My "new" '95 CE-22 has a sticky neck

Lewguitar

Old Know It All
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My '97 CE-22 does not. Neither does my '95 CU-22.

But the neck of the '95 CE-22 gets sticky feeling after about 15 minutes of playing.

I noticed when I got it and assumed it was some kind of wax or polish the previous owner had used.

So I wiped it down with Naptha and then cleaned and polished it with a soft cloth.

The problem seemed solved but it wasn't.

Now it's getting sticky again.

It's not horrible but I've never had a PRS feel like this.

Maybe there's still some residue on it that the previous owner left behind, but I cleaned it pretty good.

He said he used a polish marketed by Jim Dunlap.

I don't seem to have the kind of sweat or oils that leave behind any residue or soften a finish but maybe some people do?

Some guys do complain about it being a problem but I've never had this problem.

Any ideas?
 
I have no ideas, but I feel your pain.

I had a lot of Gibsons with that issue. I had a 1998 CU22 Soapbar with it as well, though that didn't stop me from keeping it for a long time.

PRS pretty much solved it with their recent nitro finishes. Thing is, some batches of nitro were sensitive to the sticky thing.
 
Maybe you’re like me and have sweaty hands? The PRS polish applied to the neck usually helps…

Btw, I use it an all of my nitro guitars (Gibson), a finish I dislike.
 
Maybe you’re like me and have sweaty hands? The PRS polish applied to the neck usually helps…

Btw, I use it an all of my nitro guitars (Gibson), a finish I dislike.
Nope. Never had this issue before and I've been playing 56 years.

My '97 CE-22 doesn't have the problem. My '95 CE-22 does.

I'm going to take the strings off and really clean up the neck and fingerboard. Might even use some super fine steel wool.

Going to get all of whatever the previous owner left behind on it off of it.

Making I'm picking some gunk off of the fingerboard.

Guess we'll see...
 
Heh.. mine started falling off after about six-seven years, I eventually had Frank Falbo take it all off during a refret.


You could do the Scotch Brite trick, but it might accelerate the wear.
Frank's kind of whizz huh? Very knowledgeable. Worked with Seymour Duncan for a while and invented some cool things for them. Used to chat with him a little on the Duncan Forum.
 
I've satinized maple necks using very fine steel wool. I don't know if it would work for you in this case though. I've never heard of a guitar more than a couple years old that had a sticky neck.
 
back in 98 or so, I had a new SG Standard that was doing the same thing. I figured something hadn't been allowed to dry, but in this case it was a new guitar. Hmmmmmm
I traded it for a mixing board.
 
Sounds like the heat that you impart to the neck when playing is softening the finish ...

Best to do as the above have suggested ... remove the surface coat and leave it as a bare wood or
take it down to the wood and then apply a light coat of oil or satin lacquer.

If it is the fretboard it may take a few iterations to clear the mess ...
 
Thanks for all of the suggestions.

I think it's whatever the previous owner used to polish the guitar and treat the fingerboard. The fingerboard is much darker than my other CE-22 and I suspect he used some kind of oil on it that get's into my fingers and then gets transferred to the neck and makes it sticky.

I'm going to remove the strings, toss them, and really scrub this guitar clean with Naptha. I'll use 0000 steel wool on the neck and fingerboard until I get this guy's DNA, polish and oil out of the pores of the rosewood fingerboard and off of the guitar.

Then I'll use clear mineral oil on the fingerboard, string it up with new strings and see if the problem is solved.

I've never had a sticky neck on a PRS. This is a '95 so it should be the same finish as on my '95 CU22 and that guitar is fine.
 
Not to cast aspersions ...

But brings to mind the comment ... "He is so slick, oily, greaser boy"

Combo of West Side Story and Grease ....
 
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