Little finish help please?

[Dave Bagwill]

I've cranked up the contrast on this to better show what I'm dealing with.
I'm using Tru-Oil, and the rest of the guitar looks great, but on this Sitka top, in front of and behind the bridge, it is really crappy. It almost looks like black purfling dust in there, but I was pretty careful about that.

I've gone down in grits to 320, used scotch pads, the only liquid was a little naptha to make sure I was cleaning out the grain, but I still have those areas that will not respond.

Analysis/solution anyone? Could I be dealing with glue signature? What to do about that - titebond original?
Thanks for you help.

[ken cierp]

Not sure what you got going there -- but you'll not want to hear this, it is not a good idea to use a solvent for clean up, dust or other. Tack rags only. The solvent will tend to desolve the dust (oil in the dust) or what ever and make it into a penetrating stain that can sink deep into the pores -- especially soft woods.

[Dave Bagwill]

I may not have gotten good tack rags when I first started out, but I really thought I could detect a residual film left by the rag, which was difficult to remove. Are all tack rags created equal?
Had the same trouble with steel wool until I found out the cheaper stuff has oils in it. Gads.

I usually use a brush and a vacuum to remove the dust, nothing else, but this was kicking my butt and I weakened and dipped into the naptha.

[ken cierp]

Nothing special -- no wax or silicone is what I look for. While tack rag residue is an issue for water borne finishes, it is of no concern for any solvent based coating. The sticky on the rag is actually varnish and it will readily desolve when wetted.

[Ken Hundley]

Dave, have you tried the razor trick? Scrape it VERY gently with a brand spankin new razor....shouldn't leave marks....that almost looks below the rest of the surface, hard to tell. The only way I ever got that area good was to mask, finish, then cut out the mask and then glue the bridge on. Otherwise, there was always some witness mark, or less gloss there cause I couldn't polish close enough.

[Dave Bagwill]

Thanks. I'll rethink my process with this input.