Aesthetically best raw neck for walnut body

[ChristopherG]

So, I have a walnut tele body being made right now. I want to have a neck that can be kept raw and withstand the rollercoaster climate of St. Louis. My short list so far is.

Rosewood on rosewood. Smooth playing, would match well with dark walnut, but pricey as F@#$.

Rosewood on roasted maple. Smooth playing, matches well in the front, not sure about the back.

Bubinga on bubinga. No experience here but looks promising.

Edit. Never mind, just ordered this. Close enough for goverment work and 100 bucks cheaper.

Any other suggestions? Comments?

 

[line6man]

 

[Cagey]

That's a sharp neck!

And I wouldn't worry about the St. Louis climate. I've got a couple dozen raw necks here in SE Michigan where the climate is all over the place as well, and they're super-stable, including an Indian Rosewood/Indian Rosewood part. I notice that one comes with stainless frets, too. Good for you! If you haven't used them before, you're in for a real treat.

 

[ChristopherG]

My thoughts exactly Cagey. And yes, I went with the SS6150s. Yep stainless rocks.

In the custom builder dark rosewood for a neck back isn't even an option so this may be even cheaper than I think is. Happy find no mater what. Now instead of having to wait another 4 to 6 weeks after I get the body I will have the neck when the body arrives. Instead I get to go straight to the saving up for pickups stage. Hope to have her ready to play by my birthday in November.

Pickups are going to be Lace Sensors. Dually red/blue in the bridge (chrome covered), emerald/purple Dually at the neck, ChromeDome--chrome plated gold wind--in the middle. Two on/off/on switches for splitting the humbuckers, 6 way PRS style rotary, a PMT V-Treb volume pot, a PMT Hi Lo pass tone control, and a Guitarfetish single knob active eq (bypassable)

I may be a bit of a control freak.

 

[Cagey]

I may be a bit of a control freak.

You'll get over it. Everybody does, eventually :laughing7:

Sounds like it's gonna be a great guitar, though. I wasn't really a fan of Lace sensors when they first showed up, outside of their low noise. But, the designs have evolved/improved over the years so there's a lot you can do with them.

 

[ChristopherG]

Ha, maybe. Though at 42 I may be beyond hope.

And that is some damn pretty wood, line6.

I love natural wood guitars. I can tolerate a nice tasteful transparent finish--I have a beautiful cherry burst tele--but anything else is just horrible, imo.

For this walnut tele I am thinking just tung oil and wax. Any tips? I watched a video where a guy applied the tung oil with sandpaper to make it sort of
self filling. Is this a sound process?

 

[Cagey]

I've heard of that being done a number of times, but I'm not sure how it would work out on Walnut as it's a more open-grained wood. I suspect it may end up sorta muddy/sticky from too much finish in the voids that won't want to cure for a very long time. Better to just fill it.

There are fillers out there that won't mess with the natural color of the wood. This stuff works well, for instance. Used it on some Walnut a couple years ago with good results.

 

[musicispeace]

That is going to be one great guitar. And Cagey is right about the raw necks. I am digging the all Bubinga one he burnished and fretted. Anyone wondering on the subject, I can't speak for all Rosewood but Bubinga sounds and looks real nice. I have it on a strat. Maybe I would go out on a limb and describe it as maybe a little more rounded sounding than maple but still not out of place in an expected strat sound. Feels great. Looks good with black and I am sure with a white guitar body as well or even a light toned natural clear finished wood. One good resource to judge the looks of exotic necks is to Google up some pics of custom made bass guitars. They get necks with the exotics quite often and can give you an idea on the aesthetic side.

 

[The Hun]

I just want to add that Pau Ferro can match walnut very well. A lighter rosewood is probably a better match than dark rosewood, but really there's going to be a slight brown color mismatch no matter which  way you go. But it's no big deal.

Of course the best match for a walnut body would be a walnut neck, requiring a gloss or satin finish coat...for now. Do any of the more knowledgeable folks here know if "roasted walnut" is even possible as a future option?