Modding a neck

[Spitfire]

the neck on my SG is slightly too thick... im not looking to sell this guitar or make any money on it... how safe is it to thin the neck down a bit with sand paper?? ive read on a forum that its safe and to start with a thick sandpaper and get finer then finish it.. also to leave the guitar strung up while doing this to keep tension on the neck..

then to finish it with some oil...

how safe is it doing this? ideally id want my SG to have my tele's neck.. but that aint happening lol

or is this as i probably think just a stupid idea?

[AndyR]

Not sure it's actually a stupid idea... but I wouldn't attempt it! :D

I've sanded necks to either remove the finish altogether, or to remove the high gloss from the finish, but to remove wood, I'd take it to a luthier - and even then I'd personally be wondering if it was the right thing to do to the guitar...

[Ian Price]

I don't think it's a stupid idea although I would most definitely go to a recognised luthier to have it done. Just a word of warning though. I bought a PRS SC245 last year from Rob Chapman. Awesome guitar, sounded fantastic and looked the business. Loved everything about it apart from the neck (it was a wide fat). Rob got me in contact with his luthier and I was quoted a price of £60.00 (apparently quite cheap) to get it reprofiled and refinished.

About a week before I was going to take the guitar in for it's surgery I had a bit of a family emergency and needed to raise some cash very quickly. I sold the PRS for the price I bought it for. I very much doubt I would have got anything near that sort of money had the neck been reprofiled. You've got to be 100% certain that you want this done and accept that you will lose out if you ever decide to sell it on.

The last bit of advice I can give is try to get used to playing with bigger necks. The signature LP I bought off of twinfan has, by my standards, a fairly chunky neck on it. I have pretty much played it exclusively for the last few weeks and am now getting the hang of it by very slightly changing my left hand position. It has also made me appreciate the difference in feel of each of my guitars and ultimately makes me play differently. I think it would be a bit boring if all of my necks felt the same.

A long post I know but I do feel this is something that needs a lot of thought before committing to it.  I'm aware that you may have already given this lots of thought - apologies if I come across all preachery!!!

[WezV]

i must admit its not a job i like doing at all.  you can have a vague idea of where the truss rod is but cannot garantee its always at the same depth in each guitar (especially not with gibsons QC).

what i have found often works is to work mainly on the cheeks of the neck carve rather than directly on the centre line.  although this doesnt technically make the neck any thinner it does make it feel a lot thinner/ a lot less chunky.  and its significantly less risky.

[FELINEGUITARS]

A tough one to answer without knowing how thick the neck is now.
Do you have thickness calipers that you can measure the neck with?

Proceed with caution....especially if the neck is thinner than 21mm at the first fret area or 23mm at the 12th fret area

Wow - Ian £60 to shave and refinish ??
Stupidly cheap - especially on a guitar like that.
I wonder how a professional luthier can offer to do it so cheap as it is a time consuming task


Oh and +1 to what Wez said

[Ian Price]

Wow - Ian £60 to shave and refinish ??
Stupidly cheap - especially on a guitar like that.
I wonder how a professional luthier can offer to do it so cheap as it is a time consuming task

I did ask the question. Basically Rob sends (or used to send) a lot of work his way and managed to negotiate me a very, very decent deal. I checked the guys credentials out and he seemed to be very genuine.

[jpfamps]

Wow - Ian £60 to shave and refinish ??
Stupidly cheap - especially on a guitar like that.
I wonder how a professional luthier can offer to do it so cheap as it is a time consuming task

I did ask the question. Basically Rob sends (or used to send) a lot of work his way and managed to negotiate me a very, very decent deal. I checked the guys credentials out and he seemed to be very genuine.

I find that very cheap too. That can't have been for a nitro refin?

To add to the above I've seen a couple of guitars with shaved neck with the truss rod coming out the back....

I would probably advise looking for another guitar with a more suitable neck and trade yours.

[Ian Price]

This was the guy who was going to do the reprofile for me:

http://www.knight-guitars.com/about-us.htm

To add to the above I've seen a couple of guitars with shaved neck with the truss rod coming out the back....

Ouch!

[tomjackson]

Leave it alone, fat necks are great :D

Unless they are on your girlfriend of course....... :)

[ToneMonkey]

I've done this before (on a bolt on SG neck) and I would say not to use anything other than sandpaper.  You'd be really suprised about how quick the shape and thickness changes.

I wouldn't do it for £60 though.   :lol: