Discussion
So here’s the recent two guitars I have been working on. EVH tributes built to emulate my playing style and tone, but to be the fastest players I can build.
The necks are sanded, not finished, because a shredder knows how that works. Finsh on the neck makes way more resistance than bare wood… and if you are daring to be seen playing something like this, it better damn well be loud AND fast.
First thing I do to a new upright bass is get every bit of clearcoat off the damn neck so my thumb doesn't stick.
If I'm playing on the regular, it'll get cleaned with isopropyl and a blue 3M scrubby when I do the changing of the strings (annually or longer)
open pored woods, like mahogany or walnut, don't do well unfinished, but maple gets a lovely patina on the bare wood after it's been played a while.
For uprights maple is pretty much the only answer for neck wood. You need the stability and strength.
If I bought a bass with a mahogany neck (which I likely wouldn't), I'd probably look at snowboard wax or some such to fill the pores a little.
I still don't want a finish on it. I make too many fast transitions from 1st position to 12th fret harmonics in thumb position.
@thegibson damn, gotta get me one of those Gibson guitars…
@voltur these both turned out so well I thinks they are by far my best builds.
Shred. Machines.
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@thegibson
nice!
there are debates about wax on bare wood but maple sanded to 1200 grit, then buffed with a rough cloth, like denim, is about as non-sticky as i can do.
violin and mandolin folks sometimes scrape finish off their instrument neck for this reason (faster).