filler for routed headstock logo

I would say the odds are not great for undertaking something like this and it looking better than it does right now.

I’d let people continue to squint at the headstock.

 

You could easily paint in the hollow with a model paint brush.

 

Dry detail brush, Reaper, Citadel, or Vallejo brand water based model paint, and quickly wipe it off if it looks bad.
You could even dry brush in a goldish color and then dry brush a more restrained copper atop that.

I wouldn't, personally. But, using a small paintbrush and water based miniature paints is how I would do it if I were to do it.
(Dry brushing is dipping the brush and wiping a large chunk off, so the paint is missing deep recesses and catching the high points. On a model, it's great for adding depth to details. On wood, the effect varies by how flat/smooth your etched logo is, but best case scenario, you have a muted gold color logo with a touch of wood grain showing. While I have no experience with oiled unlaquered wood, the water based paint shouldn't be hard to remove with scrubbing. It comes off with tire cleaner on things its specifically engineered to stick to, so it's close ish to semi-perma-temporary like you're hypothetically after.)

 

I think it looks very nice just as it is .

I really don't know any thing about them.

Is that neck an option or a special run?

 

mix a dark grainfiller with epoxy and scrape it in with a plastic/art craft pallette knife...lightly sand and spray with lacquer

 

I've got an extra one of these lying about ... you could screw it onto your headstock with some wood screws


I think your headstock looks awesome just as it is, glad you have decided to leave it be.

 

That looks really cool to me as is.

 

You could use the same thing used to "pop" grain on bodies - tinted paste wood filler, scraped flush, sanded (usually several passes, each progressively thinner) followed by at least one coat of sanding sealer and one or two clear coat (if applied properly no fnal sanding is required - you go straight to buffing).

I won't type up the whole procedure, as if you don't already know what I mean and have no experience with it I suggest forgetting the idea altogether.

IMO I would not do anything at all.

 

I had one of those cross my bench yesterday - its one of the new "acoustasonics" with a mahogany neck and the laser etched logo. I'm sure the finish is a matt poly of some sort - I serious doubt it is any kind of oil.

Frankly I thought it was kind of cheap and ugly looking, but I wouldn't do anything to change it.

 

Good point - anything you do to color in the logo is probably gong to warrant a clear sealer of some sort and then you've caused a mis-match with the satin finish that's already on there. And ditto on the suspicion that it's not an oil finish. That takes too long to dry and get it out the door of the factory.

 

Leave it. There are a million things that can go wrong with paint, fillers, sealers, etc. Rosewood is notoriously difficult to bond with other materials, due to the oil content, that continues to leach out for years, which is why, I assume, that Fender decided not to even try to attach a decal or cleat coat..

 

I bought one of the first sea foam green American Professional Tele models when they first came out. The real selling point for me was the 1 piece rosewood neck. I have another guitar (Music Man Albert Lee) which I bought years ago and it sold me on one piece necks.

The one thing I didn't like was the laser etched logo. From a few feet away the Fender logo is barely visible. I contacted a pin stripper to see if he could fill in the Fender logo with sea foam green paint to match the body. His recommendation was not to do it because of the grain of the wood. He felt the grain would draw (or capillary) the paint outside of the logo and not give the logo a clean edge.

I've learned to live with the head stock the way it is. When you pay that much for a Fender you'd like people to know it's a Fender. Oh well!

 

I have one myself, and while I'm loathe to do anything to change it, due to the capillary action mentioned- the safe bet would probably be doing a gold foil, but it would be incredibly delicate work.