Thanks in advance for any help/advice that someone can offer.

I have a maple neck on a guitar that I recently acquired from someone, and I won’t call him an idiot, but trying to reverse something he has done.

This guy used boiled linseed oil on the neck, he said about 5-6 years ago the first time, and about a year ago as well. The result has diminished the appearance greatly, and also some staining that while a little hard to describe, appears slike flaming in certain areas. Others were completely darkened, taking away any possibility of seeing the grain in the wood, etc.

So, I would like to remove all of the boiled linseed oil ‘staining’ and any other effects on the wood from its’ application(s). I used some naptha and rubbing, and I believe that it has lightened, but of course, it hasn’t resolved the problem.

I guess my first question is if something like turpentine, or another solvent would remove the BLO. Also, if something like that would not, I am capable of sanding down the neck and refretting this guitar, but would like to avoid that if possible as the neck is in good shape…but, I would gladly do this if I knew it could help remove the staining completly. I wish this guy hadn’t done this at all because the guitar is 20+ years old, and the mere natural aging of the maple color would look fantastic at this point, but that’s not the situation.

Thank you all again, and I hoe that a solution may actually exist.