My Spalted Maple Telecaster Build

[PumpinIron]

Well guys, just placed an order for a showcase Telecaster neck and body from Warmoth.

The body is a spalted maple top with a mahogany body and ivory top binding. I wanted a swamp ash body, but I figured Mahogany shouldn't make much of a difference. The finish is a clear gloss finish on the front and back.

The neck is a showcase modern roasted flame maple neck with a fatback neck profile with a clear satin finish.

It will have Schaller mini locking tuners in black, with a black nut, black Gotoh Telecaster bridge, Black round top knobs, no pick guard or control plate, and Fender Custom Shop '51 NOcaster pickups.

The end result should be pretty cool I think!

 

[PumpinIron]

Oops, wrong photo of the neck. Here's the actual neck I ordered:

 

[Logrinn]

Very nice body. I think I can see where the treasure is buried.
And the neck is absolutely outstanding. Wow!
Congratulations to a nice find. That's going to be a winner.

 

[PumpinIron]

I'm hoping that the body and neck look good together. I think they should though, they both look very exotic.

I've been wanting a "natural wood" Stratocaster without a painted finish for a while. I think this should fill that part nicely.

 

[rgand]

Fine top on that body. Spectacular neck! Congrats, that should be a fun one to put together.

 

[PumpinIron]

Thanks guys!

It should look something like this (quick Photoshop) with the neck and the body put together.

I debated between back or chrome hardware, but I think this one calls for black.

 

[Logrinn]

Yep, my vote is for black as well. Looking forward to seeing this completed.

 

[Cagey]

That is going to be really sharp!

Maple necks require a hard finish because chances are too high they'll warp/twist without one. Warmoth won't even warranty them otherwise. But, did you know that roasted Maple doesn't require a finish? Even Warmoth will tell you that, and still warranty the thing. I think if you took a poll here, you'd find that 97% of users would prefer an unfinished neck once they try one. Of those, 100% of them like them even more once they're burnished.

I can understand being concerned about wearability of the wood without a finish, but Maple is pretty hard, and burnishing has a sort of "annealing" effect. Things won't abrade or stick to it easily because it's super-slick.

Also, I'd be concerned about a satin finish on a figured wood hiding its chatoyance. That kind of finish tends to refract light like a frosted restroom window, so you wouldn't see the magical shifting that curly and quilted Maple do in the light and are so well known for. Pay that much money for a neck, you don't wanna hide its best trick. Especially if it's gonna cost you to do it.

But, I could be wrong. I've never seen anybody even consider putting a finish on a high-end neck like that, so who knows what it'll do?

Just a thought.

 

[PumpinIron]

That is going to be really sharp!

Maple necks require a hard finish because chances are too high they'll warp/twist without one. Warmoth won't even warranty them otherwise. But, did you know that roasted Maple doesn't require a finish? Even Warmoth will tell you that, and still warranty the thing. I think if you took a poll here, you'd find that 97% of users would prefer an unfinished neck once they try one. Of those, 100% of them like them even more once they're burnished.

I can understand being concerned about wearability of the wood without a finish, but Maple is pretty hard, and burnishing has a sort of "annealing" effect. Things won't abrade or stick to it easily because it's super-slick.

Also, I'd be concerned about a satin finish on a figured wood hiding its chatoyance. That kind of finish tends to refract light like a frosted restroom window, so you wouldn't see that magical shifting curly and quilted Maple do in the light and are so well known for. Pay that much money for a neck, you don't wanna hide its best trick. Especially if it's gonna cost you to do it.

But, I could be wrong. I've never seen anybody even consider putting a finish on a high-end neck like that, so who knows what it'll do?

Just a thought.

Really? This is something I didn't know. I figured that I would need a finish on the neck to protect it. I don't think it's too late to tell them to nix the finish, so maybe I should do that.

I have also never played a neck with no finish, so maybe I am missing out?

I also didn't know that little fact about roasted maple! I wonder why that is.

 

[Cagey]

Not many companies offer the exotic woods Warmoth does, so the subject of unfinished necks rarely comes up. But, yeah. Unfinished necks are really nice to play with, and burnishing them just makes the whole experience sublime.

Most production OEM necks from the usual suspects are made of either hard rock Maple or Mahogany, both of which require finishes. Most of the exotic woods don't.

Roasting Maple breaks down the sugars, gets rid of moisture, and otherwise just puts a magic spell on the stuff. Whatever happens to it, it's a Good Thing. They become highly stable and no longer susceptible to warping/twisting.

Burnishing any wood takes out scratches you can't even see and sorta packs the cells together so the surface become incredibly smooth. The neck will play faster and your hands won't stick to it. Appearance-wise, it just looks like normal unfinished wood unless you hold it at an angle to the light. But, the feel? My goodness!

Follow that link I gave you above - you'll see how to do it and what it does.

 

[PumpinIron]

Not many companies offer the exotic woods Warmoth does, so the subject of unfinished necks rarely comes up. But, yeah. Unfinished necks are really nice to play with, and burnishing them just makes the whole experience sublime.

