[CANCELLED] Ash neck+body carved top Soloist build

[docteurseb]

This one has been on my mind since last year when I got to play a PRS Private Stock that had an ash neck and body; this gave the guitar a very 'airy' tone.
The look was 'interesting' and not something I was fond of at first, but I'm quite open to that cerused look now:

Neck: Sound Guitar Works/Best Guitar Parts was the only shop I found willing to make this experimental ash neck as long as it was constructed with graphite reinforcements and not be covered under warranty (they made too few ash necks to predict how stable

I'd like to add a curly maple veneer after the fact to the headstock which may be challenging.
Alternatively I could do a partial veneer and get the ash portion painted black, or just paint the entire headstock black.

Body: Warmoth carved top Soloist for which I provided the curly maple lam top.
By the way notice that the base cost for quilt/flame maple tops increased from $75 to $100 couple week ago.

Color still TBD.
I wanted to do a similar white wash as the above but the side dots are MOP centered on the joint between the fingerboard and ash back. I'll definitely have to keep the back dark to make sure the dots are sufficiently visible.


Here's what we have:

 

[ValeBliz]

Cool, first time I even hear of an ash neck

 

[TVG]

Definitely following. Very curious about the ash neck. Love thinking outside the box.

 

[DangerousR6]

I really like the double ash PRS, very cool. But it stumps me as to why anyone would question the stability of ash. I mean if PRS is willing to go down that path, I'd tend to think that their R&D had tested it vigorously, before they tossed one out into the wild... :dontknow:

 

[dmraco]

I really like the double ash PRS, very cool. But it stumps me as to why anyone would question the stability of ash. I mean if PRS is willing to go down that path, I'd tend to think that their R&D had tested it vigorously, before they tossed one out into the wild... :dontknow:

agree.  I would think the ash to be super stable.

 

[docteurseb]

I really like the double ash PRS, very cool. But it stumps me as to why anyone would question the stability of ash. I mean if PRS is willing to go down that path, I'd tend to think that their R&D had tested it vigorously, before they tossed one out into the wild... :dontknow:

agree.  I would think the ash to be super stable.

Like I said: "they made too few ash necks to predict how stable" it is in the long run.
Makes complete sense to me for them to err on the side of caution and be willing to build it with graphite reinforcement and without warranty in case it twists down the road (unlikely).
Unlike others I'm glad they were at least willing to make one with a rift sawn piece large enough for it to make the grain interesting (and for stability too).


Thing is that with Private Stock PRS does a lot of R&D and things others aren't willing to bother trying due to cost.

Another example: quilt maple fingerboards.
Private Stock PRS have a lot of those and I was itching to make a neck with it.
Warmoth said quilt maple is too soft for fingerboards and the process for making it was deemed too expensive when they experimented with it (i.e. IMO relative to how much users would be willing to pay for a neck). Basically you'd have to impregnate the fingerboard with resin/super glue to stabilize it first, likely under pressure so it goes deep in it.

In contrast a Private Stock PRS has a base MAP cost of $9860 at the time of writing, and they are more than willing to do this.

 

[DangerousR6]

I really like the double ash PRS, very cool. But it stumps me as to why anyone would question the stability of ash. I mean if PRS is willing to go down that path, I'd tend to think that their R&D had tested it vigorously, before they tossed one out into the wild... :dontknow:

agree.  I would think the ash to be super stable.

Like I said: "they made too few ash necks to predict how stable" it is in the long run.
Makes complete sense to me for them to err on the side of caution and be willing to build it with graphite reinforcement and without warranty in case it twists down the road (unlikely).
Unlike others I'm glad they were at least willing to make one with a rift sawn piece large enough for it to make the grain interesting (and for stability too).


Thing is that with Private Stock PRS does a lot of R&D and things others aren't willing to bother trying due to cost.

Another example: quilt maple fingerboards.
Private Stock PRS have a lot of those and I was itching to make a neck with it.
Warmoth said quilt maple is too soft for fingerboards and the process for making it was deemed too expensive when they experimented with it (i.e. IMO relative to how much users would be willing to pay for a neck). Basically you'd have to impregnate the fingerboard with resin/super glue to stabilize it first, likely under pressure so it goes deep in it.

