Hey, I have an SRV neck with a glossy urethane neck. Are glossy urethane necks common on strat necks, or are satin ones common. What did vintage strat necks use?

Both finishes are fairly common, though I'd say that satin is probably a bit more popular. I think that vintage necks were finished like the urethane necks but with nitrocellulose. I'm not 100% sure about that, but usually when you see a worn in vintage neck it looks like it was once a glossy finish. I'm not sure when Fender started producing glossy necks, but there's bound to be someone more knowledgeable about these things on this forum.

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would nitrocellunose finish feel like urethane?

Time to get the furniture wool out

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To me , nitro necks fell stickier,but what cv says.Get the steel wool out.

Friend of mine has a CS 56 strat... I love the neck shape but hate the fact the back of the neck is glossy. Unless you keep it really clean it just becomes a nightmare to play. Satin doesn't look as great but it gets the job done much better imo.

I have a satin neck and an unfinished neck. Both are easier to play then the really glossy ones for me, to much gloss gets uncomfortable.

My humble 2 penneth - from experience of my own guitars I would say that satin is the most playable, but as far as glossy goes: nitrocellulose is more playable than urethane.

it seems like most people like satin over gloss finishes, and it sound like people like urethane the least. Why would a guys like SRV want that urethane finish?
and what dos steel wool do?

SRVs guitar I am sure was nitro if it was a 63.Steel wool takes the gloss off of the finish.

My brother has a SRV and we were always bugged by the neck finish. Following advice on this forum he took some scotch brite pads and lightly went over the the neck once or twice. It transformed the neck into a very nice and playable guitar. It went from being one of the worst necks to being one of the best. I've since done the same to my other strat necks with equally great results.

Just realize that if you take steel wool to it, it's resale value won't be as high. But if you're sure you aren't going to sell it and you just want to customize the guitar more towards your tastes than go for it.



The neck of Stevie's real #1 was worn down to the wood, which would basically turn it into a satin feeling neck. You can see it very well if you watch the video from the 1982 Montreux concert when they show him from the back. There should be videos of that on youtube. In an interview Stevie specifically said he liked the feel of bare wood necks best.

I don't think that satin necks were an option in the 50's/60's, so the only way you could get one that felt like a satin neck was to either buy one used or play the heck out of it. Generally glossy necks tend to turn up more on higher end guitars (think Gibson Standards) so that's probably why the SRV has a glossy finished neck. Not all glossy finishes are terrible though, I once played a Gibson Les Paul Classic with a glossy neck that felt great. Cheaper ones, like Schecters or Epiphones feel stickier to me. I've played several SRVs and they all felt very nice and playable even with the glossy necks.

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My SRV has a glossy neck and it feels really nice.Never had a problem playing it.Also the American Standard has a satin finish on the back of the neck , while the fretboard is glossy.Another nice option.

thanks for all the advice!
Do the steel wool and scotch brites take of the gloss, or just change it chemically? could bare wood lead to swelling and problems frorm humidity?

Both steel wool and scotchbrite are abrasives, so they take the gloss off.Most people use a 000 steel wool, which is very fine.Bare wood does invite problems with humidity like any untreated wood.Fre sprout being the most common problem.