How To Relic A Guitar Neck|Quick & Easy

In this video I show you how to relic a guitar neck. I start by showing you how to sand it down with 220-320 grit sanding pads. Next how to apply a stain to the wood along with a finish to protect the natural wood. This video is for all guitar players who don't like the stickiness on the back of their guitar necks due to the lacquer that is used. I show you how to go about removing this and applying a new and easy wood finish to give you a smooth and natural feel.

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Supplies:
Klingspor Sanding Foam Pads
Stewmac Tobacco Brown Stain
Linseed Oil and Beeswax mix from Stewmac

The Gear I'm Using:

[yodasecondave]

I’m a big fan of linseed oil with some pine tar mixed into it for my gunstocks.

[usagi]

This is *EXACTLY* the kind of process I was looking for! I've got a Friedman Vintage-T and a AVRI Strat that both have this kind of "bare wood" relic'ed neck, and I love the way both feel. I've been wanting to do the same to a couple other guitars of mine, but was never really satisfied with the other videos/websites that I had found online... this was laid out so simply, so straight-forward that I actually think I could do this, now! Thanks!

[billyclub]

The best way to practice, is with a friend's guitar

[braxtonvestal]

That matte black with the double binding is beautiful!

[davidneath]

I’m old school, I played my guitar for more than 30 years, and hey presto, it is now officially a relic.😉

[rsty]

Great info…. Thank you ! Like how u keep it simple, but you know woods ! 👍🏼👍🏼

[richymart]

Thanks man! Not gonna lie, I thought the whole not painting the entire neck was a mistake and would never look blended, but it came out awesome.
I am about to do this on my latest build. Fingers crossed.

[LegacyGuitars]

Great video, I like how you gave the reasons for your process. I have done some things similarly, I like to spray nitro on the neck then sand back the wear spots, but I think it's probably about the same result at the end. Thanks for sharing!

[deivblue]

Great job! Now I'm waiting for a tutorial about that amazin open grain finish!!!!

[Douglas_I]

That is one sexy guitar! That open grain finish on the body with that gold pickguard looks so good! Then the headstock looks incredible too!

[gregpetre]

Beautiful work man, thanks for passing on the inspiration

[BoKnowsZombies]

Great point about the linseed oil catching fire. Seen it personally.

[GuyNarnarian]

Gorgeous guitar. Absolutely love the grain and color of the body and pickguard. Very simple and easy tutorial as well, I feel like I could do this fairly easily at least on my guitars that don't have heavy finish on the necks. One question - why only the top load option on the Tele? You can make it string through and still have a bridge that would let you top load if you wanted to. Starting to see more people top load Teles, I wonder if it makes it slightly more slinky?

[BenjamenMejia]

We don’t want it to look fake lol but we are faking it. Awesome, thanks 🙏. I’m also trying to relic my SG.

[nikolaibarbarich]

I held my neck and stencilled around my hand while holding an f major open chord. Sanding back from there uoto around the 12 fret. Graphite and fill it in. Sanding sealer over the bare wood. Satin nitro for the rest and into the freezer for checking.

[doyouluvit]

gotta say....I've always thought Teles are hideous, but yours looks killer!! Good job!

[mattschmidt]

Looks great man! I have a guitar with a gloss poly finish I would like to this to. Noticed your neck was bare wood, and started with the 230. Do you recommend starting on a different grit if the gloss poly is on there? Thank you.

[eggman]

Nice tips thanks. That tele looks absolutely amazing.

[techtonic_pcs]

Hey man. I love this video. Can you make one talking about the steps of painting a guitar? I’m trying to paint a parts caster, and want to give it a relic nitro look.

[keithbriscoe]

So neck was first finished. Then you removed a section of finish, right? What were the Sandi g steps you used for that?
I'm looking to relic/age more so along the top and bottom back edges of the fretboard (as opposed to full back meat of the neck). Assume I can use these same techniques to my small/thinner sections.
Thank you for the video.