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Ok, I have a very low end Tak in my shop with a broken neck. I have the neck fixed and its sanded back real nice, leaving an unfinished area that needs finishing
So, it looks to me to be some kind of paint, maybe stain, but it didn't penetrate to far in the wood. I would like to color it with something fairly close then shot nitro over it. What would you suggest as a good under coat for nitro.

Thanks

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

can you use a toner ? I do like to use aniline stains or toners in the lacquer to help hide and blend color
john hall

If you want to do a relatively cheap fix on a cheap guitar, I would just use
water stains made with pigments like the "Color Tone" ones StewMac
sells. The beauty of this is the how quickly you can get very close. I
typically use a paper towel, a bottle of water and a few pigments like
tobacco brown, medium brown mahogany, and vintage amber. Wet your
cloth, add a drop or two of pigment and off you go. With water stains you
can wipe off (within reason) with a fresh damp towel, and do all your
testing as you go. You can usually get the color very close in a matter of a
minute or two. Then let it dry, seal with shellac and then spray.

This will not make it perfect, but it should look okay, and be quick and
inexpensive. If you have a good eye for color, the biggest problem you
will typically see will be the edges. If the original color was stained in the
wood you will see dark edges where they overlap. If the original color was
in the finish you will have light edges where the original base coat
prevents the stain from penetrating. If you want to spend the time on it
you can remedy this with tedious scraping or fine paintbrush work, then
add a little amber or very light brown in the sprayed coat to help obscure
it.

Of course my procedure will be very different with any instrument of
value, but getting that last 20% toward perfection can add a few thousand
percent in time.

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