First DIY guitar! Pics inside + opinions needed..

[Bobblybook]

Hi everyone!
My strat body finally made it to Australia, thankfully in perfect condition  :blob7:

This is a birdseye maple on alder, rear routed SSS strat. It will be eventually paired with a maple + rosewood neck, but for now I will use my existing maple neck. It's planned to be a classic/vintage strat with some modern aesthetic changes. SSL1's + a vintage style 7.25" neck should make it play and sound like a classic strat

I liked the idea of birdseye maple because of the randomness and irregularities of the grain. Also I have an interesting patch of freckles on my body, and I thought it would be quite cool for my guitar to have the same  :toothy12:
The finish is brown to clear burst. This is supposed to be my take on a fancier version of a tobacco burst or 2/3 colour sunburst (the most iconic, quintessential strat finish, imo), with the pale yellowy maple in the centre and fading to a dark brown. This turned out quite a bit different than what I was expecting, but I like it a lot and am more than pleased.
The idea was basically for a slightly desaturated tobacco burst finish, with more natural wood grain and less artificial yellows/oranges/reds that I see in my sunburst strat paint.

It seems like birdseye is not popular for guitar bodies. I didn't want to go with something too showy though, so as nice as quilted or flame maples are, I really wanted to try this.

Anyway enough chatter, here are some photos:

The colours are very hard to get right, as always. Have a look at these similar shots and see how different the colours look, sorry about the low quality pics.

The flash shows how much detail is really hiding in the grain, there is a lot of that iridescent quilt-style grain going on, and it's really fun to see and hold in person and see the shimmering effect. The flash really oversaturates everything though unfortunately, but it's the only way I could get the light to reflect off the grain properly in a photo.

These two pics are almost 100% accurate to how the colours look naturally. They have some very nice amber and warm brown undertones but they don't look artificial at all. This was what I was hoping for, so I'm very happy!

I need to decide what colour pickup covers and knobs to go for. I have three options: black, parchment or off-white (slightly darker cream than parchment). Please give your opinion if possible! Photos are above, in that order. Keep in mind it will eventually be paired with a maple + rosewood neck. Thanks!

 

[stratamania]

Hello, unfortunately your photos are not showing up.

It appears you are hosting them on dropbox and here is one of them as you have it in your post.
These are links to thumbnails, but they are not visible in the post. The URL itself pasted into a browser gives a 401 error.

[IMG]https://previews.dropbox.com/p/thumb/ABBxvl22cVJynxnC1sVAD9Y0QNa9aXIQZcsR5-9S9e3aKrL-RLWOts_YxYxZadQn7_k3CdQe4DbwVSgRrDa4V1PHTo5PShHKJKQ_voTQs0Z5mPK4OkPuW0NZby6-GuibVYsfS2u6Fm1k_dGlkznTcV95cy2lkWxRsn6wphlm2ciy5_fpnfhL3qLZoRns4CoFcLCYF0K3SE56olyiOA1U7lgAJkjE1e9cJl6Rna32n1kVlwcMaX5B4H51RthgYeb6GiNNBOnyH-Rsueo4HnIAtDvyarJ3Cc7tl7o_SFjqRXhwH2boOPfpzkJxeUQt_L_UJ-TUb1clh79jI3qMR3V7hMuw0yksTGiuX8SLTgylTJxRrg/p.jpeg[/IMG]

 

[Bobblybook]

Hello, unfortunately your photos are not showing up.

It appears you are hosting them on dropbox and here is one of them as you have it in your post.
These are links to thumbnails, but they are not visible in the post. The URL itself pasted into a browser gives a 401 error.

[IMG]https://previews.dropbox.com/p/thumb/ABBxvl22cVJynxnC1sVAD9Y0QNa9aXIQZcsR5-9S9e3aKrL-RLWOts_YxYxZadQn7_k3CdQe4DbwVSgRrDa4V1PHTo5PShHKJKQ_voTQs0Z5mPK4OkPuW0NZby6-GuibVYsfS2u6Fm1k_dGlkznTcV95cy2lkWxRsn6wphlm2ciy5_fpnfhL3qLZoRns4CoFcLCYF0K3SE56olyiOA1U7lgAJkjE1e9cJl6Rna32n1kVlwcMaX5B4H51RthgYeb6GiNNBOnyH-Rsueo4HnIAtDvyarJ3Cc7tl7o_SFjqRXhwH2boOPfpzkJxeUQt_L_UJ-TUb1clh79jI3qMR3V7hMuw0yksTGiuX8SLTgylTJxRrg/p.jpeg[/IMG]

Ahh thanks for letting me know. Yeah I was using dropbox and they were working for me but it seems I can't hotlink those previews like that. I've moved them to imgur instead

 

[stratamania]

Hello, unfortunately your photos are not showing up.

