I Have The Neck, Now I Need The Body

Cactus Jack

Senior Member
Messages
484
I’m absolutely terrible at design and need some help. I have this beautiful Rosewood and Ebony Tele neck and a pair of TV Jones Classics ready to go. My problem is I’m suffering from paralysis by analysis and can’t decide on a body.

My requirements for the body is that it’s on the lighter side and is ergonomic. Honestly, My ear isn’t good enough to hear the differences between various woods so I’m leaning towards Basswood. I play at home and never gig so I’m not worried about it being softer than alder or ash. Also, I’m leaning towards a Tele or Jazzmaster body...possibly a Strat...or a Carbronita...or a...you get the picture :) .

Where I’m really stuck is on color. Again, I’m terrible at design and even worse at matching colors. I just want the end design to look appropriate with the neck. Please share your ideas and thanks for you time.

Here’s a few pics of the neck:









Here’s a few preliminary bodies that I’m messing with:




 
That beautiful neck will go with almost anything. With the rectangular markers, I'd choose a solid color on either a Jazzmaster as you have shown, a Regal or a Mooncaster body. For a pickguard, I'd go with the pearloid to tie the markers to the body. You seem to be leaning toward the Split JM, which I think would look great with it. Try different colors with the pearloid pickguard and choose the one you like best. Your tangerine choice would work great with it, as would others. If it were up to me, I'd probably choose spectra blue but you really can't go wrong with anything that goes with pearloid.

I look forward to seeing which way you go with it.

Edit: Remember to get your body with the Tele neck rout.
 
For the fun of it, I put a white pearl PG on a black Split JM, combining both your initial ideas.
 

Attachments

  • SplitJM.png
    SplitJM.png
    163.5 KB · Views: 3
A very nice neck. Bear in mind that a Tele neck will not fit into a Strat neck pocket so unless you had a body built with a tele neck pocket watch out for that.

Personally I think it would look great on a Tele body with binding to match the inlays in a gloss black.
 
I’m liking the Split Jazz quite a bit, but see several bodies in the 5lb range. Is basswood appreciable lighter than Alder or Swamp Ash? If I went with a chambered basswood body, which top would pair the best between Alder and Swamp Ash?
 
Swamp Ash thinline with no 'F' holes in a Mary Kay or solid white.  Bakelite pickguard of course!
 
Cactus Jack said:
I’m liking the Split Jazz quite a bit, but see several bodies in the 5lb range. Is basswood appreciable lighter than Alder or Swamp Ash? If I went with a chambered basswood body, which top would pair the best between Alder and Swamp Ash?
I've never tried basswood. Warmoth's wood descriptions show it to be a bit lighter than alder. For a solid color, I'd lean towards alder because it's a bit more resistant to dings. For a top, you you probably can't go too far wrong with alder unless you want a transparent finish. Maybe one of the other forumites can help you more, there.
 
If you go with basswood, alder would take a solid finish well. If you wanted to a maple top could also be used and that opens up many more finish possibilities to consider.

 
Good point stratman.  Basswood is linden and comes from the northeast USA. Usually in forests mixed with maple.  As for the sound of the top , no difference.  Go with what looks best.  To me, a roasted swamp ash jazzmaster body with a clear finish would look nice.  That said, such a beautiful neck, can't go wrong with any choice.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

I’m 90% certain on the Split Jazz. I like offsets, and the look is just doing it for me.

I did some reading last night and looked up a few guitars from builders I like, specifically Suhr and Tom Anderson. Both companies rave about Basswood and Maple. Suhr calls the combo the Holy Grail of tone, and Anderson says it by far their most popular combo for Drop Top guitars.

Again, my ear isn’t good enough to hear the difference between tone woods, but I do find it interest to see this combo get such high praise. In fact, I’m surprised to see Basswood get any praise as 90% of the feedback is negative.

Back to playing with building tool!
 
It is a soft hardwood, and not so pretty as other woods, but some people really like the tone.
 
One of the better sounding guitars I have owned over the years was basswood if that helps at all.
 
If I try the Basswood Maple combo I like the Aqua Marine dye. I’d ditch the top pickguard to show as much wood as possible and finish it chrome controls and bridge.

Seems like Warmoth is having a great run of quilt. In general is quilt vs flame more consistent and impressive? I know I can pick my own wood, but wondering what their stock wood looks like.

 
Rgand said:
Man, those look nice!

I’m really digging the recessed TOM, and the natural binding adds a nice little pop.

Now I’m torn between Quilt and Flame. Examples on the website are hit and miss and I’m not sure how to ensure I get a nice cut without adding another $200 to the build. I’d hate to pay $700 and get a mediocre top, but I’m also not thrilled paying $900 for a body either.

In general, does Warmoth have better Quilt vs Flame? Do they put A level material on builds without hand selecting the wood. Some of their tops are AAAAA and I’d love to get one if possible.
 
Cactus Jack said:
Rgand said:
Man, those look nice!

I’m really digging the recessed TOM, and the natural binding adds a nice little pop.

Now I’m torn between Quilt and Flame. Examples on the website are hit and miss and I’m not sure how to ensure I get a nice cut without adding another $200 to the build. I’d hate to pay $700 and get a mediocre top, but I’m also not thrilled paying $900 for a body either.

In general, does Warmoth have better Quilt vs Flame? Do they put A level material on builds without hand selecting the wood. Some of their tops are AAAAA and I’d love to get one if possible.

The best option you have to get a top that you like is to either pick a unique choice in the builder or keep an eye out in the showcase for something. There are spectacular pieces of quilt or flame that show up in the showcase but sometimes they go very quickly.
 
A few more color options:

mJ0ez7B.png

jbUyo9c.png
 
Back
Top