Interesting (and frustrating) binding experience

[McCreed]

I'm finishing a new neck (manufactured, not scratch) for one of my LP-style guitars with a bolt-on neck. It has single binding along the fretboard, and 4 layer binding around the headstock.

Last week I masked it all off very neatly and applied my stain (Feast Watson PF - alcohol based). Masking worked pretty well, but naturally still had a some clean up to do. I got it all nicely scraped without too much effort. Due to weather, schedule etc, it sat for 5 days or so.

Fast forward to today and I had the opportunity to spray my poly. I used my usual 60/40 poly/turps mixture and got my first coats on. Then I noticed the stain was bleeding onto the binding. I've only sprayed stained necks with binding a couple times before, but never had this happen.

I still had a bit in the pot, so I decided I'd spray one more coat, leave it to set, re-scrape the binding and then re-spray the edge (maybe with just my airbrush). My thinking being that once the initial coats of poly are set, the stain will be stabilised with it.

Prior to spraying the poly, I gave the neck a good wipe down with a clean dry rag to remove any dust and also check the colour fastness. The rag came away with hardly a tint of the stain on it. (I didn't use a sanding pad as I didn't want to affect the depth of colour).

Should be an easy fix, just an extra step I didn't plan on. Just sharing in case anyone else has had this happen...

[Simon Barden]

What a PITA. Could you try a 70/30 or even 80/20 poly/turps mix for a first coat? Obviously solvent is loosening the stain. But is it the turps, or is it something else that’s already in the poly to start with?

I’d suggest testing on some scrap wood to see if it’s the turps or the poly. Of course it may prove to be both with that particular stain pigment.

[McCreed]

What a PITA. Could you try a 70/30 or even 80/20 poly/turps mix for a first coat? Obviously solvent is loosening the stain. But is it the turps, or is it something else that’s already in the poly to start with?

I’d suggest testing on some scrap wood to see if it’s the turps or the poly. Of course it may prove to be both with that particular stain pigment.

Thanks Simon. Your guess is as good as mine on this one. My first thought was the turps being the culprit, but I've not had it happen before with the same recipe. Though, come to think of it, one was water based dye, the other was aniline dye in alcohol (???).

I had briefly considered spraying shellac before the poly but decided against it since I didn't want a tint on the white binding. Don't know if it would have made a difference, but methylated spirits (alcohol) is much milder than turpentine, so who knows?

The bleed wasn't catastrophic, more surprising and annoying. The poly was dry enough in a few hours to handle and I've since scraped and sanded it all clean again. I'll leave it overnight now and spray again in the morning. Weather should be perfect, so hopefully will all the coats I need done.

I didn't think to take any photos. Nothing very exciting anyway...

[Simon Barden]

It may well be the type of dye/pigment used in the stain. One type may be more liable to reactivate then the other. It may even just be a particular colour.

[McCreed]

I had shared some of the additional drama I encountered with this job in Simon's Jazz Bass thread (post #74 here) as he was having trouble with his finish and there was an opportunity to show solidarity...

I finally got back to working on my neck yesterday and today. Happy to report the final coats went on without any problems. Now hanging in the shed for a week or so before cutting a new nut and fret levelling.
It's a satin poly finish, so there won't be any wet sanding or polishing required.