speeding up the neck

[Dead Winter]

I've heard that if you put furniture polish on the back of your guitar neck that it speeds it up really well. I think that would make playing a little easier, since it would require less effort to go back and forth. Any suggestions?

 

[kamikaze]

Hmm, Ive never heard that one though it might be true. I had a friend that just simply sanded the polish off the back of his neck till it was natural wood, He said that helped, But i wouldnt ever do that to one of mine

 

[xenophobe]

Personally, I have both natural oil and painted necks... I prefer painted... neither are quicker or slower than the other... I think it's just feel.

I think to speed up the neck, move to a lower gauge of string, lower the action and play lightly, and you should be able to play faster...

 

[Sunbane]

I agree w. Xeno that it's mainly a feel thing, but if you have very sweaty hands (unlike me - I have very dry hands), you may have problems on necks with glossy finishes.

I love the feel of unfinished and satin finish necks - friction free and nice. I would never dream of adding polish to it. I hate to say this but, ummm...it sounds like a very pointless thing to do. Wouldn't just some k-y lube work better then?

 

[Dead Winter]

I have very sweaty hands when I play, and usually that helps, although it corrodes my strings really badly. However, when my hands dry, they tend to stick to the neck. It's not a problem, I was just wondering if there was something I could do that would speed it up. I play just fine without it, but I've never tried anything like that before. I was just wondering if you guys had ever heard of anything like that.

 

[Opus(sy)2]

im not sure putting furniture polish on your guitar would be such a good idea would it?!?!?!, surely its not good for the guitar neck?!?! and wouldnt it make it a bit uncomfortable?!?!.....................lol i dont really have problems going up my neck.......and i agree with sunbane about it being pointless :zombie: :zombie: :zombie:

 

[veil the sky]

it's ALL about technique.

as long as you don't have rusty nails sticking out the back of your neck then it won't make any noticeable difference if your technique is up to scratch

 

[xenophobe]

There's also string lubricant, like Fret Eaze or some stuff... I don't use the stuff... I don't want whatever is in that to soak into my fretboard, though a lot of people seem to use it and like it.

I agree it's mostly technique, but how you have your guitar set up is just as important.

 

[wildfire]

Playing live, I have actually put white powder on the back of the neck(that you use when you play pool) and rubbed it down and it worked wonders. It doesn't damage the neck and your hand slides with ease. As far as the front of the neck, I have actually used, as strange as it may sound, vo5 hair oil treatment with a rag, rubbed the frets down good with the oil and then rubbed it down with another rag after a few minutes. After a while your neck stays shiny and smooth.

 

[FrostGiant]

When I move positions my thumb barely touches the neck. The condition of the strings is usually the factor for me.

 

[Pedro]

Dont go out and waste money on fret ease, buy a bottle of baby oil, it will last u a long time and wont will keep your guitar from rusting as quickly. And if u get horny....

 

[Astral Poetry]

I usually don't have a problem moving up. My neck has a glossy, satin finish that is remarkably smooth and slick.

 

[Bryant]

Hmm, Ive never heard that one though it might be true. I had a friend that just simply sanded the polish off the back of his neck till it was natural wood, He said that helped, But i wouldnt ever do that to one of mine

Actually if you do have a guitar with a neck that has a finish on it, sanding it is a good idea (unless your guitar is a collector's item. If you are careful, you won't hurt the guitar at all. Using a paint/varnish remover like Stripease etc. will also get most of it off and cut down on the elbow grease you would use by sanding it all off. Simply putting talcum powder or baby powder on the palm of your hand helps as well.
The best way is to speed up your hands as opposed to your guitar neck though. The easiest way to do that is play a guitar that is hard to play for about a month. I suggest learning to play an acoustic. If you work on scales and get your speed and precision up on an acoustic guitar, when you switch back to your electric, you will have progressed significantly. The best training tool I have ever bought for an electric guitar was an acoustic guitar.

Bryant

 

[fullymetal]

I have a b.c. rich beast with a floydd rose and the action is quite high but if i put it down any lower the strings start rattling is there anyway to get the action lower and cut out the rattling.

 

[Sunbane]

I have a b.c. rich beast with a floydd rose and the action is quite high but if i put it down any lower the strings start rattling is there anyway to get the action lower and cut out the rattling.

That usually means the neck needs adjusting.

 

[wildfire]

sunbane is right. check the neck without the strings on it with a straight edge, like a 2 foot square would work. Lay the long end on the top of the frets. look at the neck from the side, and if the neck needs adjusting, you will notice the square having either a space usually in the middle area, or the square will want to sort of roll back and forth when you try to make the square sit flat from the end of the neck to the other end where the body of the guitar meets. Just like in setting intonation on a guitar, if the neck is bowed in the middle, adjust the truss rod by loosening it. If the neck is making the square roll(a bow in the middle of the neck sticking out), tighten it. as you do this slowly, you will be able to see neck straighten, or if you're going the wrong way,YOU'LL NOTICE LOL. Before doing anything like this, check a few things about the neck. Sometimes there could be really bad fret wire wear and you may just need a fret job. If you don't know what you're doing(until you've learned how to correctly do this) just check these things and bring it to someone who knows how to do it.

 

[Niklas]

ive never really suffered from sweaty fret hand, i think generally it wud make a difference what temperature your playing

 

[97reb]

I guess bright lights shining on you during a performance could increase the temperature (so I guess if you are a sweater then baby powder or talcum powder would be good). I wash my hands before playing and dry them well. Old strings make it harder to play for speed and they sound like crap. I think fat neck guitars can slow down the speed of playing (like Bryant says, acoustics are good to learn your chops on).