Washburn N4 redo

[Ayrton]

I get emails asking me how I do this and that sometimes, so I thought I would post up what is going on with one of my Davies.

What I do may not be for everyone, and this thread will get updated as I go. I have several guitars that are being worked on at the moment, so progress may be spotty.

This is my latest Davies (I now have four), and it was quite a mess when I received it. The whole guitar looked to have never been cleaned, or set up frankly.

I am no luthier by any means, but I know my way around tools. I learn by reading and doing, so some of this may not be the 100% "correct" way to do things, but they work for me.

The neck had quite a bit of relief in it even with the truss rod backed off. So in an attempt to rectify this, I clamped it down to a straight edge for about a week, and that seemed to help. I did not apply any heat at this point, but this may be a problem come assembly time.

Firs thing I decided to tackle was the filthy neck. I have never owned a new Davies, so I don't know if they came with no finish on the neck, or very little. Either way, this neck was quite dirty and just plain gross feeling.

I started with 180 grit paper and in just a few minutes you can see just how dirty.



Remember this ding for later...







The fretboard....(gross)



I use a simple sanding block of two paint sticks glued together, and Norton (the best) brand paper. Any sandpaper will work of course, but if you have the choice of Norton, get it.





You can use "finger sanding" on the curved areas, but flat areas need to remain flat. Use the block when sanding the heel and sides. Remember, the point here is to removed dirt and stains, not remove large amounts of wood.





Here it is after about 20 minutes of sanding. Notice I did not "go to town" on the back of the headstock. Not only is it not really dirty, but you don't want to risk sanding off your serial number.





Remember the ding?





While I did lightly sand the back of the headstock, I purposely left the side alone. The finish on the headstock comes matte from the shop, and we want to retain that look.



I stepped up to 220 grit and in curved areas where sanding scratches might show, I went to 320. Depending on how you want to finish the neck will determine this. If you plan to use something like Tung Oil, then finish sand to 320. Since I like to use gunstock oil (Tru Oil), I stopped at 220.

Tru Oil is a "hard" finish, and will give the feel of an oiled neck, but with the protection of a hard finish. Not only is it almost idiot proof to apply, it looks great.



Let me show you my very high tech Tru Oil applicator.



Yes, that is a small cotton cloth and a small ball of tissue paper. You can substitute the paper with a cotton ball, or even a piece of the same cotton rag. Anything that is soft and soaks up liquid will work (this is not brain surgery).

This is the very difficult way to build the applicator.

[Ayrton]

OK, application should be self explanatory. Just wipe on a coat of oil in the direction of the grain and let is dry. Don't fuss with it as Tru Oil will self level as it dries.

On a raw piece of wood, the first coat is going to get soaked up immediately and will be dry to the touch in about an hour.

Once the oil is dry to the touch, lightly scuff the neck again with 0000 steel wool. Make sure you wipe off or remove any steel wool dust and apply another coat. How may coats is up to you, but the more you apply, the more the shine.

I usually do 5-6 coats because I do not like a thick finish on my necks.

Here is what you have after...







The light area on the back is where someone had a sticker or something. The flash makes it seem worse that it is.





The oil will dry completely overnight, and will fully cure in a week or so. Once cured, I will buff it with wax to dull the shine, and make it silky smooth.

I did not talk about the fretboard yet because I have not decided if I am going to refret this neck. Either way, we will go over than in another episode.

[JustWendell]

Good job with your neck, it was definitely in need of cleaning.

Just did this same process to a cheapie silvertone that my cousin gave to me. Still got to get my lazy but in gear and make a new nut for it since the stock piece of plastic shattered when I tried to remove it for filing. My first time using tru oil and I'm very impressed as it was both super easy to put on and now the neck feels amazing.

[Lucid_Lunatic]

Man, this is an awesome thread, I've really enjoyed reading through it. Are you going to keep posting til you finish the whole guitar?

[Ayrton]

Man, this is an awesome thread, I've really enjoyed reading through it. Are you going to keep posting til you finish the whole guitar?

Oh heck ya.

I have several I am trying to finish up at the same time, but this one is really the only one that not just assembly.

I will try and start on the body this weekend.

[super rad stuff]

cool stuff! thanks for the info ayrton, i'll have to do the whole thing to my butt-naked sg now

[XSSIVE]

nice work man! lookin' real clean.

i'm a big fan of dirty maple necks myself so i never clean mine off and just let the oils and stains add to the mojo

-Mike

[Ayrton]

Well there is mojo, and then there is just plain nasty.

[XSSIVE]

my rule of thumb is if you can scrape it off with a pick it's nasty, if you need to sand it to get it out it's mojo lol.

-Mike

[Ayrton]

my rule of thumb is if you can scrape it off with a pick it's nasty, if you need to sand it to get it out it's mojo lol.

-Mike

Sigged....