erisu

Great! I can't imagine how better it'll feel and look when I do it properly on Saturday on my beloved bass lol I'm not sure if you will be able to see the difference as the finish on the neck is white so when taking a picture, it'll be hard to see the difference? I'll try to get the best angles as possible with my camera. Will keep this thread updated! [quote name='EBS_freak' post='673275' date='Dec 3 2009, 03:23 PM']Glad to hear that the results are that what you are looking for. You'll notice a difference when you use washing up liquid and water when sanding. It acts as a lubricant meaning there is less chance of skipping and when used with a block, you'll end up with a smoother, more consistent overall finish. Without a block and water, you'll find you may get patchy areas of gloss amongst the satin areas. Of course, when you try and satin down these gloss bits, you'll start rubbing away at the lower areas of finish - risking an undulating finish! Wouldn't want you to get into a mess on your neck over a bit of water and washing up liquid and a block! Belive me, I've done this more than once before! The block and water/washing up liquid should be a must! Remember to post up "a before" and "after shot" and some discussion over the new "feel". Enjoy![/quote]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='672956' date='Dec 3 2009, 10:49 AM']I'm still not convinced that its not psychological. Remember that when you're removing the gloss with your wet and dry you're actually making the surface rougher by introducing lots of tiny scratches into the finish. The sticky Warwicks were on the Warwick stand at on of the big trade shows. You'd have thought that these should have been at the peak of their playability for such an event. However it felt like they'd been waxed on to make them look good but not enough time have been spent waxing off the make them play well.[/quote] For me, IME, it's definately not psychological... there is a big noticeable difference in the feel of the neck and of course the visual aspects of it. Inspecting the aftermath of the wet and dry rubbing under bright lighting, the neck looks satin, less shiny and just duller than the rest of the guitar which is high glosses. I agree by wet and dry rubbing will give the surface tiny scratches but I was in effect scratching off the layers of the gloss finish bit by bit. It would only feel rough if you were to concentrate on spot of the neck. I ran my hand through the neck after and after reaching the 12th fret on the guitar, my hands immediately became stuck and slow as I have not rubbed this part of the neck yet.

I tested the .800 pads on my SG copy guitar last night and the results were INCREDIBLE! Instantly after about 5 rubs up and down the neck, there was instant results and the neck felt so damn smooth and nice!!! I didn't use a wooden block nor did I use any water/washing up liquid to rub it which was a big naughty from me but hey! It was on a cheap guitar that I don't use anymore and yet the results were fabulous! I'll move onto the bass this Saturday when I have more time and I'll be using water and washing up liquid on Saturday

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='672093' date='Dec 2 2009, 01:59 PM']Make sure to pick up some masking tape. You want a nice transitition between the gloss and satin areas of your neck, otherwise it will look pretty skank.[/quote] Check. Got a bundle at home Will give an update tomorrow! Cheers!

[quote name='Sibob' post='671966' date='Dec 2 2009, 11:30 AM']Not necessarily mate The only reason why I had a bass (two actually) set up in Drop C (Standard - C, F, Bb, Eb) is because that is what my band plays in all the time, and rather than have horrible action and flobby strings, I used high tension strings to get an action akin to standard tuned basses. This of course meant that the neck was using a very different setup to a standard tuned/tension neck. If you're only dropping the bottom string to D and leaving the rest standard, or even bottom string to C#, and the rest to D tuning (so G, C, F). You'll probably be alright. The C# might start to sound a bit mucky and buzzy, but hey, it's the alternative to leaving a bass in a 'weird' tuning, depends how often you use it.[/quote] Well we have songs two songs in Drop C#, two in Standard and one in Drop D... I'm just thinking if we were to play at some tight venue, I think I'd only fancy bringing my cheapest bass along and drop tuning, up tuning for the whole setlist. I'm not worried about Standard and Drop D but I'm worried if I need to tune from Standard all the way down the Drop C#. And high tension strings are a must with Drop C#

I think Lemon Oil is sufficient enough tbh and imo but then again I dont live in a place where there's humidity. I see Planet Waves have re-packaged their portable humidifier to fit inside a gib bag/hardcase... if you're (or anyone) getting one of these, avoid the one where they have a gel bag because I've read stories of the bag bursting inside the gig bag/hardcase and causing the owner of their bass to blow some smoke from their ears!

As I researched a few months ago over at Talkbass... Brubaker make boutique, pretty high end basses and their newly introduced Brute series for 2009 are cheaper alternatives (maybe think of Warwick and their Rockbass range?) I read that their Brute series are made in China and they play really well!

It's strange you get a floppy B with a .130 because when I owned an Ibanez SR505 earlier this year, I put the same of strings on the bass and it was fine and Ibanez SR's are known for their floppy B string's as well if not set up correctly...

Cheers for the replies EBS_freak! i'll avoid the dish scrubbers! I knew they were too good to be true! haha! Halfords it is then! =) BigRedX... funny that you mentioned a Warwick neck was the stickiest you came across! I once owned a Warwick and it was really smooth despite my easily sweated hands.

