Fender CS neck relic process :(

[Intune]

I kind of feel like; based on my own FCS necks past and present... and what I have seen, Fender does it intensionally. They for sure know how to do it right (I feel like I have two of them) and they do upon request, for road shows, NAMM, or other.

The ugly neck thing to me is likely more about delivering a playing experience for the user rather than worrying about aging correctness based on they type of relic, (closet classic, journeyman, relic, heavy relic or whatever). They clearly know how to do it... also, there is probably more skill involved in more authentic aging, but it's not like it's rocket science, it can be taught.

I will say this, I had two FCS that had the ugly neck thing going on and they really played/felt fantastic. The two I currently have, that look like the FCS actually tried to mimic wear... feel great, but just not as great. No complaints, but there is something to the the ugly neck thing (aesthetics aside). My Novo's past and present have the ugly necks and they feel amazing. I think that was the idea.

Yeah ugly or not it does feel great and yeah I think that’s exactly why they do it. It really makes no difference to me and I really don’t think it’s ugly.

They know exactly what’s they’re doing and they definitely know how to relic a guitar to make it authentic looking. Whatever authentic looks like I guess. From the “authentic” wear pics I posted way earlier in this thread, how can Fender really get it wrong?

 

[skysc]

I havent try any fender custom shop , they are out of my price ! but the relic process is very nice
im seriously thinking about a heavy relic partcaster for my next guitar .

Ive posted image of very nice 2022 fender custom shop on ebay . thats exactly how i wish my maple neck to look like for my next guitar . i dont know how much can it cost to have it finish like that and who could do it ( if you have any suggestion , i would like to hear them ) .


Maybe im just in my Nirvana nostalgia , but lately , everything thats beat up or imperfect looks great . Old fender/marshall amp with tears on the tolex etc.. , old beat up boss pedal sd-1 . guess im just tired of everything being so perfect .

i love relic but it doesnt look authentic , unless you dragged your guitar behind your car on the highway for 200 miles . its not authentic , but it look good .

 

[Toppalini]

From me, I bought all the stock. How many tins would you like?

View attachment 622588

I actually do want one of those cans and looked them up

 

[stratman323]

my point exactly.
we're still complaining, though.

Actually "we" are not. Most people on this forum don't care. And people who join guitar forums are, shall we say, a specialised group, not representative of guitar buyers/players as a whole. The only people who are complaining are a tiny percentage of people who are ST members.

 

[Will Lefeurve]

If you live in a damp environment, bare wood will soak up the moisture in the air.

Although I should have known better (idiot) I sanded down the finish on the neck of my old AM Standard aeons ago, before relics were trendy. The dam thing was like picking up a wet log when it got damp. It very soon had a few coats of silk varnish on it..

 

[2Strat]

I have a 59 (2019) HR,and I love the neck...The playability and the looks of it. Best neck in my arsenal.

 

[Butcher of Strats]

Actually "we" are not. Most people on this forum don't care. And people who join guitar forums are, shall we say, a specialised group, not representative of guitar buyers/players as a whole. The only people who are complaining are a tiny percentage of people who are ST members.

Well maybe most of us are not complaining, but the passel of trolls that DO spew bile over relics on gear forums are formidable enough that relics is a topic which often gets threads shut down.
Here the mods are not as picky about snotty remarks between members, but on some forums almost every relic thread gets shut down and members get banned because of the odd anger inspired by those who just have spit fits about relic treatment being the devils work etc etc.

Some relics I think look bad, but I have learned to keep those opinions mostly to myself.
Especially in NGD threads.
Some trolls seek out NGD threads with relic content and attack new owners for offensively buying and displaying a relic.

Maybe relics are euphemisms for other deeper issues we cannot talk about?

 

[stratman323]

Well maybe most of us are not complaining, but the passel of trolls that DO spew bile over relics on gear forums are formidable enough that relics is a topic which often gets threads shut down.
Here the mods are not as picky about snotty remarks between members, but on some forums almost every relic thread gets shut down and members get banned because of the odd anger inspired by those who just have spit fits about relic treatment being the devils work etc etc.

Some relics I think look bad, but I have learned to keep those opinions mostly to myself.
Especially in NGD threads.
Some trolls seek out NGD threads with relic content and attack new owners for offensively buying and displaying a relic.

Maybe relics are euphemisms for other deeper issues we cannot talk about?

Basically true I guess but Lonn started a thread about relics not long ago. So anyone wanting to rant at huge length (as they do..... ) will need to take on one of the mods. Perhaps that will help to maintain a reasonable balance? Trolls beware!

 

[racerx819]

If you live in a damp environment, bare wood will soak up the moisture in the air.

Although I should have known better (idiot) I sanded down the finish on the neck of my old AM Standard aeons ago, before relics were trendy. The dam thing was like picking up a wet log when it got damp. It very soon had a few coats of silk varnish on it..

Yup, bare wood can be responsive to climate. A few applications of Tru-oil, knocked down a bit after it dries and then some gun stock wax does wonders for the feel and the "seal". Sand away

 

[Intune]

Basically true I guess but Lonn started a thread about relics not long ago. So anyone wanting to rant at huge length (as they do..... ) will need to take on one of the mods. Perhaps that will help to maintain a reasonable balance? Trolls beware!

Oh this is so true. Even NGD threads with relic content gets the haters out with their “I don’t understand” comments. Relic threads get shut down often.

