Dark brown spot areas on new tele neck after applying transtint dye.

[nsurround]

After receiving a new Warmoth unfinished tele neck I wanted to give it a vintage tint. The neck was fairly smooth and only lightly sanded with 350 grit. Wiped down the back of the neck with naphtha to clean any finger oil etc. I then applied a first coat of transtint color mix with 50/50 DNA and Lacquer Thinner. I immediately ran into some dark brown spot areas in and near the headstock and also at the bottom of the back of the neck. They also came thru on the front of the headstock (see attach photos). Normally if there were just a spot here or there on maple I would just keep on going and eventually apply a few coats of tru-oil. However not liking at all the what the current look/issue is and not sure what to do about it. Any tips on fixes or should I just contact Warmoth about the issue?

 

[Spud]

Did you rub some dirt on it by chance?

 

[teleme01]

Looks like end grain, very natural and normal, character of the wood, no two exact?

 

[Spud]

Looks to me like whatever you put on there sunk in unevenly with colorant settling in wood grain. Sand it off, or wipe with thinner to get it gone.

 

[Rick]

I think it's a combination of factors as alluded to by spud and tele. Frankly it looks cool .. to me so I'd go with it and top it with more amber dye. That said ...

The way I've done it and it comes out great, is to use Keda dyes, water based.

So my fix would be, and I'm not sure you want to go that route, but .... sand it, acknowledge that whatever you put on did what it did, do your best sanding, but know that in some parts there will be some highlighting, then put on the keda in amber hue, maybe two, three coats, don't sand after the last coat, and it will be fine. Top with 15 coats of tru-oil with the last 12 cut in half with naptha.

 

[nsurround]

First, it does not wipe off with thinner. Cannot even sand it off. I do believe it is 'end grain'. Maybe I should have applied a pre-stain wood conditioner before the transtint mix. Not sure I really want to sand back to that and not sure even the conditioner would have changed things much. I have never really come across this on other necks from Warmoth so not sure what to make of it. Warmoths return policy is 'don't touch' or it cannot be returned. I understand that but for the price they are charging you would think there would be a little QC going on here in regards to 'end grain' issues on unfinished necks.

 

[teleme01]

Here is my canary with the same issue, its why I chose this neck, unique thumb print, but I can understand that isn't what you were looking for.

 

[Spud]

Lacquer thinner and steel wool will.

 

[BroccoliRob]

First, it does not wipe off with thinner. Cannot even sand it off. I do believe it is 'end grain'. Maybe I should have applied a pre-stain wood conditioner before the transtint mix. Not sure I really want to sand back to that and not sure even the conditioner would have changed things much. I have never really come across this on other necks from Warmoth so not sure what to make of it. Warmoths return policy is 'don't touch' or it cannot be returned. I understand that but for the price they are charging you would think there would be a little QC going on here in regards to 'end grain' issues on unfinished necks.

what does this mean, how does somebody "QC end grain" or know if a section of wood will discolor when a very specific finishing product is applied? don't Big W necks have a sealer on them, maybe you sanded through it or something, I dunno

 

[BroccoliRob]

all I know bout end grain is that them big open pores suck up a lot more finish, so some sort of filler is usually a good idea or you'll be caking oil or finish in them forever to build it up enough to be smooth