Hi all,

I have an ej strat with the maple neck. The neck still gets sticky and I am wondering what is the best way to clean it? I have heard that some owners are using Gibson luthiers polish. Is this stuff safe on the ej?

Thanks for the help

Congratulations on the guitar... I'd like to sample one of those. My instrument also has a maple neck treated with nitrocellulose, and it seems to me that the stickiness is just something you have to deal with until the finish wears off. At first I thought my hands were just really grotty, but I haven't experienced it with more modern satin-finished necks. Maybe there's a product that will help, but since the "stickiness" is actually caused by bits of lacquer coming off I'm a bit doubtful.

I made some wall hangers a few months ago, and my EJs are not sticky anymore. I think you need to keep these guitars out of the case to let the lacquer cure. I have two, and now that they have been hanging on the wall for about six months, the necks are nice and slick. BUT, the hangers are leaving marks and wearing through the finish. So don't use plastic on lacquer!

You can take some 000 steel wool to the back of the neck, and remove just enough to take away the tacky feeling, but not enough to remove the finish all together. You'll need to use 000, anything courser will remove too much finish.