Most production OEM necks from the usual suspects are made of either hard rock Maple or Mahogany, both of which require finishes. Most of the exotic woods don't.

Roasting Maple breaks down the sugars, gets rid of moisture, and otherwise just puts a magic spell on the stuff. Whatever happens to it, it's a Good Thing. They become highly stable and no longer susceptible to warping/twisting.

Burnishing any wood takes out scratches you can't even see and sorta packs the cells together so the surface become incredibly smooth. The neck will play faster and your hands won't stick to it. Appearance-wise, it just looks like normal unfinished wood unless you hold it at an angle to the light. But, the feel? My goodness!

Follow that link I gave you above - you'll see how to do it and what it does.

I'm checking out that link as we speak, that's really cool. This is something I never knew.

But the real question is how does the unfinished roasted maple hold up over the years in terms of looks? Does it start to look really ragged and nasty from all the acidic sweat and other grime from our fingers and body?

That's my really curiosity here.

 

[Cagey]

Warmoth hasn't been offering it for very long, I think partly due to availability and partly because it's a fairly new process, which I suppose amounts to the same thing. So, it's tough to say what the long-term effects are going to be.

I'll tell ya, though. I have several of my own and have done a number of them for others, and to me, it's one of those "I'd rather have loved and lost than to have never loved at all" type things. If they turn to crap after 5 years, I'll miss their youth, but will have been glad to have been the one to wear one out.

My guess is the long-term viability is going to be pretty good. Maple is tough stuff to begin with, actually tougher than the finishes typically put on it, and making it less susceptible to the normal slings and arrows of life's misfortune can only improve it.

 

[Cagey]

I should also point out that as a sort of ass-covering move, a couple of my roasted Maple necks have Ebony fretboards, which matches anything and ends up giving you the best of all worlds. The Ebony will never show dirt/scratches, and the burnished Maple feels like sex on a stick. Then, the whole thing sounds like a Maple neck so you don't have to worry about some strange gaps in the EQ response curve that you weren't expecting.

 

[PumpinIron]

I couldn't find one with an Ebony fretboard in the neck profile (fatback) that I wanted, which is what made me decide on solid roasted maple. In addition to that, I think some guitars look good with the darker fretboards, while others look great with solid maple. For this build, it seemed to me that a solid maple neck would look really "natural", and go with the body of the guitar.

Anyways, now I wonder how they make this roasted maple. I'm assuming they must apply some sort of flame to it or something (hence the "roasted" name). It sure is gorgeous, I'll say that much!

 

[Cagey]

As with most things aesthetic, opinions vary. Personally, I don't like to mix fancy with fancy on guitars. You do a fancy neck or a fancy body, but not both. Otherwise, you risk getting the "plaid pants with striped shirt" effect. Done well, they're both good, just not together. Some would argue that some things go with anything because they're just so great that you can't go wrong. Curly Maple (roasted or not) often gets treated that way. Bacon is another one. Did you know you can buy bacon flavored vodka? I'll bet before you say "No way!" you think about it for a second, because why not? Bacon is great! It's like a delicious protein and calorie enhanced orgasm for your mouth! Surely bacon vodka can't be bad!  :laughing7:

As for how they make roasted Maple, it is literally roasted. They cook it in a kiln/oven at about 350 degrees for a couple/few hours. I believe they also pull a vacuum on it while it's cooking. The actual process is  called "torrefaction" if you wanna look it up.

Fun fact: a roasted Maple neck smells like fresh-baked Maple cookies when you open the box.

Also, the effect is throughout the wood. It's not a finish; it's a change in the material overall.

 

[PumpinIron]

Oh, I know you can get bacon anything, including bacon flavored vodka, I'm well aware of that one  :laughing7:

We'll see how the flamed maple neck works with this body. Worse comes to worse, I can order a more plain neck for it without hassle. I totally get what you're saying about the plaid pants and the striped shirt, and this may end up being that situation. However, it may also be quite stunning, but unfortunately my Photoshop skills aren't going to be able to tell us. Once I get it all together and take some actual photos, that's going to be the deciding factor.

Very cool about the roasting process. I had a feeling it had something to do with cooking it or exposing it to flames. It's a really beautiful touch, to an already beautiful wood.

Now I'm anxious to get the neck, so that I can smell the box once I open it up. I love the smell of fresh wood and freshly finished guitars!

 

[Cagey]

If you still plan to get it finished, I suspect the finish is going to seal in the roasted Maple smell. But, you'll still get a little bit of the finish solvent smell, so it's not a complete loss.

 

[PumpinIron]

I'm going to call them tomorrow and ask them not to finish it, assuming they haven't yet. I'm going to try and burnish it as you suggested. Had I known about this in the first place, I never would have chosen to finish it to begin with!

 

[Cagey]

Wise move. You won't be sorry.

 

[Hendrix]

great body arty07:

I have waxed a rosewood neck, just to made it not easy to get dirty, can roasted Maple be waxed?