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I'm close to being done with a mahogany neck that I'm going to use a dark stain on. It has cocobolo binding on the fretboard and b/w/b veneer layers under the rosewood headplate. My concern is not staining the binding or the exposed edge of the white veneer.

I was considering masking off the binding and veneer but I'm wondering if that might still risk the stain migrating to where I don't want it. The white fiber veneer layer is separated from the mahogany by a 0.020 black layer, but maybe the stain might pass through the black veneer. I'm going to z-poxy the neck so maybe I should mask off the mahogany, z-poxy the binding and the veneer to protect them, and then stain the mahogany?

Thanks

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Stain migration under masking tape is to be expected. I have the best results by applying a wash coat of thinned lacquer over the entire neck first. Then I use a silex pore filler with stain to fill and color the mahogany. The wash coat on nearby purling prevents discoloration. I am not sure how to handle the situation when using epoxy pore filler.

I've had good results using a tiny brush to paint a sealcoat of shellac on the purfling, applying stain, then scraping the purfling with the corner of a razor or Xacto blade. I tested on scrap to make sure the stain didn't discolor the purfling so deeply that I couldn't scrape it clean.

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George :-)

Thanks, guys. It seems like keeping stain away from binding and purfling should be straight forward enough in principle. I just wanted to be sure there isn't something about it that's not obvious similar to the problem with CA staining spruce by wicking into end grain. That's an example of something I would not have known if someone hadn't pointed it out to me ahead of time.

I think I'll make a test piece with scraps of the mahogany, binding, and veneer and try sealing the binding and veneer before applying the stain.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter