Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Wear spots

I notice I’m starting to get some pretty significant wear spots on my guitar neck from playing too many cowboy chords. It looks like the finish is wearing off on top of the neck where my thumb hangs over and on the corresponding spot on the bottom of the neck where the base of my index finger rubs. It doesn’t really bother my cosmetically, but I’m starting to feel the difference when my hand slides across the neck. Anyone know of an easy way to retard or repair this process?

Congratulations! That means you are loving that guitar :slight_smile:

I have a guitar that has gone through that transition, and I don’t feel it on the neck once it had a little time like that. Maybe I just quit noticing, but I think it kind of slicks up once the edges get feathered and your hand polishes it out. If you did want to do something to retard it and slick it up, I have read of some people french polishing some shellac on the exposed wood with good results. Some people are more reactive to nitro, so washing your hands before playing may slow the process. I am not saying you should wash before picking a guitar up… it seems kind of high-brow to me, but I figured I’d throw it out there as a possible contributing factor.

Sounds like it might be easiest just to see if things smooth out on their own. It’s not really a big deal, but I was concerned the problem might get worse over time.