superglue neck

[smokyt81]

okay, here goes.

the past two weekends, I had my first two gigs as a mandolinist. they were both outdoors, and I noticed the humidity made the neck feel like it was covered with superglue! I mean, sliding was completely out of the question, but i've worked of my Ffcp patterns enough to squeak by. I've encountered this problem before on my les paul, so I had enough foresight to keep a rag in back pocket to wipe the neck between songs, but it didn't help that much.

My question is this. Is there anything I can do to help fix the problem? Maybe polish, I don't know.


:crying:HELP ME!!!:crying:

[jim_n_virginia]

some people take the finish off with super fine steel wool. :mandosmiley:

[smokyt81]

so it's the finish?

[Mike Snyder]

I use a Scotchbrite green potscrubber pad to keep the gloss down on my neck. Eventually I suppose I'll work through the finish, but the satiny surface does not grab like the gloss.

[John Flynn]

I use a very little bit of baby powder or cornstarch on the part of my hand that contacts the back of the neck. I got that tip from a really great fiddler I know. I also use Fast Fret on the strings. The effects of humidity are also a reminder to me that I need to loosen up my grip.

[Willie]

I found that baby powder makes my fingers tender and they start to hurt after a while, I use "fingerease," a spray that can be bought at most musical outlets and I slide all over the place, sometimes too much....good luck....Willie

[earthsave]

I think it's the nitro cellulose lacquer finish. It gets soft and almost gummy on very hot and humid days. Mine has the same issues. I've used 000 steel wool to reduce it.

[rnjl]

The first time I played a mando with a "bare" (lightly oiled, that is) neck, I could hardly believe it- what had I been missing all these years? It's really not hard to do: Will Parsons told me to use three kinds of sandpaper successively- something like 120, 220 and then in the 400's (that's what the roughness numbers were at the local hardware store, the upper numbers being finer.) I used a knife to do the rough scraping, then the sandpaper, took about 30 minutes and it's great.

However, I wouldn't do this on a mandolin that's of historical or great monetary value (that's a judgment call, of course)- so my Parsons gets the knife and sandpaper treatment but my 83 Flatiron doesn't.

Will suggested linseed oil for the neck- I found some cutting board oil around the house which is seed oil and lemon oil which works great and smells nice too. I apply it very, very lightly on the neck a few times a year and it seems to be fine.

[smokyt81]

ok, so I need to take some of the finish off. after I sand a little bit off, do I need to polish it, or does that defeat the purpose of scrubbing it off in the first place?

[CES]

Try searching "speed neck" in the message board...you'll probably find some pretty useful threads. Some just take the finish off and "polish" it by playing, some use Tung oil as a lighter finish/protectant, and the Linseed oil (or other substitute) trick as above works as well.

I've been thinking about trying this on my Kentucky as well, for the same reasons. I don't have that problem with my Flatiron pancake, which has a more satin finish. The worst was when a buddy of mine who'd been slaving over a pit of butts picked up one of my guitars, which has a nitrocellulose finish, and played for a while. I didn't play it after him that night, but the next time I picked it up, let's just say there was some serious cleaning going on!

But, the BBQ was worth it...

Another option is to just sweat more, so your hand slides easier, but that's not always so practical, and the ladies tend not to like that option so much :)