OK, I got the neck back to where it was before I blew it by spraying on too much maple tint and accidentally dropped it -- both on the same day.
Boris kindly told me how to apply the Behlen's maple jet spray. For whatever reason, I got crazy with the spray can trying to blend a few areas, and blew through a half can instead of just lightly misting it.
It looked horrible. Here it is with half of it removed with steel wool:
Here is the ding in the headstock:
Here is the headstock after sanding out the ding:
I need to add a few nitro coats again, then mist with jet spray, then do the final nitro coats. There is the added benefit of some slight relicing around the frets (I left a little bit of the dark spray around a couple frets . . . a very tiny bit). I also left a little bit of the ding visible to remind me to be careful next time.
Total cost of these mistakes - $4 in maple spray and 4 hours over two days
Experience gained from lessons learned - Priceless