Roasted?

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I'm looking at cheap Chinese-made bass necks on ebay, and I came across this one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335206261651. It is listed as being roasted.

 

My understanding is that when a neck is described as roasted, the timber is roasted before it is cut, so in order for the dark colour to be apparent after the neck is shaped, the wood will be dark all the way through the cross-section. However on the pic below, it looks like there is a scratch on the upper edge of the headstock between the holes for the A & D tuners, and the scratch appears to be a lighter colour. Am I misreading the photo, or does this indicate that this neck isn't actually roasted but instead has either been stained to give that appearance or perhaps lightly grilled?

 

[Cosmicrain]

I make necks for my Zoot bass range from Roasted Maple I buy in from my supplier in the USA.  In the workshop when I cut through the bulk timber, the colour throughout is consistent with not lightness in the centre or anywhere else.  However, when I clear coat the finished necks, the natural colour goes at least two times darker than the raw roasted timber. I have to say that the scratch on the headstock in the picture does indeed look to me to be a bit suspicious?  Maybe they were trying to sell it as "Roasted maple colour tinted" and not the real thing? I maybe wrong, but I'm not convinced it's the real deal. Here are a couple of shots of what Roasted Maple looks like before & after.  I only tend to buy in "Flamed Roasted maple" but the colour of the non-figured would be the same colours. I hope this helps.

Edited March 21 by Cosmicrain

[BreadBin]

Oof, some proper pretty wood there ^^