Question about Rosewood necks...

Casi1

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Guys,

So I was prepping my guitars for winter storage and noticed that my guitars that have rosewood necks all feel different from each other. For example, my McCarty's neck feels AWESOME ... Its feels satiny, like the smooth raw maple neck on the DC3 only much much better. However, the same type of rosewood is on my 408 and although it feels good (and looks beautiful), it feels raw as you can feel the ridges in the wood when you run your hand across it. My third rosewood neck'd guitar has a different type of rosewood than the other two guitars but it too feels raw like you can feel the pores in the wood.

Are these just different cuts or types of rosewood OR do you think something was done to the awesome one to make it feel the way it does?

I guess my question is how does PRS make a rosewood neck so satiny smooth and how can I get my other two to be like the first one? Is this some special process or special grade of wood?

I hope I described the way the necks feel well enough...

Thanks!
 
I have 3 "bare neck" guitars. One being the RL Vela (not Rosewood). The Vela and SC Ted both have that raw feeling neck. The ME II has a very silky smooth feel to it. I got that one from Rider1260 in a trade. I asked him about it, and I think he said that he just put a little lemon oil on it. I could be mis-remembering that though. The substance he put on, not that he didn't put something on it.
 
Ok, first: ''Winter storage"? You are hibernating your guitars for the winter? Is this because you are leaving them to go somewhere for the season? Or you just stop playing for six months over the winter because it is you that hibernates?

:p Half-joking...

Anyway, like any wood, rosewood can have different grain patterns and pore density. Brazzy rosewood is well-renowned because it is supposed to be sleeker, denser feeling, less pores, more like ebony. Some IRWs, especially on uh, "cheap" guitars (but not any PRS!), are very porous looking and would feel a little rough. I suppose it is possible your McCarty happens to have a nicer feeling IRW somewhat by chance, or it is possible you have a Brazzy RW fretboard - what year is your McCarty? My "2012" McCarty Korina Soapbar has a Brazzy RW fretboard, for example.

"Lemon Oil" (not really made from lemons) is a good cleaner that might help a rosewood fretboard feel nicer, but furniture polish like Pledge is what really makes it feel slick. Just be minimalistic in application.
 
I have 3 "bare neck" guitars. One being the RL Vela (not Rosewood). The Vela and SC Ted both have that raw feeling neck. The ME II has a very silky smooth feel to it. I got that one from Rider1260 in a trade. I asked him about it, and I think he said that he just put a little lemon oil on it. I could be mis-remembering that though. The substance he put on, not that he didn't put something on it.

Interesting. The MEII has a RW neck, correct?

It would be great if there was something out there that I could just rub on it like that. So far, I've only used that F one (?) oil.
 
Ok, first: ''Winter storage"? You are hibernating your guitars for the winter? Is this because you are leaving them to go somewhere for the season? Or you just stop playing for six months over the winter because it is you that hibernates?

:p Half-joking...

Anyway, like any wood, rosewood can have different grain patterns and pore density. Brazzy rosewood is well-renowned because it is supposed to be sleeker, denser feeling, less pores, more like ebony. Some IRWs, especially on uh, "cheap" guitars (but not any PRS!), are very porous looking and would feel a little rough. I suppose it is possible your McCarty happens to have a nicer feeling IRW somewhat by chance, or it is possible you have a Brazzy RW fretboard - what year is your McCarty? My "2012" McCarty Korina Soapbar has a Brazzy RW fretboard, for example.

"Lemon Oil" (not really made from lemons) is a good cleaner that might help a rosewood fretboard feel nicer, but furniture polish like Pledge is what really makes it feel slick. Just be minimalistic in application.

Lol. Some of my guitars are typical snow bunnies in that they enjoy the coziness of their storage compartments in the winter time. These are the guitars that suffer humidity related 'changes' during the dry winter season. On the other hand, my Korina McCarty with its Brazzy board and my S2 Custom 24 tend to handle the humidity changes like little champs... So I limit my guitar playing/noise to just them during the winter. They have exhibited zero neck/fretboard changes over these last few winters even though they were free standing in a room which I 'try' to keep humidified throughout the cold months.

My McCarty that has the awesome rosewood neck is Brazilian, my 408 that has the (by comparison) rough neck is also Brazilian. The other guitar, which has a similar rough feel to the 408, has an East Indian rosewood neck. The McCarty and the third guitar were both artist packages so I figured that if this was a PRS process that made the McCarty neck awesome, I thought it would apply to both guitars. All of these guitars were bought used so I dont have the original order details to look up. I guess I could call PRS and ask if there was anything specifically done to the McCarty neck?
 
