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Hey all. I've had a 1975 maple neck Precision bass for like 30 years now. It's definitely got some hard miles on it and I love it. The neck has some issues I'm trying to sort but one of the most pressing ones is the finish has gotten pretty rough along the edges of the fretboard. Certainly playable but what would be the best way to deal with this? Light sanding? Trying for now to avoid anything involving refinish the neck.

Is the board maple or rosewood?

Do you have pictures?

marqueemoon wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 28, 2023 11:02 am

Is the board maple or rosewood?

Do you have pictures?

It's all maple neck. No pictures on hand, but it's rough, almost like chipped finish, up and down the neck where the curve of the back of the neck meets the edge of the fretboard. Not so bad to be unplayable but it's definitely not the standard texture you'd expect there.

Well, if it's a 75 then it'll be a poly finish, which can chip in an unpleasant way. Either sand it back gently and carefully to try and smooth out the sharper bits or get someone to strip and refinish the back completely giving it a new lease of life.

JSett wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 28, 2023 11:35 am

Well, if it's a 75 then it'll be a poly finish, which can chip in an unpleasant way. Either sand it back gently and carefully to try and smooth out the sharper bits or get someone to strip and refinish the back completely giving it a new lease of life.

Thanks for this, modest chipping would be a good way to describe the issue. I've been trying to avoid the refinish the neck scenario. Had a repair shop some time ago try to sell me on the idea the neck had a twist and could only be fixed by ripping out the frets, planing the fretboard down to compensate and refinishing. Action is not so bad that I wanted to contemplate doing that.

Well, it's it's only subtle, you can probably get away with the light sanding.

Get some 400 or 800 grit and a soft sanding block and go slowly, checking regularly. Best case, you fix it, worst case it still needs a refinish. The poly on those necks is pretty thick so you probably have a lot of material to play with before you get into dangerous territory of exposing raw wood

yeah what he said ^^ but then I'd also use some 3M polishing paper to make it super smooth after

OffYourFace wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 28, 2023 3:34 pm

yeah what he said ^^ but then I'd also use some 3M polishing paper to make it super smooth after

Yeah, I'd probably go up a few grades to maybe 1200/2000 then run some 0000 steel wool over as a final finish

I'd try the light grey or white scotch brite pads. They're great for polishing and smoothing slightly rough finishes on things. I use heavier duty ones on metal parts at work that require a perfect finish for a vacuum seal and have been very impressed by them and so now I use slightly lighter ones for fret polishes etc.