What grit sandpaper does ebmm use on necks?

[Eric O'Reilly]

I have an ax40 that i want to feel like an axis neck, i have sanded it to wood and done the oil and wax, and it looks and feels great, but after going to GC and trying a real ebmm, the real necks have a rough unfinished feel that i like. My ax40 is now unfinished and rubbed with oil and wax but mine is much smoother than the real ebmm, i used 160 grit then 600 grit then oil and wax, does anyone know how ebmm gets it to have that rough feel? What grit should i try? Right now its nice and smooth, but not ebmm rough, mine is unfinished,you can feel the grain but its very smooth, and the oil has made the grain look beautiful! But should i use a lower grit than re oil?

 

[Eric O'Reilly]

It now feels similar to my peavey wolfgang, which has a great natural wood feel, like an old bat that you love.

 

[Wahoonc]

I'm pretty sure 600 and 1000 are recommended. Drew has a youtube video for neck maintenance.

 

[Eric O'Reilly]

But i used 600 and it made it much to smooth, nice, but not the rough raw ebmm feel.

 

[Wahoonc]

I might try 1000, as counter-intuitive as it seems. Give a light once-over and try it out without applying more oil. You can't change the grain of the wood and if lower grain isn't giving what you want, it's a very cheap experiment that isn't going to hurt anything. If that doesn't get you where you need to be, my guess is that it is the wood and not the finish that is different.

 

[dibart77]

I can't speak to SBMM, but here's Drew giving us the full run-down for EBMM unfinished necks direct from the source:

YouTube: Caring for your Music Man Neck and Fretboard

600 grit and 1000 grit

​

 

[DrKev]

But after going to GC and trying a real ebmm, the real necks have a rough unfinished feel that i like.

Really? I'm surprised. I actually disagree.

Sometimes unfinished necks feel a little rougher after use, as they pickup dirt and grime from player's hands. But any brand new EBMM that I've tried right out of the box EBMM felt like silk and that's how I love it. So, if you want it rougher, just leave it be. It'll get there in time.

I find 400 grit on its own does just fine. But anything from 400 up is great, and some people even finish with 0000 steel wool (but not really necessary if you have 1200 grit, IMO). I would not use anything more coarse than 400 grit, personally.

 

[banjoplayer]

i use 1000 sandpaper or 0000 steel-wool for maintaining and in combination with the birchwood casey oil/wax treatment it gives the definite factory-feeling

 

[BUC]

I've even found 2000 sandpaper in an auto parts store. They use it for auto detailing.

Drews Youtube's are right on. I started doing it exactly that way and my guitars feel MUCH better.

 

[Eric O'Reilly]

Really? I'm surprised. I actually disagree.

Sometimes unfinished necks feel a little rougher after use, as they pickup dirt and grime from player's hands. But any brand new EBMM that I've tried right out of the box EBMM felt like silk and that's how I love it. So, if you want it rougher, just leave it be. It'll get there in time.


I find 400 grit on its own does just fine. But anything from 400 up is great, and some people even finish with 0000 steel wool (but not really necessary if you have 1200 grit, IMO). I would not use anything more coarse than 400 grit, personally.

Wow! All the new ebmms ive tried (at GC mind you, so how new are they?) have had a real raw unfinished almost rough quality, that i really liked! I made my sbmm smooth as silk with high grit paper and oil, but always after returning from GC and playing the ebmms, i want it rougher! Lol!

 

[douglasspears]

Really? I'm surprised. I actually disagree.

Sometimes unfinished necks feel a little rougher after use, as they pickup dirt and grime from player's hands. But any brand new EBMM that I've tried right out of the box EBMM felt like silk and that's how I love it. So, if you want it rougher, just leave it be. It'll get there in time.

I find 400 grit on its own does just fine. But anything from 400 up is great, and some people even finish with 0000 steel wool (but not really necessary if you have 1200 grit, IMO). I would not use anything more coarse than 400 grit, personally.

well, I disagree with your disagreement. Over time, the oils and whatnot from my hands have actually made mine smoother.

