Fender neck finish

[Guest Gabriel1918]

Hi folks, I have a 2006 Fender Precision neck I need to refinish to match the original.  Does anyone know what fender uses to achieve the yellowish-maple, matt finish on their bass necks? I don't want to strip the headstock and refinish the whole thing if I can avoid it.  Fender's finish doesn't seep into the wood grain like stain or oil, so I'm assuming it's a coloured lacquer of some sort.  I tried oil and stain and it brings out too many variations in the hard rock maple wood grain.  Their coating seems to just sit on top and even everything out.  If anyone knows what process I need to use to get a match please let me know.  I'll attach a photo of the neck sanded to 240 grit with the original headstock colour visible.

[Geek99]

I would start by putting some sanding sealer on 

[bumnote]

Try here

https://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/nitrocellulose-lacquer/

[ikay]

The Fender neck finish is most likely to be poly rather than nitro. Looks like a very light tinted poly over sealed wood, but getting an exact match may be tricky.

Edited April 27, 2018 by ikay

[Guest Gabriel1918]

thanks guys.  It's poly.  I've never used sanding sealer.  Any product recommendations?  I take it the sealer won't bring out the burls in the maple like oil does?  Even applying naptha shows up a lot of uneven areas in the wood - some staying light and others going quite dark.

[Guest Gabriel1918]

I emailed tonetech and Bill said it's a nicotine tinted lacquer.  They only sell nitro.  I've wiped on a thin coat of clear poly as an experiment and it seems to have sealed the grain without seeping in and creating uneven areas.  On top of this I've tried a wipe on coat of poly tinted with artist's oil colour to match the headstock.  I haven't been able to get it to go on evenly yet though...I may need to wait until it cures fully, sand it lightly and try the tinted poly again.  But I suspect it will still be streaky.  I think I need nicotine poly in an aerosol.