Canary neck: what transparent body color for alder would fit best?

[eugene-ej]

Hi Guys!

I need your advice on body finish color. I've bought a very nice Alder soloist body and I felt in love with pau-ferro necks, so I'm going to order one very soon. Now I'm wondering what body color will match this neck. My initial idea was to have transparent blue body color, all maple neck, white pickups and black hardware. This was a great combination untill I changed my mind for chocolate pau-ferro neck I did some photoshop sketches to preview the result. I kind-a like butterscotch transparent color, what do you think? I've already ordered black  hardware, so this option is fixed. And I like the white pickups idea very much (to contrast with black hardware). It's only body color is what I'm unsure about. Any ideas?

Update: Somebody bought wolfgang pau-ferro neck ) I think it's destiny, so I bought Canary wolfgang neck then And now I have new color quest

 

[Cagey]

I like the butterscotch version with that neck. Although, I think I'd do black pickups to match the hardware. The white looks a tad anemic/undefined against the butterscotch.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Claro Walnut Unique Choice Lam Top for that baby!

 

[eugene-ej]

Thanks Cagey, TonyFlyingSquirrel,

I've already ordered the body without any lam top. It's going to arrive to me in a few days.

Black pickups make sense, especially with zebra bridge humbucker. It's going to be chocolate caramel guitar

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Sounds yummy.

 

[eugene-ej]

Hm.. these finish options look pretty good with pau-ferro neck too, what do you think?

 

[Cagey]

I think they all look good together. But, if I had to choose one, it would be the burst part at the bottom of the list. Although, that green-ish part makes a unique statement. I don't think you'd ever see anything like that anywhere else. I'm not usually a fan of greens, but that one seems to work.

 

[eugene-ej]

Thanks Cagey, I like this one too. Tobacco burst and the neck are definitely well matched! I'm just considering different options since I'm finishing the body locally with local luthier and I'm calculating all options in case of some colors may appear unavailable here in Russia.  I think tobacco burst won't be a problem.

More opinions are much appreciated

Building a custom guitar is a truly exciting and enjoyable project!

I think they all look good together. But, if I had to choose one, it would be the burst part at the bottom of the list.

 

[stubhead]

One of each. I hope you have understanding relatives.

 

[eugene-ej]

One of each. I hope you have understanding relatives.

They are really supporting me in this project! But I'd rather have different guitars than same model in different colors So I have to choose only one color

 

[eugene-ej]

Somebody has bought wolfgang pau-ferro neck I think it's destiny, so I bought Canary wolfgang neck then And now I have new color quest I can see not so many options: transparent blue, butterscotch blond and tansparent amber. Any other ideas would be much appreciated, since I'm stuck  :icon_scratch:

 

[AutoBat]

I don't jive with the yellow & amber bodies paired with that neck.
How 'bout the first one with an all black humbucker?

 

[Cagey]

Yeah, that zebra just isn't working with anything, is it?

 

[NQbass7]

To pair with canary, I'd go with a nice dark color - trans blue or green, or even purple if you can stomach it. (I love purple guitars, but you gotta be playing the right kind of music to not get laughed off the stage.) You gotta get a nice contrasting color - too close to the color of the neck without being identical and it'll clash.

I personally would go with the all black pups, but that's just me.

 

[eugene-ej]

AutoBat, Cagey, I'm sticking to the trans blue too. In fact it was my initial idea to have a trans blue guitar, but then I wanted chocolatte pau-ferro neck and thank God somebody bought it, so I bought canary and I can paint the body in trans blue I agree, it either all black pickups or all white. I really want the put white pickups on some project, but all black look better indeed for this one.

NQbass7, nah, purple is definitely not for me Trans blue it is.

I'll save butterscotch blonde color for another project and white pickups for another another one In a month or so I hope the project will be ready for the show, I'll post all results here for sure!

Thanks a lot for the help!

 

[NQbass7]

I think white works on something like this if you have a black pickguard. But if you're going rear-route/no pickguard, black definitely looks better IMO.

 

[Johnny]

I like the blue.  I would also think green would look nice.

As for pickups, I like having all the hardware match plus I'm partial to black hardware, so personally, I would choose the black ones.  I don't know that you can get a white trem (never looked and would be concerned about wear anyway) so using white pickups means that all the hardware is not going to match which takes away from the aesthetics for me; however, with that being said, I do like the look of the white pickups on the blue body.

 

[eugene-ej]

Thank you for the comment. I've chosen blue finish and black pickups. They look good together. White pickups would look great with chrome hardware and with a white pickguard, it's a strat style I think

I like the blue.  I would also think green would look nice.

As for pickups, I like having all the hardware match plus I'm partial to black hardware, so personally, I would choose the black ones.  I don't know that you can get a white trem (never looked and would be concerned about wear anyway) so using white pickups means that all the hardware is not going to match which takes away from the aesthetics for me; however, with that being said, I do like the look of the white pickups on the blue body.

 

[eugene-ej]

I gave it to luthier for finishing. It's awesome guitar with a great sound! As I wrote in another topic:

When I tried first time alder+canary - I was so excited! It has spark in a sound, but it's a bit softer that with maple neck. It has LOWS, closer to low-mids! I feel how guitar is resonating in my hands, sound has very strong balls, it's punchy, but not muddy at all. Attack is well defined. I got exactly what I wanted.

 

[bagman67]

Trans green is nice contrast with Canary - check out my 'Hog:

And a better shot of just the neck, so you can see what the whole thing looks like (it's got an ebony fingerboard, so that goes with everything):