Manny_Silvers
Member
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2017
- Messages
- 18
Hi there, a few weeks ago I decided I wanted to clean up the back of the neck on my two Music Man basses. I have a 2008 Stingray and a 2012 Reflex, each purchased the year it was made, so suffice to say a decent amount of grime had built up over the years. I've regularly cleaned and conditioned each bass's rosewood fretboard, but had never really done any maintenance on the back of the necks aside from occasionally trying to rub some specific dirty spots off with a rag or paper towel.
When I looked into doing this I found myself a little frustrated with the variety of different suggestions on the "correct" way to do this. The EBMM FAQ mentions treating the neck with tru-oil and gunstock wax, there's this official video that includes the wax but doesn't include tru-oil, and lots of Music Man owners out there seem to have their own opinions on the "best" way to maintain the back of an EBMM neck.
I think the truth is there is no one officially correct way to do it that will necessarily satisfy everybody, but the point of this thread is for me to share my personal experience with it, and for others potentially to as well (or point out things they think I did wrong), so hopefully this can be one more resource that could be helpful to someone in the future unsure of the best way to approach this.
My Reflex is currently my main gigging bass, while my Stingray mostly just lives at home, so I decided to work on my Stingray first and then decide what (if anything) I wanted to do with the back of my Reflex's neck after.
On the Stingray I initially did the exact steps in the EBMM video. Murphy's Oil Soap -> 600 grit sandpaper -> 1000 grit sandpaper -> Birchwood Casey Gunstock Wax. No tru-oil. There is some confusion out there about whether you need to dilute the oil soap in water. I used this Murphy's Oil Cleaning Spray, which I believe is what is used in the video. My understanding is that this spray is already diluted with water. When I picked it up at my local hardware store they had this plus a different Murphy's Oil that was a much darker color and specifically mentioned on the bottle to dilute it in water.
Anyways, I did the steps in the video, and it came out quite nicely, it was a huge difference. The neck looked great, but I couldn't decide if I was happy with the feel of it. It definitely felt nice in an objective sense, but when I think EBMM necks I think of that "unfinished" feel, and this to me felt more finished. I kept it for a few weeks and kept going back and forth on if I was happy with how it came out. I had read on a handful of forums a few people that seemed to have a similar experience, of the wax being "too finished" for what they were expecting. It's possible I applied too much of it, but I really tried to do just a tiny bit and wiped off any excess immediately.
So eventually I decided to buy some of the Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil. I re-did the sanding part on my Stingray, several passes of 600 grit and then 1000 grit, figuring this would get most of the wax off. I then applied the tru-oil, again just a touch, rubbing it into the whole back of the neck and then wiping off excess with a paper towel. After I let it sit for a few minutes, I felt this was much closer to what I pictured a Music Man neck feeling like.
It still feels a little "more finished" than what I'm used to, but I think a big part of this is that the back of the neck feels pretty much brand new, and after 14 years of doing no maintenance on it, it could just be a jarring difference. It's also possible the sanding is giving it an extra-smooth feel that some people may not like, and I've seen a handful of suggestions on the web of people using slightly lower-grit (coarser) sandpaper for a bit more of a "raw-wood" feel.
I brought home my Reflex and compared it to the Stingray. Ultimately on the Reflex I decided to clean the back of the neck with the Murphy's Oil Soap spray and paper towels, and that's it. No sanding, no tru-oil or gunstock wax. I'm very happy with the result on that one. It feels pretty much identical, just a bit smoother with the gunk removed, and it looks nice and clean.
So this was my experience, I'd be interested to hear other Music Man owners experience with this. Thanks!
When I looked into doing this I found myself a little frustrated with the variety of different suggestions on the "correct" way to do this. The EBMM FAQ mentions treating the neck with tru-oil and gunstock wax, there's this official video that includes the wax but doesn't include tru-oil, and lots of Music Man owners out there seem to have their own opinions on the "best" way to maintain the back of an EBMM neck.
I think the truth is there is no one officially correct way to do it that will necessarily satisfy everybody, but the point of this thread is for me to share my personal experience with it, and for others potentially to as well (or point out things they think I did wrong), so hopefully this can be one more resource that could be helpful to someone in the future unsure of the best way to approach this.
My Reflex is currently my main gigging bass, while my Stingray mostly just lives at home, so I decided to work on my Stingray first and then decide what (if anything) I wanted to do with the back of my Reflex's neck after.
On the Stingray I initially did the exact steps in the EBMM video. Murphy's Oil Soap -> 600 grit sandpaper -> 1000 grit sandpaper -> Birchwood Casey Gunstock Wax. No tru-oil. There is some confusion out there about whether you need to dilute the oil soap in water. I used this Murphy's Oil Cleaning Spray, which I believe is what is used in the video. My understanding is that this spray is already diluted with water. When I picked it up at my local hardware store they had this plus a different Murphy's Oil that was a much darker color and specifically mentioned on the bottle to dilute it in water.
Anyways, I did the steps in the video, and it came out quite nicely, it was a huge difference. The neck looked great, but I couldn't decide if I was happy with the feel of it. It definitely felt nice in an objective sense, but when I think EBMM necks I think of that "unfinished" feel, and this to me felt more finished. I kept it for a few weeks and kept going back and forth on if I was happy with how it came out. I had read on a handful of forums a few people that seemed to have a similar experience, of the wax being "too finished" for what they were expecting. It's possible I applied too much of it, but I really tried to do just a tiny bit and wiped off any excess immediately.
So eventually I decided to buy some of the Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil. I re-did the sanding part on my Stingray, several passes of 600 grit and then 1000 grit, figuring this would get most of the wax off. I then applied the tru-oil, again just a touch, rubbing it into the whole back of the neck and then wiping off excess with a paper towel. After I let it sit for a few minutes, I felt this was much closer to what I pictured a Music Man neck feeling like.
It still feels a little "more finished" than what I'm used to, but I think a big part of this is that the back of the neck feels pretty much brand new, and after 14 years of doing no maintenance on it, it could just be a jarring difference. It's also possible the sanding is giving it an extra-smooth feel that some people may not like, and I've seen a handful of suggestions on the web of people using slightly lower-grit (coarser) sandpaper for a bit more of a "raw-wood" feel.
I brought home my Reflex and compared it to the Stingray. Ultimately on the Reflex I decided to clean the back of the neck with the Murphy's Oil Soap spray and paper towels, and that's it. No sanding, no tru-oil or gunstock wax. I'm very happy with the result on that one. It feels pretty much identical, just a bit smoother with the gunk removed, and it looks nice and clean.
So this was my experience, I'd be interested to hear other Music Man owners experience with this. Thanks!
...time is a flat circle I suppose.
