Can I safely soda blast my guitar neck?--Update.

rickbarclay

Inspired
Hi, all! Just got a new '78 strat, pretty much unplayable due to a lacquered fretboard and undersized frets.
My bad; traded for sight seen only in photos. Sounds good, though and is in very good condition otherwise.
So, my mechanic wants $450 to refret it and remove the lacquer, with the warning that doing so will destroy
the guitar's value.
I'm not a collector, I'm a player; so, I could care less about what the guitar is worth to others. But $450.00
is a lot of moola to spend for "playability." But then again, it's either fix it, or put it in a corner for the rest of its life, which is not an option for me.

Sooo, does anyone here have any experience soda blasting, and would it work on a guitar neck's lacquer finish? Thanks for any info. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
 
$450 for a refret and finish removal is not a bad price at all given the amount of work involved. Nearly all Fender instruments from the late 60's on are sealed with polyester, which is tough to remove. Not sure I'd try soda blasting, it's pretty aggressive. I've read some furniture restorers blast at lower pressures with crushed walnut shells, but I've never tried it myself. Some chemical strippers can lift certain poly finishes too. That would probably be the quickest and least destructive method. Personally, I'd replace the neck before going to all that work. Warmoth can build you a high quality unfinished maple Strat neck with the nut and frets of your choice for under $200. Search their in stock necks and you can find finished ones cheap too.
 
Put some big frets you won’t feel the fretboard. Dull down the back with steel wool, remove tacky ness. And not wreck the resale entirely.
 
pretty much unplayable due to a lacquered fretboard

Is the lacquer sticky?

If so, get another can of lacquer and spray it over top of the existing lacquer. The new lacquer will reactivate the old lacquer and the two layers will combine into one smooth layer. The finish will be as smooth as it was when it was new and it won't be tacky. I learned this trick on some very expensive (35k) cupboards I repaired in my own home.

Cupboard makers user lacquer because it dries very, very quickly, so they can finish more cabinets in less time. I'm guessing that's why guitar manufactures used it back in the day too. Problem with lacquer, is that the oil from some people's skin, not all, reacts with the lacquer and basically melts it and the oil keeps the lacquer from curing, so it becomes tacky.

My stepson has very oily skin and when he lived at home, the lacquer around the knobs on the cupboard doors became very tacky over several years. After doing some research, I removed the doors and resprayed them with lacquer and they've been super smooth and tack free, for about 5 years now. It worked really well!

As for the frets, I don't think a professional re-fret job will hurt the value.
 
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Thanks, guys. The neck-replacement option sounds interesting. My mech is good at what he does; I'll see what he says.
Much appreciate the advice.
 
Thanks, guys. The neck-replacement option sounds interesting. My mech is good at what he does; I'll see what he says.
Much appreciate the advice.
Gotta give +1 on the Warmoth neck, and save the original for resale, just in case.

Warmoth makes great necks. They have several options available, so you can go from Wizard thin to as thick as anyone could ask for. Various profile shapes as well, from the more standard carves to v shaped backs and even a couple of asymmetrical shapes. Of course the standard thin is a good medium thin neck that is very popular. If ya like a little more to grab onto I've also played the '59 Round Back and it is a nice neck.
 
Good old Fast Fret does wonders on sticky necks too. It's food grade white mineral oil, which you can buy at the pharmacy in the stomach/intestinal product isle for a few bucks and you'll have enough to refill the Fast Fret applicator about ten thousand times. Helps counter acidic sweat and make your strings last longer too.
 
One last nail in that soda blasting coffin, unless you already have the equipment or at least access to it, it could cost you way more then a replacement neck.

Media blasting can be tricky to do without tearing up the wood but If done right it will yield great results! The key is having the right tools for the job. Media blasting requires a lot of compre$$or CFM and either a bla$t cabinet or a pre$$ure pot for the $oda.

The guy in this vid is using a portable compressor which is probably way over kill and a fan nozzle with a pressure pot. The results he is getting are great! a lot easier and faster than a chemical strip.



This is a cool vid as well but again a ton of money unless you have it all ready.

 
I have played many Warmoth necks. If you want to keep the value of your guitar but make it playable, Warmoth is the way to go.
 
Why would he buy media blasting equipment if his “mechanic” is doing the job?

The OP's comment is somewhat unclear as too who is doing the blasting... The title of the thread "Can I safely soda blast my guitar neck" would suggest that he might be doing the blasting... "my mechanic wants $450 to refret it and remove the lacquer, with the warning that doing so will destroy the guitar's value " it doesn't say his mechanic is the one going to be doing the media blasting.

Unless his mechanic is also a trained luthier I would probably just let him stick to working on my car. Either way I thought I would throw it out there as I know just a tad about the process and thought it might help.
 
