"enhanced grain" on Swamp Ash

tfarny

Master Member
Messages
4,481
Hi, I had made all my plans and ordered supplies to do an enhanced-grain-then-tung oil swamp ash tele for my first finishing project.  Then I saw this body: http://www.warmoth.com/showcase/sc_guitar_bodies.cfm?itemNumber=PS2330&type=guitar
I don't dig it at all.  Is this what I should expect from black grain fill?  I saw that thinline tele project thread, you guys used this stuff and it looked fantastic - but I guess that was on mahogany, right?
 
swamp ash has a conpletely different grain structure than mahogany

the one you chose for the example looks more like a medium brown grain fill - but thats the effect you'll get

you should end up with three distinct colors on the swamp ash  when you fill it - light - the tighter spots, tan - the wider open grained areas, and dark - the deep grain that runs thoughout

you'll also get a over all grained effect like on mahogany - that is the nature of the grain of the wood

mahogany is rather straight, open but uniform grain and pores (more or less uniform)
ash, especially when cut to show off the grain, is going to have a lot of figure, deep and tight spots, all different types of grain and pores.

they're going to fill differently and thas it

you CAN get the Stewmac clear grain filler and level with that before the oil, but... except for the yellow color i sorta like that ash that way

I've gotten some stewmac medium brown filler for my upcoming ash guitar - nudder thinline - so far, testing shows it to be a really nice color on lighter woods, the black would probably do better if I chose a darker transparent color, but for light - amber almost like the one you showed - I think brown would be a better choice 
 
It's hard to tell from that picture, it could possibly be filled with brown, rather than black grain filler; at any rate, you should expect an effect like that if you're using brown/black grain filler.

What kind of a look are you going for?

If you want something that might look more along the lines of a Fender Lite Ash Strat, you can use a very light colored stain, like Minwax Golden Pecan, it will just slightly darken the grain in the ash, and the darkening can be controlled by how many coats of stain you apply; then fill the grain with clear grain filler and finish with tung oil.

If there is some other different look you trying to get, what is it? I'm sure someone here would have soem ideas....

 
I'd love to see what a swamp ash body would look like if filled with "Red mahogany" colored wood filler. Has anyone seen or tried anything like this? I imagine it would look pretty cool.
 
Haven't used "Red Mahogany" grain filler, but imagine if you did that it would look similar to the example Strat from the Showcase, but the grain would have a reddish/maroon hue rather than the brownish hue in the pic.

There is a broad range of what "Red Mahogany" is supposed to look like.

Who makes that grain filler?

In a similar bent, has anyone on the board ever tried mixing the StewMac "ColorTone Liquid Pigment for Waterbase Lacquer" with their clear grain filler? The verbiage on the StewMac site indicated you can do that to make CUSTOM grain filler colors; could have some fun with that I suppose...

Don't look at me; already have the next couple of projects mapped out and custom grain filler color(s) don't fit in there....
 
The dreaded ( and now discontinued) Voodoo series from Gibson Used a red grain fill on swamp ash, but that was with a thin black laquer finish, probably not what you were thinking.  I like the custom color grain fill idea, but then, my experiments are just begining, I'm not sure I am at that level yet...
 
In terms of what look I was going for - I guess seeing that 'yellow on enhanced grain' on a real guitar, instead of only in my noggin, changed my mind. I'll just get the clear grain fill, then tung oil over that, I guess, for the natural look.  No fancy stuff the first time.  I'm really glad I saw that body!  Thanks as always for the tips.
 
jackthehack said:
Haven't used "Red Mahogany" grain filler, but imagine if you did that it would look similar to the example Strat from the Showcase, but the grain would have a reddish/maroon hue rather than the brownish hue in the pic.

There is a broad range of what "Red Mahogany" is supposed to look like.

Who makes that grain filler?

In a similar bent, has anyone on the board ever tried mixing the StewMac "ColorTone Liquid Pigment for Waterbase Lacquer" with their clear grain filler? The verbiage on the StewMac site indicated you can do that to make CUSTOM grain filler colors; could have some fun with that I suppose...

Don't look at me; already have the next couple of projects mapped out and custom grain filler color(s) don't fit in there....

A company called Liberon here in the UK do that colour filler. Actually on second thoughts it might just be called "Mahogany" I can't remember but it has a dark red/brown colour to it.

Funny you should mention the custom colouring of grain fillers, I do like to experiment with filler colours. My current project is a mahoganny backed Tele with Maple top and just for a change I'm filling the mahogany with what is called "natural pine" liberon wood filler. I was a bit nervous at first because I couldn't find any examples of what is basically an almost white filler on mahogany but I'm just in the middle of my final sand and its looking awesome.

Now the big question (and I'd love to hear some opinions!):

Should I also fill the flame maple top with the "Red Mahogany" filler to enhance the grain????!!!! 

 
tfarny said:
Hi, I had made all my plans and ordered supplies to do an enhanced-grain-then-tung oil swamp ash tele for my first finishing project.  Then I saw this body: http://www.warmoth.com/showcase/sc_guitar_bodies.cfm?itemNumber=PS2330&type=guitar
I don't dig it at all.  Is this what I should expect from black grain fill?  I saw that thinline tele project thread, you guys used this stuff and it looked fantastic - but I guess that was on mahogany, right?

By the way I'm not keen on that body either but only because of the yellow colouring. Could look really cool on a natural finish which is what you seem to be proposing. Good luck on your first project and welcome to a lifelong addiction to the mighty W!!!!!
 
Maybe... I've got a quilt maple top Strat coming Tues, plan is to fill with StewMac brown grain filler and then use a yellow dye; unsure of how the grain filler will work on the quilt top, but will post pics/notes, should work in much the same way on flame maple.

If you look at CB's TFG Tele, he used a black wash to get the effect on a flame maple top, he can reply back with more details on which product he used on that.
 
jackthehack said:
Maybe... I've got a quilt maple top Strat coming Tues, plan is to fill with StewMac brown grain filler and then use a yellow dye; unsure of how the grain filler will work on the quilt top, but will post pics/notes, should work in much the same way on flame maple.

If you look at CB's TFG Tele, he used a black wash to get the effect on a flame maple top, he can reply back with more details on which product he used on that.

Cool, I'll probably wait for you to do that (I work slow-Zero free time) before doing it. I'm sure you will anyway but could you please post a pic before dying as I'll just be filling but won't be adding a dye and would like to know how that will look. Cheers Jack.
 
Back
Top