Using an abrasive on the neck won't "totally ruin" the finish so long as you use a fine enough grade of paper or wool. The hardware store might not have 0000 (four-ought, quadruple-oh, superunbevlieveably fine, superfragilistic fine) and the paint store and big box stores almost guaranteed won't have it. For paper I'd try 800 or 1000 grit or even finer, which won't leave scratch marks but will just degloss the finish if that's what you want (it's also a cure for sticky lacquer if your hands are hot and caustic enough to do that, I had the problem on a Gibson). See if you can find an autoparts store with a good paint section, or, better yet, ask around for an auto paint refinishing supply shop that has a retail counter. A more expensive option is something called Abralon which is an abrasive impregnated cloth with a foam backing, or the more popular Micro Mesh found in specialty catalogs. Not necessarily guitar stuff (try Stew Mac and Luthier's Mercantile anyway) but more likely to be in a good woodworking/finishing catalog. You could also try auto polishing compound which has varying degrees of abrasive in it meant for rubbing out scratches, but many of those contain silicone which can get through the finish into the wood and contaminate things in case it ever needs to be refinished.
Then again you could just play the thing and not worry about it unless the neck actually turns out to get sticky.
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