Ouch Zakko, yeah that's not too pretty. If it had something to do with the manufacturing like Marlow mentioned, I'm sure sanding the neck sped up the process. Where did you get the neck?

The humidity in my area is very low, and it has affected my guitar. The fret edges were still smooth when I was in a humid area, and when I moved here they needed beveling after a year or two. I'm not sure if the neck will parallel that initial fret reaction, but I don't want to take too many chances. I bought some Birchwood-Casey Tru-Oil (lucky to have Dicks relatively close) today, and it seems that the application is fairly simple: Apply a small amount with a soft cloth onto the bare wood, and wipe off within fifteen seconds or so. Between coats, some people like to smooth it out with steel wool. On other message boards, I've heard others claiming that Ernie Ball uses just one coat of this to finish their necks. I'm not sure if this is just hypothesis or fact, but it seems that the general opinion of the product is good.

If I use the Tru-Oil, would I also be able to stain the neck? Would using this WITHOUT any stain prevent the wood from getting any darker from the dirt from my hands over time? I like how some neck backs are very dark with stain/dirt, and don't want the Tru-Oil to prevent the neck from darkening in the future.


Influence.