‘Aging’ a headstock

[Same]

That's some strong stain

Fiebings is top notch, I’ve used it in the past and always do a coat or two of BLO before applying the stain. If left on too long it gets pretty red, so I gotta test it on poly and see how it soaks in

 

[Cowboy in Latvia]

I think the mistake you made was applying the stain with a hammer. Next time I would use a cloth, sponge or brush.

Personally, I'm not sure it will work well on poly finishes. That is just too non-absorbent of a medium. There's a reason you don't see well-aged finishes on poly basses.

 

[Axstar]

Problem is, if your maple headstock looks darker and aged, but your maple fretboard doesn't, it looks like you stained it, rather than it being natural. Don't overdo it.

That looks ok on '70s Fenders as the headstock faves were finished in nitro and the rest of the neck in poly.

 

[shrigg]

That looks ok on '70s Fenders as the headstock faces were finished in nitro and the rest of the neck in poly.

Yeah that's correct for 70's headstocks

 

[dbsfgyd1]

i know this has been discussed,and I know time and use will help - I just want to push it forward a lil. but I just wanted to see about different finishes do with stain. I test have a nitro finished neck and I think it looks decent enough, but don’t have a newer neck I could try out without bein scared. I used fiebings medium brown leather dye for about 5/10 minutes then wiped it off, but The thicker finish probably helped it from coming out too dark. Just curious if anyone knows how a newer neck would do with a stain, or should I go a different rout, or just leave it alone?

Here’s the test
View attachment 3186605

Well from the looks of that first fret, it appears you got your money’s worth...