The OP's comment is somewhat unclear as too who is doing the blasting... The title of the thread "Can I safely soda blast my guitar neck" would suggest that he might be doing the blasting... "my mechanic wants $450 to refret it and remove the lacquer, with the warning that doing so will destroy the guitar's value " it doesn't say his mechanic is the one going to be doing the media blasting.

Unless his mechanic is also a trained luthier I would probably just let him stick to working on my car. Either way I thought I would throw it out there as I know just a tad about the process and thought it might help.

More likely, observing the context, saying "can I do this" is interchangeable with "is it a safe course of action to have this done". I did not find it reasonable to assume that the OP was suggesting that he was asking the question here, after consulting someone in the meatspace, and then tooling up to take on the project on his own. I find it more likely that the title of the thread led you away from the correct conclusion, in that the body of the post did not at all refer to him performing the task in question.

Further, he could simply be using the term 'mechanic' to refer to a guitar technician of some stripe, which I hope is the case. Hopefully he's not commissioning guitar work that should be done by someone in the trade and not a dude at an auto body shop, who would more reasonably be expected to have such facilities. Doubly so if said individual is going to refret the neck. Just because the guy may be good with his hands don't make no never mind. If I need a guitar refretted and I can get a neurosurgeon or Thomas Nordeggggggg at the same price I'm going with the guy that's been keeping Evo alive lo these many years.

Suffice it to say, I agree with the thinking that a commercial off the shelf drop-in replacement neck is the most cost-effective route to getting this CBS Strat.
 
More likely, observing the context, saying "can I do this" is interchangeable with "is it a safe course of action to have this done". I did not find it reasonable to assume that the OP was suggesting that he was asking the question here, after consulting someone in the meatspace, and then tooling up to take on the project on his own. I find it more likely that the title of the thread led you away from the correct conclusion, in that the body of the post did not at all refer to him performing the task in question.

Further, he could simply be using the term 'mechanic' to refer to a guitar technician of some stripe, which I hope is the case. Hopefully he's not commissioning guitar work that should be done by someone in the trade and not a dude at an auto body shop, who would more reasonably be expected to have such facilities. Doubly so if said individual is going to refret the neck. Just because the guy may be good with his hands don't make no never mind. If I need a guitar refretted and I can get a neurosurgeon or Thomas Nordeggggggg at the same price I'm going with the guy that's been keeping Evo alive lo these many years.

Suffice it to say, I agree with the thinking that a commercial off the shelf drop-in replacement neck is the most cost-effective route to getting this CBS Strat.

Yup! totally get it, and thought that could be the case but there's always that one instance where the meaning of the words in one's post were not quite clear or in this case incorrectly used which is why I covered that base in posting "He might be the one doing the work in question and how it related to the post title.

I personally have never heard of anyone refer to someone that works on guitars for a living as a mechanic, though I do understand the term as loosely being used,...I'm just trying to be more exacting in how I convey in text as there is pretty much only black and white with the occasional emoticon.

You know how the internet is now days, if you don't go and use the correct words people either try to accuse you of being uninformed or hang you with your words... no harm no foul man just trying to help!
 
I took the nitro off my Strat's neck with a bladed paint scraper. I pulled the neck off the guitar and spent about 3 hours in the backyard with a couple of beers, slowly scraping it all down to the wood. After that, I took some synthetic pads (kind of like scotch-brite) in 3 grits and polished it up. I was nervous it would damage the inlays but they and the side markers were unharmed.Finally, I threw on a coat of tung oil.

The neck is now pure sex, although slightly more sensitive to temperature/humidity changes. My Strat is a semi-rare model and I've probably destroyed the value but I don't care. It's not for sale ever.
 
... I personally have never heard of anyone refer to someone that works on guitars for a living as a mechanic, though I do understand the term as loosely being used,...

I used to call myself a guitar mechanic back in the days when I was working as a guitar tech at a music store. I wasn't up to luthier standards, but I could do basic to intermediate setup work. :)

In the case of the OP's question, I'd go with the replacement neck. I'm a better woodworker and finisher than guitar tech, and trying to strip a Fender neck is just asking for trouble, IMO.
 
Yup! totally get it, and thought that could be the case but there's always that one instance where the meaning of the words in one's post were not quite clear or in this case incorrectly used which is why I covered that base in posting "He might be the one doing the work in question and how it related to the post title.

I personally have never heard of anyone refer to someone that works on guitars for a living as a mechanic, though I do understand the term as loosely being used,...I'm just trying to be more exacting in how I convey in text as there is pretty much only black and white with the occasional emoticon.

You know how the internet is now days, if you don't go and use the correct words people either try to accuse you of being uninformed or hang you with your words... no harm no foul man just trying to help!

namaste homie!
 
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