Randy's guitar necks

zmack mylde · Post by **zmack mylde** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 2:53 am

Does anyone know if Randy sandpapered the back of his guitar necks to expose the raw wood?

frank · Post by **frank** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 3:22 am

he never did this when i knew him. on the road with ozzy he would have a guitar tech to presumably do this and i never heard anything to that effect.

Paul Wolfe · Post by **Paul Wolfe** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 5:27 am

Study the photos online. There are a number of them that show the back of the neck of each of his guitars. None appear to have been sanded.

Zakk sands his, or has them built that way now, but I don't think Randy ever did.

rice_pudding · Post by **rice_pudding** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 12:43 pm

i recal seeing a photo of randys LP once in which it looked as though the neck and back of the headstock had exposed wood. It could have been the lighting maybe????????????????????????????

Paul Wolfe · Post by **Paul Wolfe** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 3:16 pm

It doesn't look sanded to me here:

GUITARIDOL5682 · Post by **GUITARIDOL5682** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 11:11 pm

I don't think the idea of sanding guitar necks has sunk with some people.Its not just a case of someone setting about a neck with a belt sander etc ? the guitar necks would be sanded to shape to suit the customer then the neck would be repainted to suit the matching paint work...Your not going to totaly trash a guitar and leave the neck looking like a family of wood peckers have moved in Jezuz...

Post by **Stiltzkin** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:21 am

GUITARIDOL5682 wrote:I don't think the idea of sanding guitar necks has sunk with some people.Its not just a case of someone setting about a neck with a belt sander etc ? the guitar necks would be sanded to shape to suit the customer then the neck would be repainted to suit the matching paint work...

I haven't tried it myself, but apparently you just sand the neck finish
off to make it smoother. Finish can get sticky sometimes etc ...

Paul Wolfe · Post by **Paul Wolfe** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 6:44 am

GUITARIDOL5682 wrote:Your not going to totaly trash a guitar and leave the neck looking like a family of wood peckers have moved in Jezuz...

The main reason to sand a neck is to leave bare wood so that the neck is more comfortable to play. Look at the Zakk Wylde guitars to see what I mean.

I am certain Randy never had the money or inclination to have his Les Paul neck reshaped - it's not that common a thing to do, at least not in 1980. His other guitars were built specifically for him, so the necks were made to his specs to begin with.

I'd say he got the Les Paul, was comfortable playing it and had the other guitars built to compare with that one.

rice_pudding · Post by **rice_pudding** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:52 pm

randys LP would have had a mahogany neck unlike the Zakk models. I've never seen a guitar with an exposed mahogany neck so i presume its not a good idea.
that would lead me to think randys LP was not sanded