GS Mini neck

[roadbiker]

I love my GS Mini, but I don't like the finish on the neck. It's too porous. I prefer the smooth, satin finish in my 814. Does anyone else feel the same way? I'm thinking about sanding it down a bit to make it smooth, but I'm not so sure. What do your think?

Jim

[M19]

Mine's a nice satin finish. Not sure what you mean by porous?

I'm not a good judge, though, 'cause I don't fret about the finish on the neck (pun intended!). Satin, OK. Gloss, just peachy. My Mini, marvelous.

[michaelw]

i can feel the (sapele) wood grain on the Mini neck -
i think it has to do with the varnish finish process

the spruce top is very smooth, although i notice the 'open-pore'
finish more on the 'hog top & on the back & sides as well

i'm not sure if sanding the neck, or rubbing it down with 0000 steel wool, would
accomplish much, other than possibly knocking the finish off, as i think more
of the smoothness may  come from the initial pre-finish grain filling process

[gdeleo]

Jim, here is something that you may be able to do to make the neck a little bit smoother.  Get you some Johnson's paste wax and apply a liberal coat on the neck.  Let it dry and take some 0000 steel wool and rub it down gently.  Repeat until you get the feel you are looking for.  I use to build and finish furniture and I used this method to get a really nice finish.  The wax will fill the pores and the steel wool will smooth it out.

[Restringing]

Jim, here is something that you may be able to do to make the neck a little bit smoother.  Get you some Johnson's paste wax and apply a liberal coat on the neck.  Let it dry and take some 0000 steel wool and rub it down gently.  Repeat until you get the feel you are looking for.  I use to build and finish furniture and I used this method to get a really nice finish.  The wax will fill the pores and the steel wool will smooth it out.

If you sand the neck what happens is that more pores will be exposed, thus defeating the desired effect. What you want to do is to fill in the pores. What Gary said is good advice because not only have you filled in the pores, you will now eliminate having to refinish the neck.

[roadbiker]

Good advice. Thanks. I'll give it a try. I really prefer not hitting the finish with sandpaper anyway.

Jim

[andyi5]

I love the neck on the GS mini and find the porous quality of the wood very agreeable to the touch. What I didn't like on some of the mini's I tried was a slight stickiness to the finish on the neck, almost as if they were over-varnished.

I've played a few GSm mahogany guitars this month (first opportunity to do so) and all of them had really nice smooth satiny necks, and quite a pale shade of wood used on the neck too. I'm also seeing a lot more striping in the ebony than I remember from 2011 - nice to see this so soon after the recent ebony video.