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='671952' date='Dec 2 2009, 11:13 AM']Nup. I hope you aren't going to Halfords for "sealing"/"paint" products. All you need is the wet and dry, a dish of water, a block, some washing up liquid and a lot of patience. Russ[/quote] Oh no no! I Googled "Wet and dry. 800" and found a Halfords link: [url="http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_162608_langId_-1_categoryId_165610"]http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/...tegoryId_165610[/url] Thought there'a Halfords 5 mins down my road so why not I go there after work and have a browse Alternatively, could I use those dish scrubbers with the green pads on a yellow sponge? I heard from Talkbass they actually do wonders too I'm still getting over the fact that how a simple kitchen accessory can make a bass play like a dream!

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='671911' date='Dec 2 2009, 10:25 AM']You don't remove the finish! You just dull it down. Make sure you don't rub through! Take your time and keep your wet and dry paper wet and absolutely without question, use a sanding block to keep things uniform. You may not think much is happening whilst sanding, but dry it down regularly and feel and inspect the neck to see what is happening. You'll soon get the hang of it. You know those satin finished basses? How do you think that is achieved...? By the way, one blast on the polishing wheel will bring it back to a high gloss. Poly. It's good stuff.[/quote] Awesome mate! I'm looking forward to this little test project tonight =) I always thought to achieve a satin finish, you put some sort of sealer like a coat or two (not poly) and leave it to dry... No idea you had to rub down to achieve a satin finish. Halfords... here I come

Brilliant! I'll get around to it tonight and I'll try it on a cheap SG copy guitar I have laying around that has the same poly gloss finished neck like my bass. My main concern is after rubbing away, the neck is still sealed. If I'm leaving the white finish on, the more I play on the bass and the more I sweat, wouldn't the white finish rub onto my hand and eventually wearing down the paint? Might rub it down to bare wood if the white finish will eventually rub off and then sealing it with a satin finish on the areas that are exposed.

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='671689' date='Dec 1 2009, 11:04 PM']You'll go through into the primer/sealer first but no need to do that. Just rub the gloss off the finish as per the above posts, I would not rub it back to bare wood unless the colour really offends you. Once you get the gloss off the neck will feel wonderful - I do that to all my guitar necks, and I use a green scotchbrite fine abrasive pad, like the pan scorer thingy. Works a treat to cure sticky neck syndrome[/quote] So the colour acts like a sealer to the neck I take it? Ideally I'd like to get rid of the colour as well and finish the neck with some satin sealer... im not planning to rub the whole neck of it's laquer finish though... I'm only rubbing the places where my hands will go the most... no higher than the 12th or maybe 14th fret.

Thanks guys. So if a simple scourer pad or 0000 wire wool can take off the laquer finish on the neck... what about the white paint finish on the neck? Do I keep using the pad or wire wool until it feels like I've reached the raw wood?

Ouch! hope everything works out for you Si! I was thinking of changing between tunings in between songs with a Squier project bass I'm going to do from Drop C# to Drop D/Standard... I guess I should bring two basses to practises and gigs in future

Someone over at Talkbass actually used a paint stripper to strip his Musicman SUB bass using: [url="http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xj7/R-100164441/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053"]http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xj7...catalogId=10053[/url] Does anyone know if there is there anything similar like this in UK? I'm guessing homebase or wikes might have something?

Ok guys, I've searched the forum for topics on sanding the back of a painted glossed neck and the only topic I found closest is: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=48665&hl=glossy"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...5&hl=glossy[/url] but I think this person's bass has a gloss feel build up from playing the bass? Anyway, I have a bass with a white finished gloss finish and it's really hard to play when I'm sweaty as most of you have experienced playing a glossed neck. I want to take the gloss finish off completely and seal it again giving a satin finish. I guess I should start with a 600 grit sandpaper and proceed to 400... now it's not just the gloss laquer finish that's there as there's a white finish beneath the laquer. Once I have actually cut through to the laquer and proceed to the paint, which grit of sandpaper should I use? It'll be my first time sanding a neck down and I will be testing it on my SG copy guitar first

I just like to start a thread here to praise GAK! I ordered a Squier Affinity bass off Amazon, they have been very good at communicating throughout the process as I specifically wanted the black finish as it's going to be a project mega mod bass, they kindly emailed me back informing me there's a one week wait on that finish so i agreed. Week later... they got the bass in, sent it, emailed me with tracking number, received bass next day. All extremely smooth! The Squier Affinity played extremely well, flawless i must say as i was very very surprised with the quality of these! I didn't like the thinner body though so I phoned them the next day and asked if I could exchange the Affinity for a Standard Jazz and they agreed! So courier collection has been arranged by them for Monday for free of charge!!! I even said I'm willing to cover courier cost on the collection before Ian agreed to have it collected over the phone. So... once collected, I will be ordering a Squier Standard off them and hoping to receive the same excellent customer service from them! Hat's off to the guys at GAK! *thumbs up*