Body pairing for this exotic neck?

[esphil]

Hey guys, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this so if not please forgive me in advance.  I just found this forum and signed up today.  I've been browsing Warmth for a few years.  I purchased this neck around 3 years ago with the intention of building a guitar around it, it was a bit of a impulse buy and frankly kinda pricey.  At one point I almost scrapped the project and sold it, but pulled it before it actually did.  Fast forward to me always looking at this neck on the wall and I want to finally finish it.  The biggest issue for me has been deciding on a body to go with this, I've been debating over 2 years and could never pull the trigger on anything.  The neck will be a finished Warmth neck of some sort, I rather not build my own.  I just can't decide on what would look best with this.  The neck is Brazilian Kingwood, which has since been banned from export.  Its a pretty heavy neck, so I want to probably pair it with something like swapsh so it doesn't sound as dark.  Mahogany + this neck would probably not be a good pairing. 

I've included a pic I just snapped of it. 
http://i.imgur.com/hv2XOIM.jpg

In my opinion its probably my favorite neck I've ever seen, so I want it on a guitar.  I thought vintage copper hardware would look good on it, at least the tuners.  I need to see if there are bridges in matching color if I do that.  I may go hardtail, I'm not a big tremolo fan.  Maybe some rio grande pickups, or bareknuckles.  What do you guys think would complement this neck?  I'd love a blueish/aqua but I don't have a huge preference.

 

[croquet hoop]

Welcome to the forums! That's a beautiful neck indeed. I'm not sure about the body color, it's going to be subjective anyway — some will tell you to go wild with a burst on a  figured top, others to get a classic Fenderish solid color... have you had a look at the gallery ? You may find inspiration there.

As for the body wood, the general consensus around here is that it does not makes a big sonic difference. Regardless of one's stance on  the matter, so-called "balanced" woods (alder, swamp ash...) are always a safe choice. If you want a semi-/transparent finish, go for a wood that displays a color/pattern you like — otherwise, there is no wrong choice.

Regarding vintage copper hardware, I think Schaller offers this kind of finish, although it's likely that you'll have to custom order.

 

[Neo Fender]

This:

 

[bbl4ck]

Sweet neck ya got there :glasses9:
This is a link to my Black Dog tele with a Kingwood neck.  It is an alder body and is among my top three favorite geetars...

http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=17351.0
Good luck with what ever you decide and  :rock-on:

 

[esphil]

Sweet neck ya got there :glasses9:
This is a link to my Black Dog tele with a Kingwood neck.  It is an alder body and is among my top three favorite geetars...

http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=17351.0
Good luck with what ever you decide and  :rock-on:

Awesome!  Looking at his post he bought the neck from the same seller around the same time.  I don't think he's making necks anymore.

 

[bbl4ck]

Sweet neck ya got there :glasses9:
This is a link to my Black Dog tele with a Kingwood neck.  It is an alder body and is among my top three favorite geetars...

http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=17351.0
Good luck with what ever you decide and  :rock-on:

Awesome!  Looking at his post he bought the neck from the same seller around the same time.  I don't think he's making necks anymore.

Yea, I don't think he is selling necks on Ebay any more either.  I heard a lot of bad knocks about this guy after I had already purchased the neck.
I did not have any problems, but I had heard he was selling necks under different seller names and some people never received their neck after payment was made.
Don't know what the truth is, but he sure had some great looking necks and all went well for me anyway...

 

 

[Wolfie351]

The neck looks so great, I wouldn't do anything too exotic or wild with the body...let the neck be the star.  Solid color body (black?) with vintage tint binding, classy

 

[Fat Pete]

Yeah, I'd also recommend not going for a body with too much going on - something like a fancy quilt or flame top could be akin to wearing stripes and spots.

 

[musicispeace]

Awesome neck and it certainly deserves a home. I think a black strat would look fantastic with that neck. Since the neck has great figure if you match it with a solid color body that will actually focus both better and not look "too busy." If you go with a front loaded body you will have to select a suitable pick guard. Again, not too busy or ornate as the neck is so striking. I would agree with you on going swamp ash. One nice thing about going with black is you could find a nice showcase body on the Warmoth site for about $300.

 

[jackthehack]

I think that would look great on a nicely grained swamp ash body done in butterscotch blonde...

 

[Alfang]

I agree with Neo and Jack, I bet it would look good on a lot of bodies, it's a damn fine looking neck.

 

[MikeW]

As soon as I saw that neck I thought Mary Kay White. Here's one that's a hardtail in the showcase:

With a W/B/W pickguard, chrome hardware and white controls. That would be my choice.

Details

 

[bagman67]

+1 on the MK White.  Lovely.

 

[Cagey]

I agree. A vintage white, which is more like a cream, would also pair up nicely with that neck.

 

[stratamania]

Any kind of white would look good.

 

[croquet hoop]

Not sure about the w/b/w pickguard, but I agree with Mike, a Mary Kaye body would look great with this neck.

 

[BlueTalon]

Gorgeous neck!  I second the recommendation for a black body.  If it was my neck, I would put it on a black strat, and then either use a black pickguard, or have a pickguard made out of matching kingwood.  Actually, I'd probably start with the black pickguard until I could have a custom pickguard made.


Good luck with it!

 

[SlartiBartfast]

Gorgeous neck!  I second the recommendation for a black body.  If it was my neck, I would put it on a black strat, and then either use a black pickguard, or have a pickguard made out of matching kingwood.  Actually, I'd probably start with the black pickguard until I could have a custom pickguard made.


Good luck with it!

+1 to this. I'm not a fan of white or cream colored guitars at all. Simply not my cuppa Joe!

 

[BlueTalon]

Another option for a black body would be to keep the black pickguard, and have control knobs made out of kingwood.  Or, have the kingwood pickguard made, and get black control knobs with abalone or black MOP caps to match the inlay dots on the fretboard.