Maple Neck Coloration w/ Time

[michaelomiya]

Got another question:

I have or have ordered hard rock maple necks on all of my Classics and DT Classics. In fact, my orders always specify, "white as possible - no vintage tint".

How quickly do the necks begin to "discolor" or begin to darken? I have one of the first shoreline gold classics that Tom sprayed in April 96, and the neck's become noticeably darker w/ time.

What is it about maple and time that causes the color change? Exposure to UV light?
Type of finish?
Oil from hands?
Cleaning frequency, solutions or lack thereof?

Again, more a visceral observation than one impacting tonality. And my preference has always been towards a cleaner, rather than dirty, fretboard.

[ShaunzNoiz]

I to love maple fretboards, but I don't play them anymore. I typically play very hard with heavy strings, and I've found that over the years, the louder the band that I play with, the more I tend to dig in. I play mostly jazz with a great love for blues. On my hollwow Drop Top Classic I'm playing .12's in standard tuning. On my archtops I'm playing .14's to .16's on the high E string. I guess I'm writing all of this because when I play, I tend to 'dig' the strings into the fretboard, which causes them to wear very quickly. The first strats that I began playing all had maple boards, and after about 4 to 6 months, I'd notice a great deal of wear and discoloration on the fretboard. Usually twice a year I have to have my frets dressed, and since I'm using Elixirs' exclusively now, I usually wear the frets on the top three strings, while the frets on the lower three strings don't get as bad since these three strings have the coating. I never used to wear the back of the necks, only the front of the necks. I once had a great strat (ok, maybe not Anderson great, but had a great feeling neck) that had a tinted neck, and after a few months of hard playing, the tint began to chip and discolor between all of the frets because I was playing so hard. I love the sound of the maple fretboards, but for cosmetic, sonic, and refretting purposes, I'm strictly a rosewood or ebony man.

As a side note, something that I've never thought about that being an archtop owner I probably should have. A seasoned Violin maker and great guitar repair guy once told me that most guitar players make a huge mistake in thinking that maple fretboard guitars don't need some type of moisture. He told me toward the end of my maple fretboard craze to start putting a humidifier in my guitar case. It helps the fretboard fight dirt that might get inside the pores, and it greastly reduces the chipped and cracked finishes that occur when you have a neck that has any sort of coating or tint. Hope this helps!

[tom]

about maple neck color, it's mostly the finish changing color although the wood does change a bit with UV exposure. the finish will darken with time and conditions. we have done a few neck reshapes on older guitars and i have had to oil tint the wood to get it to match.
as for humidity, 40-60% is great. if you live in southern california, you have it made. if you don't, you will have to deal with mother nature. exposure to higher than normal humidity won't have a lasting effect on your guitar. it will swell up a bit, and you will want to take some tension off the neck to keep it playing nice. if everything swells enough, you could get small hairline cracks coming from the corners of the neck pocket. these will usually just be the finish crying mercy, and not the wood cracking.
extra dry conditions will do some damage. firstly you will have a front bowed neck, which you can tighten to correct. next, your frets will start growing out the sides of your neck, of course they are not reallyt growing, the neck is shrinking. if these dry conditions persist, and you have no way of controlling them, you may want to get the frets trimmed so you don't hurt yourself. this brings up another interesting issue. many people believe that only laquer finishes "breathe". if a neck that is painted on all sides with UV cure finish can shrink, what does that tell you about the finish? is it breathing? is water vapor passing through it? if water vapor is passing through the finish, is the wood in a vintage guitar that lives in a wet climate drier than when it was made?
so what do we do with our electric guitars to keep them happy? keeping them in their cases helps a great deal. i don't know of a humidifier specificaly made for electrics. there is one for acoustics that looks like a chunk of clay that you soak with water and keep in a perforated container in the case. it would work fine, and i will try to figure out whee they come from.
sorry for rambling, i gotta eat.

[Roy (maybe)]

Tom is a ...?

This is fun!

[Roy (maybe)]

Looks like I missed him when he was on live. The coolest guy I know, is the answer to that previous question.

[JoeB63]

Cheap Humidifier for electrics:

Take a new plastic sandwich bag, the kind with the press-to-seal top. Use a fork or knife to pop a few (15?) tiny holes on one side of the bag.
Take a new kitchen sponge. Get it damp. Put it in the bag. Seal the bag. Put it in the case with the guitar (holes side up). Close case. Voila!

[tom]

well done grasshopper.

[ShaunzNoiz]

Hey guys! That little humidifier Tom was talking about is called 'The GuardFather', and it is made by Herco products, USA. I haven't seen these around in a while, but they are small enough to fit in an electric guitar case or a violin case with no problem.

[michaelomiya]

Originally posted by tom
about maple neck color, it's mostly the finish changing color although the wood does change a bit with UV exposure. the finish will darken with time and conditions.

Thanks Tom.


Originally posted by tom
as for humidity, 40-60% is great. if you live in southern california, you have it made.

Thanks Mother Nature.



Originally posted by tom
so what do we do with our electric guitars to keep them happy? keeping them in their cases helps a great deal.

Like little soldiers, they're stored upright and away from the kids!

Not to impose on any trade secrets, but what is required to adequately "tint" a maple neck?

[tom]

if you mean to tint it enough so it matches the older untinted area, it's a mixture of golden oak oil and a bit of stain. we orginally tried ths for our tinted necks, and prolpe said it wasn't enough, they wanteed it more barbequed looking. the tint we do is sprayed on. a warning, when you eventually wear through a tinted neck, you will have reverse image wear.