In contrast a Private Stock PRS has a base MAP cost of $9860 at the time of writing, and they are more than willing to do this.

Well, to be fair the difference in a private stock PRS and a Warmoth, I can see the hesitation. But ash is a really tough wood, they been making baseball bats with it for over a century. Now the quilted maple for a fretboard I understand. It is quite softer than say flame, kinda along the same lines as spalted maple. Which is correct about saturating it with a hard resin or super glue. But still I've seen some necks(not Warmoth) with quilted fretboards, and they look spectacular...

 

[docteurseb]

This is a slow build too as I'm still debating whether to use the ash neck or sell it for a curly maple one. Really depends on the color scheme I'll choose.

I tested couple Lockwood powder dyes trying to find an ultra vibrant pink that is much more lightfast than Fiebing's.
Their "Rose Red" (right side) is very much like PRS' Bonnie Pink, and their fluorescent "Rhodamine" is neon pink under black light and equally vivid in daylight:

 

[DangerousR6]

I really like the double ash PRS, very cool. But it stumps me as to why anyone would question the stability of ash. I mean if PRS is willing to go down that path, I'd tend to think that their R&D had tested it vigorously, before they tossed one out into the wild... :dontknow:

agree.  I would think the ash to be super stable.

Like I said: "they made too few ash necks to predict how stable" it is in the long run.
Makes complete sense to me for them to err on the side of caution and be willing to build it with graphite reinforcement and without warranty in case it twists down the road (unlikely).
Unlike others I'm glad they were at least willing to make one with a rift sawn piece large enough for it to make the grain interesting (and for stability too).


Thing is that with Private Stock PRS does a lot of R&D and things others aren't willing to bother trying due to cost.

Another example: quilt maple fingerboards.
Private Stock PRS have a lot of those and I was itching to make a neck with it.
Warmoth said quilt maple is too soft for fingerboards and the process for making it was deemed too expensive when they experimented with it (i.e. IMO relative to how much users would be willing to pay for a neck). Basically you'd have to impregnate the fingerboard with resin/super glue to stabilize it first, likely under pressure so it goes deep in it.

In contrast a Private Stock PRS has a base MAP cost of $9860 at the time of writing, and they are more than willing to do this.

Well would ya looky here...I see a quilted FB...

 

[docteurseb]

I really like the double ash PRS, very cool. But it stumps me as to why anyone would question the stability of ash. I mean if PRS is willing to go down that path, I'd tend to think that their R&D had tested it vigorously, before they tossed one out into the wild... :dontknow:

agree.  I would think the ash to be super stable.

Like I said: "they made too few ash necks to predict how stable" it is in the long run.
Makes complete sense to me for them to err on the side of caution and be willing to build it with graphite reinforcement and without warranty in case it twists down the road (unlikely).
Unlike others I'm glad they were at least willing to make one with a rift sawn piece large enough for it to make the grain interesting (and for stability too).


Thing is that with Private Stock PRS does a lot of R&D and things others aren't willing to bother trying due to cost.

Another example: quilt maple fingerboards.
Private Stock PRS have a lot of those and I was itching to make a neck with it.
Warmoth said quilt maple is too soft for fingerboards and the process for making it was deemed too expensive when they experimented with it (i.e. IMO relative to how much users would be willing to pay for a neck). Basically you'd have to impregnate the fingerboard with resin/super glue to stabilize it first, likely under pressure so it goes deep in it.

In contrast a Private Stock PRS has a base MAP cost of $9860 at the time of writing, and they are more than willing to do this.

Well would ya looky here...I see a quilted FB...

Hum yeah, it's probably curly maple but with a figuring so wide and irregular that it start overlapping with quilt figuring.

 

[docteurseb]

I've decided to tentatively offer both for sale in the Sale section of the forum.
If neither sells I may still proceed with the build but for the time being I feel I have enough HH guitars as is, and I've also had enough funs dying maple tops/necks the past few years.

 

[Waraxe]

Regarding neck woods.

Carvin has done some odd ones in the past.

I have an alder neck with carbon rods in my holdsworth.  It's 20 years old this year and no issues.

I'd imagine ash would be even stronger.

 

[docteurseb]

This build is cancelled.

Both neck and body were sold to a forum member this past week and I'm looking forward to seeing what he'll do with those.