A moderator starts a relic appreciation thread and you get one lonely member that doesn’t understand, that’s it. All the keyboard warriors tuck their truck their true feelings away. If it’s so easy to just not say anything then why can’t they do that if it’s not a mod that started a relic thread? They do it because they want to be heard, like their comment is going to change the world or something. So strange.

 

[Toppalini]

If you live in a damp environment, bare wood will soak up the moisture in the air.

Although I should have known better (idiot) I sanded down the finish on the neck of my old AM Standard aeons ago, before relics were trendy. The dam thing was like picking up a wet log when it got damp. It very soon had a few coats of silk varnish on it..

Yes I've read this. However I'm pretty sure that the CS guitars are not sanding down to bare wood. There's probably some sort of sealer under the tinted nitro they're (probably not actually) 'sanding' away. This whole thing about bare wood being a bad idea has given me pause before sanding down any guitar necks; I used the scotch brite pad method on my polyester finished guitar, to great results, but polyester isn't as sticky as nitro in my limited experience.

From what you're saying, it sounds like a really bad idea to have a bare wood neck. However I've definitely seen it done; youtuber dave simpson shows his number 1, a MIM classic series, and he scraped off all his poly on the back of the neck with a knife and presumably left it bare.

I have a couple g&l tributes that have what I believe to be an oil or 'satin' finish whatever that is. But they can be fairly sticky, while also feeling like bare wood. I liked these necks and thought they were less sticky than the glossed necks I'd used before. However after getting a proper oil finish neck, I can say these necks are very sticky by comparison and do not feel like touching wood.

I recently got a really nice MK neck that was finished by the original owner; he said in the post it was tru oil, but then later said he finished it in tung oil, not sure if those are the same thing by different names. However, the neck seems almost unfinished. It feels almost like touching bare wood, and looks pretty much like bare wood (with the flame maple making it look a bit more 'finished' naturally). This oil finish is crazy; it is unbelievably smooth and feels like you're touching actual wood, not some plastic finish like nitro or poly.

I've been considering refinishing the back of my MIJ neck with poly with oil, and perhaps will scotch brite some of the finish of my g&l necks off whatever the heck it is they used on them. It's hard to find any info on those tribute models. But in all these cases I'm assuming I'll need an oil layer to seal in the wood so it doesn't warp or just get heavy and damp.

Anyway if you want that bare wood feel, oil finish is definitely the way to go... 100%. And you could even nitro finish the headstock/heel area and do the rest in oil. I'm sure fender is doing something like this on their CS.

It looks like fender's process is not even to finish and sand. It looks like they're simply taping off the area that's supposed to be 'worn', 'sanded', basically 'bare wood'. If they were sanding, I don't know if you'd see those straight line edges unless they're taping off. It looks to me like they're simply taping off the bare area, finishing the headstock/heel area in nitro, then either leaving the unfinished area unfinished (unlikely) or sealing it with some oil or other sealer. It just doesn't make sense to me that they'd be finishing the entire neck, then painstakingly removing the nitro they just sprayed on.

And that's probably why their necks look so bad on the back. They're not breaking in or sanding down a nitro finish. They're just doing a partial nitro finish and then doing something else where the player feels the neck on these models. I'm guessing it's an oil finish of some sort, or some other very smooth and minimal satin finish. It could even be they seal the entire neck in the same sealer before spraying the nitro, and then after that, only spraying the headstock/heel. Then that sealer is basically your finish, thus keeping the neck relatively safe from moisture and feeling like bare wood.

I've actually been considering finishing my headstock and heel area on my MK neck in a tinted nitro and adding a decal. Because that's the only real difference between my neck/guitar combo and a real CS; it's the way the finish looks on the neck, and the finish on the body to some extent. But really it's not supposed to be masquerading as a fender so, I doubt I'll do this.

I just thought of the most likely way they're doing this finish; they seal the entire guitar before spraying nitro (which I believe is necessary when dealing with maple but I don't know). Then, they're simply spraying the heel and headstock area without taping. This is why you see those relatively straight, but still uneven lines. They're probably just eyeballing and spraying down those areas, leaving the 'worn' area untouched. Perhaps using something afterwards, perhaps not. So this gives it that sort of uneven look to make it look sort of worn, as it's not a hard line like a taped off section. But it still doesn't look like a real worn neck.

This is all speculation using common sense, but based on the visual evidence it looks like my guess is right. Also if they were sanding or wearing off the back of the neck and not just finished headstock and heel area, they would risk removing whatever sealer they're using as well. However this wouldn't be the case if they're using a different finish for that area, and not just counting on a sealer.

 

[Toppalini]

Yup, bare wood can be responsive to climate. A few applications of Tru-oil, knocked down a bit after it dries and then some gun stock wax does wonders for the feel and the "seal". Sand away

I was thinking of doing this to at lest one of my necks. I got a neck that was entirely finished this way and it’s amazing. It almost makes me concerned it’s not sealed enough because it feels so natural. However if it was truly un finished I’d feel it. The oil finish feels like the perfect balance between bare wood and a proper finish. The only downside is that it doesn’t have the tinted look

I think that having literally bare wood on the neck would also feel strange. An oil finish would probably feel better.

 

[stratman323]

Oh this is so true. Even NGD threads with relic content gets the haters out with their “I don’t understand” comments. Relic threads get shut down often.

A moderator starts a relic appreciation thread and you get one lonely member that doesn’t understand, that’s it. All the keyboard warriors tuck their truck their true feelings away. If it’s so easy to just not say anything then why can’t they do that if it’s not a mod that started a relic thread? They do it because they want to be heard, like their comment is going to change the world or something. So strange.

I hope you're not suggesting that double standards apply here?