One coat of amber stain is too much

jaymenon

I received today from Crimson guitars their amber stain and penetrating finishing oil. 

After one coat of Amber stain on my new neck however it’s turned out a rather unpleasant deep orange colour. I followed the instructions and try to rub it out with a damp cloth with some success, but not not enough.

Is there anything I can do please before I start applying the finishing oil?

Crimson are closed today and I will only be able to get advice from them on Monday. Expert advice, most appreciated.

 

jaymenon

I’ve used Wudtone in the past and it took four coats before I got the amber shade that I required…

davros

Amber on necks is typically done through using amber tinted lacquer. The problem with stain is that it will penetrate different areas differently, an amber lacquer will tint evenly.

Wudtone is, I believe, osmo oil with a tint, and would sit more on the surface.

In this case, I would think you'd need to sand the stain out, or at least enough to even the colour out. That should at least make it more even. You could start with 240 grit and take it slow.

GSPBASSES

I would be tempted to rub it down and start again, then water the stain down, then build up multi coats until to you get the colour you want. I have found if I want the vintage Fender colour on the neck I use vintage pine Danish oil or clear Liberon  finishing oil. Both of these oils will give you a nice vintage tint without being to orange. The photo below shows one coat of  vintage pine Danish oil on flame Maple.

jaymenon

Thanks guys for the advice. After rubbing it down a little bit with sandpaper it’s already starting to look a little bit better

jaymenon

Finally, I used a blade from a Stanley knife to scrape away all the stain I possibly could. Then rubbed it down with increasingly fine abrasive flexible pad.

when I finished it looked like this - the last picture is to indicate a little bit of stain I  applied to the heel, which I decided not to remove since it will not be visible anyway…

jaymenon

I had an old bottle of Wudtone Wudtone Neck colour coat (amber / yellow stain)

Now applied that twice - and it's looking nice...

The next step would be to use their Top Coat (oil based lacquer) - but I don't have any left.

Can I use Crimson's Penetrating Finishing oil instead?

Or would it be wiser to get a sachet of Osmo Polyx Clear Gloss Oil? 

davros

I would expect the crimson finishing oil would be fine. Just try in a hidden area, like the heel first.

I've found the crimson oil dries slower than others so, make sure you wipe off as much excess as you can.

jaymenon

Thank you so much @davros ; that's very very helpful.

I read that Wudtone is 'Oil based lacquer'

I'm guessing the offering from Crimson is a very similar product?

davros

I found the Crimson oil to be very similar to tru oil, but a little slower to dry. I don't know about the Osmo/Wudtone but it should be similar. Worst case it's sand it down and start again!