How do you stain a maple neck?

I'll be ordering a new, unfinished maple neck in the next week or so, and wanted to know what's the best way to go about staining it? I'd like to use something like a Minwax Polyshades, which is stain and polyurethane in one. Either that, or some sort of stain, and then top it off with some Minwax Wipe-On Poly.

Should I use some sort of wood conditioner on the neck before applying the stain? Also, should I be using a water based stain, gel stain, or oil based? Mainly looking at the Minwax brand of stains, since they're readily available at a number of stores.

If the process is going to end up looking blotchy, etc. then I'll just skip the stain and do a couple coats of wipe-on poly, I just thought that it would be neat to try a stain underneath. Not interested in ReRanch stuff, since I don't have an area for spraying, and would need to apply things in a wipe-on or brush-on fashion.

I have done a few necks with Minwax products, and have had good luck with Minwax Golden Oak oil-based stain, just wipe on a few coats with small piece of rag. Dry and OOOO steel wool between coats, then I finished with a few coats of Minwax Wipe-On Poly, again drying and steel wooling between coats. I like the satin finish, look better to my eye. To sand in close to the frets, I just use my fingernail through the steel wool, it gets right down close to the fret and removes the shiny. A couple of times, I wanted an even darker finish, so I finished off with some Kiwi Brown. I did not use any type of conditioner on the bare neck to start, but just be sure to use some clean rubber loves, and wipe it down initially with a naptha (lighter fluid) damp rag, to remove any body-oils from handling, those would probably keep the stain from penetrating.

Try to find out from the maker of your neck, if they have applied any stabilzer or coating at all...(many do)....which could interfere w/ your stain....many folks just choose a clear finish on Maple....with a little amber mixed in to give it a vintage tint.

I've never stained a neck before applying a lacquer finish. I do know that maple doesn't take stain as well as some other woods. However, GuitarJonz has done it and you can't argue with success.

Another option is mist coats of ReRanch Butterscotch or Burst Amber followed by the clear coats of your choice.

I would go the stain-in-coating mix. I stained my first partscaster neck from raw wood and it looked poor so I sanded it back. Fortunately maple seems to not suck the stain in far - it all came off again quite easily. I tinted some topcoat and that looked 100% better.

Maple is such a tight-grain wood that it needs no pre-coating - you can just finish it provided it is smooth and clean.

Another option is mist coats of ReRanch Butterscotch or Burst Amber followed by the clear coats of your choice.

Yeah, but as I said, I don't have an area for spraying. I think that since maple might not take stain as well, I may be better off with a clear coat of wipe-on poly.

Can ReRanch tint be added to Minwax Wipe-On poly?

Can ReRanch tint be added to Minwax Wipe-On poly?

Don't think so. If you want it tinted try Guitar Jonz's method.
Edit: [ Not sure what you mean by ReRanch tint. I was thinking ReRanch tinted lacquer. ReRanch does sell dyes. The dyes could possibly be used to tint the wipe on poly.]

Just remembered, I did a stain test on some bare maple once. This is Stew-Mac's ColorTone liquid dye (amber) mixed with alcohol in the recommended amount. However it might not work if the neck maker has put a sealer on the neck.

..................http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/jwells393/AmberStain32-1.jpg

You might be able to tint the wipe on Poly with these liquid dyes but you might get a streaked result from the wiping.

Maple is very hard to stain, so I use a spray nitro with a bit of tint in it to achieve the look of an aged or yellowed neck. I recommend, through www.woodworker.com the following Behlen Master Lacquer tones:

Catalogue # 851099, Light Fruitwood;
851106, Brown Mahogany (careful, denser color)
851141, Maple.

Brown Mahogany looks like this applied heavily:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t25/Bubbanov/49JUNE132007004.jpg

These are 13 ounce spray cans, highest quality, US manufacture, ships out of New Mexico, about $ 7 a can in small multiples.

Blend all three tones as you go, or for the full Marlboro look, use just the light fruitwood. Top with gloss or semi-gloss nitro.

If you have rosewood fretboards, fill the grain or mask the board off, otherwise you'll have pinholes galore. Thanks for the guidance, Jack, in that regard.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t25/Bubbanov/51May52007007.jpg

Bubbanov

I have had good luck staining maple with several different brands of stain (Behlen and Minwax included). Both water and oil based will work on maple. However, I like oil based better as it's easier to get a more even color and it does not raise the grain.

I don't like Poly-shades. It is very easy to get blotchy.

If you use the oil based minwax, just let it dry a few days and hit it with the wipe on poly. I have used it within just a few hours of putting the stain on and it works fine, but for something like your guitar, I'd say patience is a virtue.

