Tinting your headstock amber

I think your only bet is to sand it down and refinish it

 

I would try cleaning the headstock thoroughly. Then a light going over with a very fine abrasive pad to give some tooth for something to grab on to. Then wipe on a very thin coat of a gelled oil based wood stain of correct colour and wipe it off until the tint is right. After it's dried for a couple days, clear coat it. The technique is called glazing. I do a lot of it refinishing woodwork and furniture. I've got pretty good at it but it's taken a few years of experimenting and practice.

If you haven't done this type of work before you could screw it up badly. However, a good furniture refinisher could do it for you. Check around and see who's available and what exactly he proposes he's do, then check back.

Other guys here who refinish or build instruments will have their own techniques I'm sure they'd be willing to share.

 

Take some #00 steel wool and go over your headstock a bit. Make sure you get all the fine particles off. Then get a can of Stew-Mac vintage amber tint and a can of clear coat. Go over it LIGHTLY with the tint -- a little of this stuff goes a long way -- until you get the desired shade. Then go over it with several light coats of clear, with an hour or two between coats. Wait at least three days and then bring it to a high polish using fine steel wool and polishing compound from your local auto parts store.

 

I've done this a few times, actually. Just the other day, as a matter of fact. The tint dries really quickly. You could apply the first clear coat in about an hour. If you were closer, I'd invite to you to drop by with the neck and I'd do it myself. There's really nothing to it. Oh, just out of curiosity, what kind of bass is this?

 

I like how the Reranch tinted Nitrocellulose looks. It comes in a spray can, very easy to use.
just google Reranch


peace Capt Kirk

 

ReRanch Tinted Lacquer

 

I used that on the headstock of my Carvin fretless kit. I like the way it came out. I was trying to stain the maple neck to match the amber-stained ash body, and the maple wouldn't take the stain uniformly. So I went to the tinted lacquer, and it looks great. I applied thin layers until the color was right, then added a few layers of clear coat.

Ed

 

Nellie, clear your PM box...

 

You might get varying answers here, but I say nope. Don't sand between coats. Just spray the tint until you've got the color you want, let that dry a bit, and then clear coat that bad boy!

 

The HO headstock is the only reason I don't dig that model. Thus the reason I only want the body.
Post pics when you do tint it.

 

Can't wait to see it!

 

Any more updates?

 

http://reranchstore.stores.yahoo.net/tinclearcoat.html