Fender Maple Refin

[Alex Q Guitarworks]

Have you tried mixing color with a mixture of nitro at a very high ratio? Like mostly thinner (1:10 or so) just to stain the fretboard. Then you can go over it with poly without problem. The chance of nitro to overreact with something on/in the wood are very low.

[Ian Davlin The Looth Group]

That look can be really subtle. With the poly and the satin you’re going to have a lot of diffusion going on in the lacquer which is a good thing. Since the color is so light, I might use pigment for the majority of the color replacement instead of dye.

One of the bits of information that really changed my amber game was learing that transtint vintage amber is just lemon yellow and dark walnut (brown).

Now when I try to hit an amber I use yellow and then just change the brown I add. In dyes that means if I’m matching really orangey amber I mix in medium brown.

If I was doing this in pigs, I would use mixol yellow and brown and maybe salt to taste with red. Mixing pigs is tricky though.

[Dave Staudte (rhymms with "Howdy") NB Guitar Repair (New Braunfels, TX)]

My aged Nitro recipe is as follows:

4oz. Nitro

5 Drops TransTint Golden Brown

3 Drops TransTint Honey Amber

Practice on a scrap piece of maple. If it’s too much color dilute with more Nitro. I have a box of 500 wooden popsicle sticks (craft store) they are maple, I stir with them it’s a good start when you find a few that might match your neck.

I haven’t found a “Vintage Amber” out of the bottle that is one size fits all.

Your milage may vary…

[Brandon Forsyth Fret Tec, LLC]

Thank you very much for sharing your recipe, Dave!

[Brandon Forsyth Fret Tec, LLC]

Probably just a tad dark, as my test piece was a better match, but I think my guy will be happy with it. Thanks for the help, my friends.

[Ian Davlin The Looth Group]

That, is a fine looking color !

[Brandon Forsyth Fret Tec, LLC]

Thank you, Ian!