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When you've got a one piece maple neck on a Strat, it has a finish where the strings hit the fretboard, so doesn't that finish wear off when playing (over time)?
thanks

Yes..... In time if you play a single guitar enough the finnish will start to come off... But we are taking years and years and YEARS of playing for most fully finnished maple necks to start looking like Clapton's Blackie.... Besides when you have Maple necks refretted the techs touch up the finnish on the neck anyways... You would have to wear the frets down for the strings to be touching the fingerboard....

My 18 year old American Standard Strat has the finnish flaking off the maple fingerboard..... The finnish on the neck seems really thick and it is coming off in large chunks in some spots..... Before i bought it it had been a busy stores rental guitar and a heavy metal band had it for a while and it was refretted a few times.... It has been really used! But the neck is years away from looking like blackie..

WhoFan

yes it definately does my friends dad has the old blue flower strat and u can see where he plays the most and especially where he does bends most often it turns a darker brown in those areas

How many of you like that worn in look of maple necks? I do! That is why i am thinking of using an oiled neck on my next custom homemade strat.... I have not made a neck in a couple of years! i had better start working on one soon! I love working with wood in the back yard in the summer! Beats staying inside!

WhoFan


Originally Posted by WhoFanHow many of you like that worn in look of maple necks? I do! That is why i am thinking of using an oiled neck on my next custom homemade strat.... I have not made a neck in a couple of years! i had better start working on one soon! I love working with wood in the back yard in the summer! Beats staying inside!

WhoFan

I love the look and feel of a worn in maple neck. The unfinished ones are the best. So it gets dirty, but I am willing to live with that as they are so nice to play.

heh damned right - if you have slightly taller or wider frets than usual, the wear will happen slower..

we're still talking decades of hard playing though, the stuff on my MIJ fretboard is hard as nails, its not going anywhere for a good while yet

tom

and on eddie van halen's kramer 5150 the finish is coming off it looks like blackie.

hmm thanks for your infos guys...

Also.. how about wear on rosewood necks... are there also major wear traces happening over time?

is this only with older guitars finished with nitro? how long would it take to wear that poly finish they use these days through?

Yeah... we're actually talking really long times... just because I'm going to get me a high $ guitar soon and and want to decide whether I should buy one with a maple or rosewood neck and still have a neck that doesn't look too crappy after... 15 years or something

I think I read that's why Leo went to rosewood boards. He didn't like the look of the worn dirty maple boards.


Originally Posted by KommerzbassistAlso.. how about wear on rosewood necks... are there also major wear traces happening over time?

Rosewood grooves over time,nothing that a board plane during refretting can't fix.
Originally Posted by TheJangusis this only with older guitars? how long would it take to wear that poly finish through?

Usually.It depends on the string,body acidity,care of the guitar,how thick the clear is and how much you play.
Under the right conditions you can go right through the finish in a couple of years.
But I've seen guitars from the 60's that show very little fretboard wear and the frets need to be replaced.

really? I always thought it was just for contrast/design reasons...

No he's right.The story I heard goes like this:
Leo was watching TV one day and saw some people playing with worn fretboards.He thought that it looked so bad that he added Rosewood to the line-up.
Supposedly he always hated the look of a worn Maple fretboard.

hmmm... ok I think I'll decide what neck I'll take after I see my new pickguard installed on my current guitar...

I just prefer rosewood because I dig the feel of unfinished wood on the fretboard.

my strat is a maple neck, and its really worn down on the first 5 frets on the top strings. It looks great I think.