KTM-9 and neck feel

[Craig Bumgarner]

First time I finished a neck with KTM-9, looks great but does not have a great feel to the hand, especially if the is any humidity at all. Not sticky really, but a bit grabby. The hand and fingers don't glide like the French polish or varnish I have used in the past.

Any kind of treatment I can use? I tried a light wipe of walnut oil. Work okay for a little while. Feels like it needs talcum powder. Any thoughts?

[Nick Middleton]

You probably have too-glossy of a surface. Try taking back down to a Matte-finish. I use either the white, grey, or green synthetic wool-pads depending on how much of an effect I'm going for.

[Craig Bumgarner]

Okay, thanks. I'm out of town with the guitar and don't have my full tool kit, so bought some 4/0 steel wool and knocked the gloss off, big improvement, clearly on the right track, thanks.

[Ron Belanger]

I've used KTM 9 and found that some of my customer's body chemistry softened the finish to the point of them scraping it off. I now use a Waterlox oil finish on my neck sanded in the first couple of coats to seal the pores and 3 or 4 thin coats applied with a cloth and then 2 or 3 coats rubbed in with fine synthetic steel wool, like the 3M pads but wooley. This gives me a very nice almost matte finish that is really smooth.