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Post subject: Sweaty hands - neck damage?
Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 10:25 am
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Sorry for the bad english in advance...

I read somwhere an interview with angus young that he played his very first guitar so much that the sweat from his hands caused the neck to get rotten.

My hands tend to get VERY sweaty when i play guitar and would like to know: is there any risk of damaging my guitar neck if gets too much sweat on it...

And also, i have an American standard 2008 strat with the glossed neck, is there any difference if theres gloss on it, does it react different with sweaty hands?


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Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 10:29 am
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does your guitar have a maple fretboard or a rosewood one?
If its maple you should be fine for a good few years about 10 or 15.
If its rosewood it should be ok with regular attention unless you sweat acid. cleaning after playing now will help you a lot in the future whatever the fingerboard is made of.


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Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 12:30 pm
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Here's the first thing I thought of when I saw the title of this post:
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Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 12:48 pm
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I have a maple fretboard... but what happens after 10 years then? is the neck gonna turn green and fall off? :lol:

Russianracehorse: Yeah i just realised it looks kinda silly when you think about it, that's not what i was thinking just so you know haha! :D


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Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 1:32 pm
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Nah there wont be any kind of neck breaking of and running round the room screaming 'he touched me with sweaty hands', scenario.

What may happen is that the finish may wear off the fingerboard over time and sweat get into the wood. With the density of maple its unlikely to get in deep, but it could start to discolour the fretboard of the guitar, like you see on relic'd guitars. This is all very hypothetical and depends on how you treat the guitar now. Wipe it down after playing and dont go taking chunks out of the fretboard and you will be ok. :D


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Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 1:38 pm
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Dude if you wipe down your neck once you're done playing you should be fine.

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Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:05 pm
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One worry about too much sweat on your guitar is that the moisture can follow the fret tang down into the fretboard, and cause the wood surrounding the frets to soften, and the frets unseat or loosen. Also, the moisture is very bad for your bridge pieces, as it can corrode metal parts after years of usage. I have restored enough guitars in my day to attest to the damage it can leave behind.
Always wipe down your strings, fretboard and bridge after playing. Also, about every 6-12 months, take apart your guitar and really clean everything. Clean the fretboard, and then use a good non-silicone polish on maple, and I use Gibsons Luthier's Choice fretboard conditioner on rosewood and ebony, with nice results. This kind of treatment not only prevents damage, but makes the board nice and smooth.
Take apart your bridge assembly completely, remove all dirt, grime, rust and reassemble with a light coat of 3 & 1 oil, and wipe away excess with a soft rag. If you do this, the bridge parts will resist corrosion in the future, and be easier to adjust and disassemble.
I hope this helps you out.


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Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 3:45 pm
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My hands are naturally very dry. Not so much a good thing, but at least I know my guitars'll be safe. :lol:


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Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 4:02 pm
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My hands also sweat a LOT .. I actually bought a string cleaner recently because of it ... it made my strings rust really quick..... but now they last longer :)


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Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 6:17 am
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I keep a cloth close by and wipe the strings after a few songs even though my hands don`t sweat a lot. My strings never rust but I change them every few months anyway. I wipe the neck as well and keep the guitar polished and protected.


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Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 8:08 am
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Want to see sweat, check old videos of Freddie King when he was real big


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Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 8:26 am
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Rosewood is much more forgiving than maple when it comes to aging. My old rosewood boards look beatiful when oiled. If I play the rosewood, it never needs oil, the natural oils in you hand will keep them looking decent.

Maple looses its luster and just looks bad over time, but I like the way they look when new.

But for an old instrument, the rosewood looks better almost everytime

Keep in mind when oiling your fretboard to use a very small amount on a rag and rub it on and wipe off the excess immediately. The oil kills the glue which can cause frets to come unseated, fingerboards to lift off the neck, and inlays to come off in extreme cases.

I also second wiping the guitar down after playing, and also to wash your hands before playing. You would be surprized how far these simple steps will go to keeping your guitar and strings in good shape. If you eat chicken wings, wipe your hands down with a napkin and then later play, thinking your hands are clean, think again, your strings will notice what you cannot see.

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Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 10:47 am
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Yeah i always wash my hands before i play, a few years ago i didn't wash my hands before i played and now when i think about it, the neck started to feel kinda greasy just after a couple of times playing.

Oh by the way, i use the fender mist & wipe finish enhancer on the neck and body everytime i change strings, anyone have any (bad?) experiences from this? (only used it a couple of times). And does it react different when i have a glossed maple neck?

Sorry for my pain in the $@! questions, but i care too much of my guitar to walk around not knowing how to take care of it properly :lol:


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Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 11:52 am
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How about some talcum powder?

Just like the Olympic Gymnasts ... powder up your hands before swinging on the bars!

Or how about a new invention: guitarist gloves ... fingerless, with a "fast action" palm which doesn't stick to the back of necks which enable lightning fast runs! etc etc

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Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 11:53 am
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PostPosted: 25 Nov 2008 13:17 Post subject:
I keep a cloth close by and wipe the strings after a few songs even though my hands don`t sweat a lot. My strings never rust but I change them every few months anyway. I wipe the neck as well and keep the guitar polished and protected.


Ditto...although I change my strings before every rehearsal and every performance.

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