 

[ozzyrules]

Wow! All the new ebmms ive tried (at GC mind you, so how new are they?) have had a real raw unfinished almost rough quality, that i really liked! I made my sbmm smooth as silk with high grit paper and oil, but always after returning from GC and playing the ebmms, i want it rougher! Lol!

I agree with Dr. Kev. Just think about how many grubby hands pass over the necks of EBMM's in GC. My Emerald BFR Ass(See Avatar) was in horrible shape and sold as NOS. It had that very rough, dry feel because the neck was not cared for. I treated it per Drew's video and it is smooth as silk; that's the whole reason for sanding/neck care. It allows you to bring back that silky smooth factory feeling.

 

[Eric O'Reilly]

Wow! I bet the rough feel i thought was the ebmm feel is probably GC s poor care for there necks, not knowing how to care for an unfinished neck!

 

[DrKev]

An unfinished neck doesn't require much care, really. Some people here might sand and oil and/or wax their necks every six months, some every year, and some hardly ever or even never. It's not a big deal.

I think the biggest problem in any store with a lot of people passing though is more customers hands on the guitar necks than store staff with a cloth.

 

[ozzyrules]

Wow! I bet the rough feel i thought was the ebmm feel is probably GC s poor care for there necks, not knowing how to care for an unfinished neck!

Bingo !!! You got it, kid. Lol.

 

[Spudmurphy]

From my own experience, my 3 x new Albert Lee guitars came straight from the factory and those necks were sublime! They didn't have a rough feel at all. I have seen MM necks that have had too much wax applied and they don't feel like the necks straight from the factory.

After a period of time they started to feel just a bit, say microscopically grainy.
I now use 400 600 800 1000 grit paper and then re oil them.I don't use the wax so much.
They don’t seem to “deteriorate” as much - I’m guessing that the coats of oil built up over time has kinda soaked in. However, if I do feel anything untoward about the feel of the neck, I just use a piece of 1000/1200 and it knocks it back into shape before the next re oil which I do roughly once a year.

 

[Wahoonc]

It took six months or so of heavy playing before I noticed a patch on the back of my the neck. I put a little bit of Dr. Bronner's soap on a microfiber cloth, wiped it down, and like new. (Dr. Bronner's, for those who don't know, although marketed as a natural soap, is really just organic oils (coconut, olive, etc.).)

 

[DrKev]

DrKev wears his science guy hat...

Soaps are simply oil or fat or grease (animal, mineral, or vegetable) treated with a caustic chemical in a process called "saponification". In the old days the saponification was done with lye, which was a substance obtained from ashes (which today we know is a chemical called Potassium Hydroxide). Then they add additional oils for texture and perfume and what not.

Dr Bronner's soaps are no different, no matter where they source the oils they use. But it is still a hydroxide-treated oil with extra oils and stuff added for froth and scent et. Murphy Oil soap, which EBMM recommend, is also vegetable oil-based, they just don't claim organic credentials or use edible-sounding stuff in their ingredients. Does the same job just as well, just as safely.

Use whatever works for you.

Of course in chemistry we call anything organic if the molecule is primarily based on carbon (like oils or greases), so all soaps are in fact organic, even if the are not "organic" (if ya see what I mean).

Anyway, back to guitars.

 

[ksandvik]

As for Murphy's Oil Soap, they also sell them as wipes. Work as a charm on dirty or less dirty necks. I'm about to treat my necks on my EBMM guitars this weekend but still debating if I should use true oil or not as the EBMM video is not using true oil (only wax.) But it would not hurt, I guess. And yes I prefer my necks slinky, but everyone has their own view of how necks should feel.

 

[Wahoonc]

Mostly agree, except there are plenty of synthetic detergent blends that are much more caustic, are not plant- or tallow-based, and do not degrade like natural soaps. Also, some soaps use sodium hydroxide for saponification instead of potassium hydroxide.

I'm no chemist, but I did learn how to make soap on a class field trip to Tryon Palace when was in second grade. Funny the things you remember. And I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.