Official Luthiers Forum!

Been away from building since the Covid.
Now my bench is FULL of fricking guitars.

New problem I've not run into before.

Sticker shadow.

I'm on my 2nd Lutz top from 2004. First was White Gold. Now Curly Bear.
Both have stains from the stickers so deep, they're not going to disappear before I get the top to thickness.

Who's encountered this and what did you do to counter it?
Is my entire stash firewood?

Please send help

dl

Was it stacked green?. If so, the sticks should be dry, and a fan helps speed the drying. The longer the wood is wet, the more likely it will stain.
To prevent warping, a dummy sheet is placed on sticks on the top and bottom of the stack. This equalizes the exposure on both sides. Quartered spruce doesn't need to be weighted or clamped.
Air temperature also can be a factor. Staining is more likely when the temperature is 60 degrees F. and above.
I used 1/4" square sticks cut from white fir 2X4's, which worked very well.

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_________________
John

But is there anything to do about it now that is stained?

Aii the tops might not be stained equally bad. You could try surfacing the "inside" to just "smooth" and then take the top to final thickness by planing and sanding the "show side" only (rather than planing the "show side" and then thicknessing by sanding the "inside". You do risk planing to a defect (pitch pocket ,etc.) but by thinning the board toward the center that might give the best chance of removing the sticker stain.
Another strategy might be to do painted tops or very dark bursts.

Do you have any pictures with the locations of the staining on the tops?

Pics attached.
First has light stripe stains on both sides. In different places. It’s at .124” so not much room to go on either side. And there’s two dark stains at the bottom. Almost like eyeballs. Again, all the way through.
The other is at thickness. Rosette inlaid. Dark stain is flitch or bearclaw. Whatever you want to call it, the grain is at a different angle in that area.
Big bummer.

You might leave them out in the sun for a few weeks. The differences might not totally disappear, but they would be less obvious.

The sticker stain is less obvious than what I assumed it would be. As Bob mentioned the natural darkening of the top from sun and age will make it less noticeable.
If you don't mind an aged look using an oxidizer like potassium permanganate might darken the top and help hide the stains.