Stain not sticking to wood?

Pic.?
Make sure to use clean sandpaper when pre-sanding for finish.
And clean surface before applying stain.

 

I dislike stain for the very reason that it often ends up splotchy with some areas to dark and some areas looking like they have no stain on them. The fact that its water based stain probably doesn't help.

I would sand it out as good as you can and try an oil based stain, or better yet a transient dye.

 

To me, that does look like you sanded through the veneer.

 

And still if there is some veneer left there is glue in the veneer that prevents water based stain to stick on to it.

 

Bingo.

You have three options now. You can leave it alone and just finish the bass like it is. You can sand off the veneer and start over, or you can finish it in a solid color. The second would be the most difficult.

If it were my bass, I would go with a sold color, probably a sparkle finish. But that's just me. Whatever you decide to do good luck with it.

Cheers
Paul

 

If the bad spots are just around the outside edges paint that a solid color like black you know burst.

 

Stain is great... If you use a spray gun. Brushes and rollers just leave a splotchy mess.

 

+1 that's glue that you're trying to apply stain to. Sorry and I hope I'm wrong.

 

Sure looks like you sanded thru the veneer.Commercial veneer is very,very thin

 

I wouldn't use lacquer thinner on veneer. Veneer is so thin that the lacquer thinner could soak thru and possibly dissolve the glue holding it to the body.
A little on a rag rubbed on the surface should be ok, but applying it directly could end in disaster.

 

It's easy to tell if you sanded through the veneer. Does the curl in the grain carry across the trouble area? Even though the stain isn't there the wood grain should still match. The pic you posted is pretty small but it looks like you sanded through from what I can see at this resolution. If you can still see the curl then the veneer is probably soaked with glue and stain won't adhere to that. For what its worth I work in a woodshop every day and that looks exactly like a sand though from the irregular shape and the fading look around the edges.

Just because you can't see the mahogany yet doesn't mean you didn't sand through the face veneer. You could have a two layer veneer with a wood or paper substrate. You could also be looking at glue that hasn't been sanded through yet. Again, check the curl. If its gone then you sanded through.

Edit: just saw you posted that the grain was still there. Like MPU said, its probably glue soaked through the veneer.

 

Relic it?

 

You could turn it into a black burst finish, that would hide the flaw, and it would look pretty cool as well.

 

I think the black burst would look really nice. If I had to attempt a repair I would sand back the rest of the veneer until I had a uniform look. I would then use a clear sealer coat and apply the color using a tinted topcoat. The wood will never accept stain evenly so putting the color after the sealer would avoid absorption issues.