the water soluble modified resins of the present invention to a 2000 milliliter flask equipped with a mechanical stirrer and nitrogen sparge were charged 1000 grams tall oil rosin 2 6 grams tributyl phosphite and one drop dow corning antifoam a the charge was heated to 170 u00b0 c and 186 grams fumaric acid was added the charge was further heated to 200 u00b0 c and held at that temperature for one hour then 103 grams piperazine was added and the charge was further heated to 235 u00b0 c where it was held until the acid number was 170 next the batch was cooled to 205 u00b0 c and 35 grams diethylene glycol was added heating was continued at 205 u00b0 c until the acid number was 154 the product was a clear resin with a ring and ball softening point of 137 u00b0 c solutions of this resin at 25 solids in aqueous ammonia at ph 9 to 10 were stable remained clear and showed no precipitation for a period of nine weeks by contrast a similar resin without the diethylene glycol modification gelled in aqueous ammoniacal solution in two days a series of resins were prepared using the procedure of example 1 but replacing the diethylene glycol with equimolar amounts of other polyols these resins are listed in table i all of the polyol modified resins made had solution stabilities of greater than 30 days except those made with pentaerythritol or sorbitol even these latter resins had stabilities of over three weeks which might be acceptable in some applications of particular interest due to.