Maple soloist body and neck

[Sadie-f]

I think this is going to finish up nicely, digging in for a winter of fun work

I have a couple ideas how to carve / finish out the headstock, im psyched for that part!

First thoughts, the rosewood in the fretboard is a bit nicer than I got from MusiKraft, same thing for abalone markers!

 

[teleme01]

merry holidays to you :kewlpics:

 

[ragamuffin]

Perty! What kind of headstock shape are you going to do?

 

[Sadie-f]

Perty! What kind of headstock shape are you going to do?

Thanks y'all!

I haven't decided on the headstock shape, only that I wanted something unique. As I think on it, I know I'll trace it onto my notepad so I can flesh out a bunch of ideas. I'm also going to look at doing some inlay into the headstock in abalone or blue paua. Gold leaf is still an option and I'll likely go with nitro finish on the headstock.

Contenders im thinking for shape could be a flame, something geometric ... Got lots of time to think on it, the body is going to take longer than the neck.

 

[Sadie-f]

Oh and here's the maple highlighting the quilt & birdseye with isopropanol

 

[DangerousR6]

Very cool, nice top and that neck is insane.... :headbang:

 

[Sadie-f]

Very cool, nice top and that neck is insane.... :headbang:

Hehe, I like the birdseye in the neck, it's awesome. To my eye it's the quilt top that's gonna be insane ;-).

 

[greenmeanie]

Did you add any color to the body yet would like to see the pattern POP.

 

[Sadie-f]

Did you add any color to the body yet would like to see the pattern POP.

Not yet, I'm sitting on this project for now, while I did a lot of testing on figured maple test pieces, because I plan to use the same method as I did for last summer's build, the starting point is fairly committing. So I want to be as close as I can to 100% sure of the plan.

Also, I'm working on 2 other projects, just finished build of a speaker cab, working on a pedal board, (which will offer a final rehearsal of color+oil on figured maple).

Plus I'm still plumbing the sonic space of the rosewood & mahogany W-strat, I may even order the pickups for this build and play it unfinished for a while before digging into the build

 

[Rick]

how does the back of the body look?  I was thinking about doing an all maple strat, so i'll be following this.  Thanks

 

[Sadie-f]

how does the back of the body look?  I was thinking about doing an all maple strat, so i'll be following this.  Thanks

Rick, I like how it looks, see below, both back and end grain. It's a contrast to the quilt top, but nothing like a different species would be. The grain is a decent bookmatch, it's the same price as swamp ash, and I like maple better for looks, willing to deal with the added weight. Mostly I'm psyched for an ultra-bright tone.

Because I'm going to carve the paddle neck to shape, I know that's going to be a lot of work, maple offers plenty of challenge to a knife!