaper,a little bit of masking tape and a small tin off 100% silicone lube spray (also from Halfords).

Method - For this mod you don't even need to take off the strings. Get your bit of news paper and tear a hole in the middle big enough to fit over the headstock. Slide it down and secure to the bottom of the body with a bit of tape (like a big apron). The trick is to remove the paint but not to go so far as to remove the sanding sealer from the wood. Use the rough paper to start off with and go through the grades until you can start to see the mahogany. Now switch over to the glass paper and continue, only this time stop often to check progress. Once you've got it to where you want it just spray som silicone onto a rag and clean it all up. Bingo , job done.

I know my neck isn't pretty but for me that's not the important thing, I assure you it feels like butter. You could spend more time and do the whole neck if you like but I had mine finished in around quater of an hour.

Eggy

 

[Davey]

Superb, thank you Eggy!!

See this is it, I could've just gone at it, but stuff like the 'paper-apron' are a great idea that'll help bigtime.

The value thing is irrelvent on this one because it's a keeper

 

[Eggy]

No worries mate, I did it to mine as it's a definate keeper too. I could've made it look a bit neater but I'd just got to that sweet spot where it felt great so I stopped.

 

[jim777]

Nice looking mahogany on that neck. I'm taking back the finish on my Model 2 neck next week.