There is a couple of things you can do

1) The PTC treatment of awesomeness I have heard great things about this

2) This is what I do get some 3000 Grit clear coat sand paper from the autoparts store cut a small piece ( say 1 x 3 inch ) and the put several drops of fretboard oil ( I use Gibson because its what I have do not use Lemon Oil ) on it sand gently with the grain
then wipe clean with a bit more oil and a cotton cloth let soak in for a few hours wipe again.
After normal play just wipe with a micro fiber cloth then once or twice a year a couple of drops of fretboard oil is all that is needed
I have had 3 different rosewood neck guitar and tho each has its own feel they should all be smooth
 
There is a couple of things you can do

1) The PTC treatment of awesomeness I have heard great things about this

2) This is what I do get some 3000 Grit clear coat sand paper from the autoparts store cut a small piece ( say 1 x 3 inch ) and the put several drops of fretboard oil ( I use Gibson because its what I have do not use Lemon Oil ) on it sand gently with the grain
then wipe clean with a bit more oil and a cotton cloth let soak in for a few hours wipe again.
After normal play just wipe with a micro fiber cloth then once or twice a year a couple of drops of fretboard oil is all that is needed
I have had 3 different rosewood neck guitar and tho each has its own feel they should all be smooth

Thanks! I might have to do #2 once I find out some more details about #1 (which sounds very interesting ... but also very 'PRS costly'). But something tells me that my McCarty had this PTC treatment. That guitars neck is just ridiculously addictive. Everybody who touches it comments on it.
 
So I followed Rider's advice (I figure $4.99 and some elbow grease vs something like $850+shipping to/from+wait time... equal no brainer).

So far so good:

ENdRj2o.jpg



fxFizZd.jpg


Its at the 'soaking' phase right now. It feels much better already. I cant wait to do the final wipe so that I can touch it and play it.

Thanks for all the recommendations!
 
So I followed Rider's advice (I figure $4.99 and some elbow grease vs something like $850+shipping to/from+wait time... equal no brainer).

So far so good:

ENdRj2o.jpg



fxFizZd.jpg


Its at the 'soaking' phase right now. It feels much better already. I cant wait to do the final wipe so that I can touch it and play it.

Thanks for all the recommendations!

Nice! Bet it feels even better now. I'm going to have to do this to my Ted.
 
Nice! Bet it feels even better now. I'm going to have to do this to my Ted.

Yeah man, I highly recommend it (thanks again Rider!)...plus it was QUICK and CHEAP. I'd say that this neck now feels at least a good 80% of what my McCarty's neck feels like. Thats a major improvement.

I used Music Nomad's F-one fretboard oil since I had a huge bottle of it lying around. I love that oil for rosewood and ebony. It pretty much absorbed right into the neck when I went to wipe it down the last time.

I'm definitely gonna try this approach with my other 408's indian rosewood neck. That one is a bit rougher (more pores, more texture) than these brazzy necks so the result might not be quite as nice but it will still be an improvement.

Happy Thanksgiving!
 
That is a great looking neck.
So I followed Rider's advice (I figure $4.99 and some elbow grease vs something like $850+shipping to/from+wait time... equal no brainer).

So far so good:

ENdRj2o.jpg



fxFizZd.jpg


Its at the 'soaking' phase right now. It feels much better already. I cant wait to do the final wipe so that I can touch it and play it.

Thanks for all the recommendations!
 
Lucky indeed, Some the best feeling guitars I've played happen to have Rosewood necks.

I totally agree. I cant hear much difference between certain types of tonewoods but to me, rosewood's 'hype', especially Brazilian rosewood, is more based on feel in the hand than its other attributes. The feel is what really sets it apart. I can get the clarity and sustain from a variety of woods, maybe not identical but close enough; I cant cop that feel though.

Brazilian has a ringiness, a physical vibration, and a texture that sets it
apart from the other rosewoods (which are all lovely)... but I really miss my mids when I play these guitars. I guess life is about balance and I give up those mids for the way the rosewood feels.

If its true that PRS is currently out of certain rosewoods, then thats sad. I was hoping the supply would last for another decade; they were still churning them out when other manufacturers had moved on to other woods after the regulations hit. I know PRS is on the cutting edge of looking for and finding similar woods that are sustainable. I just think it may be a long wait. At least we have the used market in the meantime.
 
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