Official Luthiers Forum!

Yesterday I strung up a guitar I finally built for myself and it's the first maple neck I have ever done. I hate the feel of the neck, not because of the weight, but because it is smooth as glass. All my guitars have been French polished, including this one. I usually don't pore fill the necks, also including this one, but the maple is too smooth for my taste. If I just lightly sand the gloss off or steel wool it off, I don't know if that will make a difference. What do you think? And if I sand, what grade paper do I use? I really don't want to sand through the finish at this point.

No input from me, Wendy, but how about posting some pictures of your guitar? You know how we love pictures!

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Lord knows I'm no expert, but I have wet sanded shellac with olive oil as the lubricant in order to get a matte finish, and it turned out nice.

4-0 steel wool

_________________
My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

Turtle wax white automotive polishing compound.

I suspect that part of what you are feeling is the difference between closed grain wood such as your maple neck and open grain wood such as honduras mahogany or walnut.

You are absolutely right Jack. I will try the steel wool or the polishing compound. I played it for quite a while today and am getting a little used to it so hopefully just cutting the gloss a bit will help. I'm surprised at how different the feel is between maple and mahogany or Spanish cedar. It is not just the surface of the wood, or the open pore versus closed pore, but it also feels "stiffer".

I also like a non-gloss finish on the neck, and if you want to take the gloss off without removing the finish itself I would add another vote for 0000 steel wool. Not much risk of going through the finish to bare wood, but it will take the shine off. However, it sounds like a large part of what you are feeling is the character of maple, compared to mahogany. Not a bad thing, but certainly different. It might be something that you get to like over time.