It appears you are hosting them on dropbox and here is one of them as you have it in your post.
These are links to thumbnails, but they are not visible in the post. The URL itself pasted into a browser gives a 401 error.

[IMG]https://previews.dropbox.com/p/thumb/ABBxvl22cVJynxnC1sVAD9Y0QNa9aXIQZcsR5-9S9e3aKrL-RLWOts_YxYxZadQn7_k3CdQe4DbwVSgRrDa4V1PHTo5PShHKJKQ_voTQs0Z5mPK4OkPuW0NZby6-GuibVYsfS2u6Fm1k_dGlkznTcV95cy2lkWxRsn6wphlm2ciy5_fpnfhL3qLZoRns4CoFcLCYF0K3SE56olyiOA1U7lgAJkjE1e9cJl6Rna32n1kVlwcMaX5B4H51RthgYeb6GiNNBOnyH-Rsueo4HnIAtDvyarJ3Cc7tl7o_SFjqRXhwH2boOPfpzkJxeUQt_L_UJ-TUb1clh79jI3qMR3V7hMuw0yksTGiuX8SLTgylTJxRrg/p.jpeg[/IMG]

Ahh thanks for letting me know. Yeah I was using dropbox and they were working for me but it seems I can't hotlink those previews like that. I've moved them to imgur instead

Yes you would probably have to set the sharing permissions and fiddle about with other stuff on Dropbox. Your pics are visible now. Either the darker cream or black option to answer your original question.

 

[zebra]

That body (combo of wood and finish) looks great.

I really combo of rear-route and top-mounted output jack.  While some folks think a top-mounted output jack doesn't look right on a rear-route body, I've always like how the cord stays out of the way (I play classical-style when sitting, with the guitar on my left leg).

And yes, you should go with the black pickup covers and knows. 
I feel very strongly about that!  :icon_thumright:

 

[Rick]

For me it will depend on the fret board.  Maple go with cream.  Rosewood or darker black.

 

[ragamuffin]

Looks great! Black or cream plastics imo

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

That is beautiful body...It has great, understated style.

I like the off-white plastics parts in the photos.

 

[JaySwear2]

Looks great! I personally like the black, but the cream does look good too... If you're like me you'll just switch them at the first string change anyway haha either should be amazing!

 

[Bobblybook]

Thank you all for the feedback!

Yeah I basically agree that black is the go-to option here, but I bought both of the off whites so I was almost looking for an excuse to use them. I can always stick one of them on my current MiM strat though.

I also think that the off-white matches the maple better than the lighter parchment colour. These off whites are notorious for being a complete crapshoot in terms of shades and colour matching, so I wanted to get a few to have some options.

That body (combo of wood and finish) looks great.

I really combo of rear-route and top-mounted output jack.  While some folks think a top-mounted output jack doesn't look right on a rear-route body, I've always like how the cord stays out of the way (I play classical-style when sitting, with the guitar on my left leg).

And yes, you should go with the black pickup covers and knows. 
I feel very strongly about that!  :icon_thumright:

I also did it for this reason. I was tempted to go with a jack mount on the side of the body, but I only play in my bedroom and often on my bed or sitting down. I read some forum threads discussing this, and it seemed the side jacks were annoying in those scenarios. Plus the top jack adds a little more of the classic strat vibe back in

Also having the full set of knobs looks a bit odd without a pickguard or top jack imo. The layout of the knobs makes it look like they are hugging some sort of contour that just isn't there. The top jack more or less fills in this extra space and looks a little less odd. Or maybe it's just my imagination..

Looks great! I personally like the black, but the cream does look good too... If you're like me you'll just switch them at the first string change anyway haha either should be amazing!

Yeah I forgot how simple it will be to swap them out afterwards, for some reason I had in my head that I had to make a decision now. Will do this I think!

That is beautiful body...It has great, understated style.

I like the off-white plastics parts in the photos.

Thank you. I might start with the off-white set and maple neck, and try some switches after I get the new rosewood neck.

 

[rauchman]

Great looking body.  I vote black.

 

[JaySwear2]

I also did it for this reason. I was tempted to go with a jack mount on the side of the body, but I only play in my bedroom and often on my bed or sitting down. I read some forum threads discussing this, and it seemed the side jacks were annoying in those scenarios. Plus the top jack adds a little more of the classic strat vibe back in

I really like the top jack on a Strat too! And here's a cool alternative if you change your mind one day https://store.factionguitars.com/collections/stratocaster-plates/products/stratocaster-flat-output-jack-plate