You can make your own wipe on poly out of the Polyshades. Mix it with mineral spirits to the desired consistency and apply just like you would with the wipe on...I just did one and it turned out great.

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/500/DSCN0148.JPG

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/500/DSCN0150.JPG

This is what a refreshed SB 51 looks like with the neck reshaped ala N.A. Telecaster, and sprayed maybe three coats of primarily Maple, some Fruitwood nitro from Behlen, light top coat of clear nitro. Gotoh 'klusons', graphtech nut, Stew-Mac # 5304 bridge much better than stock.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t25/Bubbanov/51May52007002.jpg
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t25/Bubbanov/51May52007007.jpg

This neck was stupidly pale, worse than most stock 51s, and all the 'stain' you see is in the tint of the nitro.
Really hard to disagree with this result on a $ 99 guitar, don't you think?

Bubbanov

Hey Bubbanov,

That guitar does look quite good! Spray finishes with tints are very nice and can give a very nice and even look.

I forgot to mention my normal broken record comment when tinting... orange shellac works well. With a small can and some denatured alcohol to thin it out, you can make a very nice aged nitro look. You can spread it with a clean soft cotton rag. Then use a little wipe on poly.... or shoot some nitro over top. Using this method I matched the color over the binding on my early 70's SG.

Boris--nice work! I should try that one on mine...

On Polyshades: I used it years ago to finish some house trim. I've done a bunch of stripping & finishing or refinishing of furniture, trim, etc. and never hated anything as much as the Polyshades. Streaking, blotching, etc, and I do know how to finish wood a bit. As it started doing this on the only piece of wood I was working on that day, it was too late to thin it out, only remedy was to dry/strip and start over or try to work it in & live with it. I did the latter, cheap house.

So I'd second Fezz's comments--and nice work there too--and if yer doing Polyshades, thin it down a bunch & you probably eliminate the problem I had.

Listen to Jack.

I've never stained a neck before applying a lacquer finish. I do know that maple doesn't take stain as well as some other woods. However, GuitarJonz has done it and you can't argue with success.

Another option is mist coats of ReRanch Butterscotch or Burst Amber followed by the clear coats of your choice.

I've read and re-read as many archived posts as I can bring up on neck tint tinting, and had developed an plan based on using all locally available materials. My plan is (was?) an adaptation of Jack's method, but the first coat was going to be wiping on a Woodcraft product called TransTint. It's an alcohol soluble tint, and after achieving the right color I was planning to shoot Deft clear as Jack and others have outlined.

I'm a little slow on the uptake I guess, but I could never figure out why the recommendation was to spray the Butterscotch instead of wiping something on like this TransTint, nor could I figure out how this Butterscotch could penetrate whatever light satin clear finish is on my Squier '51 and MIM Std. necks. Then it hit me--duh! The Butterscotch and Deft as [Jack] outlined must sit on top of the existing satin, just like paint, right?

If true, this may change my plans to tint at all. Has anyone tried an accelerated sunlight method, like a UV lamp or the like? I'm not looking for a huge change, but just something to take the edge off that pasty-white look that Fender currently thinks is attractive on maple necks and boards. Looking at a 12 year old MIM Std. maple neck I just got made me realize how much better a little aging looks.

I know my approach seems too simple, too 'fast' to be right, but that's all ya do, just spray the tinted nitro right on over the clean existing Nelsonite or whatever sealer that's on there. Same approach for better finished necks, tho you may want to manage the amount of finish accumulating on the fretboard and especially the frets. You can take an aluminum soda can and create a shield or template to protect the board while you clean up the frets, once the nitrocellulose is good and dry.
Next I'll try this tinted nitro on existing matte body finishes such as the Squier Tele Special in walnut, to give the body a little depth and character. Plus it'll disguise those three stock bridge mount holes that will be exposed when the vintage bridges go on.

Bubbanov

BTW, if you sand through the sealer to reprofile the headstock and adjacent neck, the more finely you sand the more slowly you must go in applying the first mist coats of the lacquer. If you rush, the tint will agglomerate into freckles, you can't just spot sand the area and respray either. Ask me how I know.

I used Minwax stain and was not happy with the results. The stain went into the pores of the wood and obscured the beautiful grain lines I had. It was a little worse on the end grain.

I now have a neck with a semi-relic look, kinda dingy looking. I no longer notice it, but it bugged me for a while.

I've actually used Minwax stain on a neck. I used their conditioner first to pretreat the neck. Then I used wipe-on satin poly i got a few years ago from StewMac.

