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I am one of those players who seem to stick to a lot of nitro finishes. In some cases its not a problem (08 nocaster), but in other cases it is really bad (08 custom shop R8). It does not seem to matter who does the finish it just seems to vary. (I have two les paul guitars from gibson custom shop, one is sticky and the other is not). I have tried all sorts of stuff: steel wool, talcum powder, poly finishes, scotchbrite, fast fret. No luck. With my local luthier we have tried various brands without consistent luck.

I read on another thread that some people have a high ph skin and in combination with a pooly cured neck it will be sticky for those people. Sounds like me.

So if I wanted to lay down a real hard nitro finish what do you suggest? Ultra low humidity, super light coats, higher spray ambient temp, let dry a week between coats?

thanks
Don

I do not know enough about finishes to be definitive, but I do know a few things that have happened.

First, vaseline can soften some finishes. Vaseline is in most hand lotions and ointments. So, if you are in the habit of using hand lotion, you may need to wash it off before playing.

Insect repellent is a very aggresive solvent for some finishes.

There are certainly other chemicals that you might be inadvertently applying to the finish.

Some folks remove the finish from the back of the neck. Tends to get cruddy looking but guess it depends on your priorities. Maybe you have a beater that you could try to see how it works.

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Thanks gang. I am quite careful with washing my hands before playing and making sure the neck is clean. So it is most likely not lotion or other chemicals.

I really would rather find the right recipe for laying down a good hard nitro finish, rather than removing the finish or using an oil. I figure if some nitro necks are good there must be some trick that I am missing.

A matte finish may work better for you, and I have tried and loved the feel of a Tru-Oil neck. The really shiny, smooth finishes seem to be tackier if you have moist hands.

My solution to this problem, when I was a kid, was to douse my hands with gasoline before the weekend gigs. My hands stopped sweating for the entire weekend and I could play without sticking to my guitar's neck.

Now, we know that was a really, really bad idea, and if I get skin cancer, I will know not to complain too much, since it might have been my own fault. Still, the lesson learned is (for me) if you don't sweat, you don't stick. Wash your hands with strong soap before playing and that might help.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Micheal Payne did make a post that suggested that people with high ph skin might have a problem. It might also be aggravated by an undercured neck.

viewtopic.php?f=10102&t=5124&hilit=lacquer+sticky

Just wondering if you ever tried a matte finished lacquer neck. It didn't stick as much for me on a Santa Cruz that I owned. Now I just brush on shellac and let cure, then steel wool out with renaissance wax, and I have not problems. But another option may be the UV cured Poly finish like Taylor and Ryan guitars. Have you ever played a Taylor? You might want to give that a try. I know a guy here in Colorado that sprays UV Poly for other guitar builders. Go to Germanguitars.com. Anyway, hope some of this information helps! Hope you find the magic finish. It is really frustrating when your hands are sticking to a guitar neck while trying to play.

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

Don,

One thing that will help and helped me is a dietary change to help balance your PH to 6.4 - 7.0 . If you're too acid, for quick help I use 1/4 tsp of baking soda in water and that helps to cut the excess acid an make me more alkaline. I find when I do this in a pinch that my hands don't sweat and stick to the neck. Just food for thought. There are a lot of great resources if you Google for diet types and nutrients to help resolve this but I won't bother with that here.

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

I now recall that guitar necks are shaped differently for different techniques, to avoid this. If you play with only the last segment of your thumb on the neck, the shape doesn't natter. If you play with the neck resting on the webbing between your thumb and first finger, then it tends to grab. The neck shape to avoid this is V=shaped, instead of U=shaped.

Try waxing the back of the neck with automotive paste wax or beeswax. I prefer a satin finished neck.

Tracy(and others) FWIW a UV cured polyester finish, and a catalyst cured polyester finish (like Joe White uses) are identical after they're cured.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Hi all, I just wanted to post my solution that worked really well. Thanks to Micheal Payne.

Basically I refinished the neck, but under higher temp and low humidity conditions with lots of time for each layer to cure.

2 light but wet coats a day an hour between each coat for 2 days,
let dry 48 hours level,
2 more light wet coats per day for 2 days allow
48hrs to dry and level,

spray 2 10% reduced final coats, an hour between each coat,
allow to cure for 15 days min if shop RH is below 35% and over 75F
30 days if shop RH is higher than 35% or cooler than 75F.

It took another 30-60 days for it to really harden up. I used nitro cellulose lacquer from Guitar re-ranch.