Prepping neck

[Sand Dancer]

Hi. When prepping a neck for oiling, is it advisable to mask the heel where it fits into the body or does that get oiled as well? As ever, thanks in advance for any help.

[Fretworn]

Yes mask the heel of the neck. Especially if it is a glue in neck.

[Bakersdozen]

Hi. When prepping a neck for oiling, is it advisable to mask the heel where it fits into the body or does that get oiled as well? As ever, thanks in advance for any help.

If your planning on a very very thin oil finish it would be okay to leave it and do the whole heel as well, but not for a set neck. The glue won't like binding to an oiled finish. But for a screw on neck if your building up layers of say TruOil, then it may be a better idea to mask off accordingly. Whatever amount of oil is on the heel, it's going to raise the fretboard closer to the strings by that much, if that makes sense.

I usually dry fit the neck and then lightly trace around where it meets the body on all sides in pencil. Also in your case the sides of the neck between top of the body and the binding. Just trace it all around if you know what I mean. I then mask up to the pencil line, carefully following the curves. Once it's masked up, I then rub out the pencil line with an eraser, so it doesn't get immortalised in the finish

Hope that helps! Keep asking away if I have confused you.

[Sand Dancer]

Thanks for the advice. It’s a bolt on neck with a lovely snug fit so I’ve marked the fit line and masked off accordingly

[McCreed]

I'm going to be Mr. Contrary and say with a screw-fixed (bolt-on) neck, I do the entire thing.

Tru Oil, tung oil or wipe-on poly builds up so slowly and creates such a thin finish that I've never had a problem with the heel fitting in the pocket. And if there was an issue, a *tiny* bit of sanding to the sides of the neck pocket would alleviate it.

I like the idea of the neck being completely sealed in (as much as that's possible). If you think about factory production or even DIY spraying, the heal is never masked off. I recently sprayed lacquer on two maple/maple necks and would never have considered masking the heels.

Masking off presents 3 problems in my mind.
1) The finish material (especially Tru Oil) with alter the colour of the timber, so you *could* get uneven tinting if not careful.
2) When the mask is removed there will be a little "step" from the bare wood to the finished level, which would still require a little sanding and also keeping a clean edge between finished/unfinished areas so it remains hidden within the pocket. Potential for more touch-up work or worse.
3) Masking is just one more step in the process and can be a fiddly one.

I fully agree with the set neck scenario though. You need bare wood to bare wood mating surfaces or there will be adhesion problems.

Just my 2 cents.

[ozzbike]

I'm going to be Mr. Contrary and say with a screw-fixed (bolt-on) neck, I do the entire thing.

Tru Oil, tung oil or wipe-on poly builds up so slowly and creates such a thin finish that I've never had a problem with the heel fitting in the pocket. And if there was an issue, a *tiny* bit of sanding to the sides of the neck pocket would alleviate it.

I like the idea of the neck being completely sealed in (as much as that's possible). If you think about factory production or even DIY spraying, the heal is never masked off. I recently sprayed lacquer on two maple/maple necks and would never have considered masking the heels.

Masking off presents 3 problems in my mind.
1) The finish material (especially Tru Oil) with alter the colour of the timber, so you *could* get uneven tinting if not careful.
2) When the mask is removed there will be a little "step" from the bare wood to the finished level, which would still require a little sanding and also keeping a clean edge between finished/unfinished areas so it remains hidden within the pocket. Potential for more touch-up work or worse.
3) Masking is just one more step in the process and can be a fiddly one.

I fully agree with the set neck scenario though. You need bare wood to bare wood mating surfaces or there will be adhesion problems.

Just my 2 cents.

Excellent advice. Ditto from me.

I would add that tape off the neck pocket....but the bolt on necks are treated as a single item. The fretboard itself can be a different story.

Maple fretboard.....I have done a natural with just wax on the wood......I have done an oiled and then waxed job....and I have done a complete polyurethane neck and fingerboard finish. But, all have had the complete neck finished as one piece.

Rosewood.....normally natural finish with lemon oil and then waxed finish. Again, the neck is completely finished.

Hope that helps.