This is what a refreshed SB 51 looks like with the neck reshaped ala N.A. Telecaster, and sprayed maybe three coats of primarily Maple, some Fruitwood nitro from Behlen, light top coat of clear nitro. Gotoh 'klusons', graphtech nut, Stew-Mac # 5304 bridge much better than stock.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t25/Bubbanov/51May52007002.jpg
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t25/Bubbanov/51May52007007.jpg

This neck was stupidly pale, worse than most stock 51s, and all the 'stain' you see is in the tint of the nitro.
Really hard to disagree with this result on a $ 99 guitar, don't you think?

Bubbanov

Hey Bubbanov,

First off, that '51 looks great. What a change in the overall looks!

But here's what I can't figure out: is your new stain/tint just sitting on top of the factory sealing coat, or did it somehow permeate the surface? Seems to me if it's just sitting on top like paint it'll quickly wear off.

I wanted to give the nitro a chance to get a bit harder; since then I've played the guitar a good bit but I have not been able to generate any meaningful wear. If I see any sign of premature wear, I will apply coats of clear nitro to protect the tinted nitro. The factory sealer is way thinner than my subsequents coats, would not last long by itself I believe.
I know where you're coming from, when the shoe polish and poly some are using looks strange once the poly starts coming off, you get a reverse relic look, darker where there is no wear. Don't want that, but almost any stain will be worn thru at some point.
I can only say that if the nitro is scarred or comes off faster than I'd like, I can always respray with the same product and the layers of nitro will mend and marry together, or I can let the wear go all the way, wear thru the sealer as well and get some good old fashioned filth down into the maple. Doin' a whole bunch of them. 51s are great that way, you can do one of every possible treatment combination, just have to take notes as to which 51 is which. $ 69 right now.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t25/Bubbanov/49JUNE142007007.jpg

Bubbanov

For those interested in these $ 69 test-bed '51s, if you are repelled by the punky, pasty look of some Squier 51 necks, look for 51s with the serial number beginning with 0506 or 0505. This period of production includes capped maple necks and many darker than usual maple necks, darker than most Am Se Teles I've seen lately. You can resculpt the headstock to better mimic the North American guitars, not quite enough wood for a fine match of the tele 'bulge' but not all that bad, really. I'm still finding 0505 and 0506s as recently as this past weekend. The picture in the above post is a two piece 0506 maple neck, with the cap masked and recieving less coating and tint. Cap was much darker in stock form.

Bubbanov

Here's what the Behlen Mahogany looks like on the headstock of a Squier Special Tele, about as much finish as I can stand, hardened fairly fast. I apologize for saying earlier the Mahogany is darker in actual use on the maple neck, it isn't, if challenged I'd have to say the maple is a tad darker.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t25/Bubbanov/49JUNE132007006.jpg

I think I may end up using Watco Danish Oil (Golden Oak) to stain my next tele neck. Someone else on the boards recommended it for new maple necks, as it goes on evenly (i.e. not blotchy). I'd like to see some pics of it for sure before I start though...

I've had good luck by mixing up orange shellac fresh from flakes and brushing on about 4 coats and sanding out brush strokes till I build a base. I suppose I could spray it too, but I'm too lazy to clean my HVLP gun after the shellac. When you spray lacquer over it, it is a nice light amber, not a fake looking age like some new Fender guitars.

I'm sure this will sound like a stupid question, but I have to ask: When you are talking about staining the "neck" of a Tele, are we talking about the neck INCLUDING the fingerboard? I just don't want to do anything to negatively affect the playability.
Thanks!

I have used ReRanch Tinted lacquer on my AllParts maple necks. Sprayed some Deft and-n-sealer on then a few coats of the ReRanch tinted lacquer then 10 or so light coats of Deft lacquer. Steel wool with 0000 and good to go. I didn't bohter cleaning the finish off the frets - it will come off with normal playing - just like my Fender Am Std Tele and Strat.

Take it from a me, do not try to directly stain a maple neck. It would be bad, very bad. I had a cheapo neck I tried this on and it randomly absorbed the stain based on the density of the wood. In a word, it looked like I had rubbed dirt on it and it would not come off. I am currently taking the sage advice given here and giving the thinned out Polyshades a try.

Carefully...if you dare!
Remember there's no retroactive solution if you go to dark on raw maple wood...I've learned that lesson the hardway... and well..most regrettably if you know what I mean...

Hi, relatively new here but I am closing in on my first scratch tele build. I am wondering about Tung-oil on a maple neck, very lightly then wiping and steel wool, finally a light coat of Nitro lacquer.

I've used basic Danish Oil finish on all my maple neck builds so far......

comes up shiny after a few coats and plays ok.... and darkens a bit over time..