New Roasted Swamp Ash showed up today

[PeterTSkelton]

Arrived home today to find that the UPS Santa had stopped by during the day.

Brought the box inside and opened her up. Obviously immediately threw away the note which says read this before you play with the new toys and ripped into the new toys. I retrieved my Padouk neck from her bed nestled amongst some wrapping paper and bolted her right on. Fit snug as a bug as you may well expect.

Next step was a test fit for looks with the scratchplate and electronic setup she'll wind up wearing. I haven't started on the electronics rebuild in earnest yet, just started pulling it apart this evening to refit a new five way switch and put the pots in place for the Clapton boost setup.

Pretty happy with this one, although now I've got it in my hands I'm rethinking leaving her naked. Even though the wood itself is very stable so doesn't need a finish I'll probably give her a few coats of tung oil or something like that. I'm also considering doing a grain filling coat, sanding back and then giving her a couple of coats of a pale yellow stain to really make the grain pop.

I'm currently missing a couple of things to make this one complete, namely a bridge and some tuning machines. I sense a GFS order in my near future...

 

[Tipperman]

Why not just burnish the neck? There's nothing quite like a burnished neck, as I recently learned. Here's a link to the thread on it. I did it to my roasted maple neck for my VIP build, and MAN that thing is fast. Smells nice, too. That being said, if you wanna do some tung oil, do your thing mang. It'll be a mighty fine neck either way.

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=19901.0

 

[Tweed]

Buddy that's the fraternal twin of my new Tele, right down to the non-center glue seam, which is great because it looks more like a one piece body!

 

[BCrete603]

Very nice looking body/neck!

Obviously immediately threw away the note which says read this before you play with the new toys and ripped into the new toys.

Oh good, I thought I was the only one!  :laughing7:

 

[ghotiphry]

Unless I miss my guess, the body is raw.  I think Peter is looking at putting a finish on the body, not the neck?

 

[rgand]

Boy, that roasted swamp ash is beautiful. Any clear or transparent finish you do will look good on it.

 

[Tipperman]

Unless I miss my guess, the body is raw.  I think Peter is looking at putting a finish on the body, not the neck?

Ah, my misunderstanding then. Probs. Yeah some tung oil would look sexy on that.

 

[ghotiphry]

I do love RSA, and this is a fine piece.  I'm dying (no pun intended) to see what a pale yellow transparent finish would look on this!

 

[Tipperman]

I agree. Roasted swamp ash is gorgeous. I've had a craving for an RSA Tele with clear gloss finish since they added it. I love how the roasting process really makes the wood look special. Looking forward to seeing the results, PeterTSkelton. That's some sexy wood you've got there.

 

[PeterTSkelton]

It was the right figure in the right place at the right time. If I'd really had my druthers this one would be getting a vintage tremolo, but needs must as the credit card drives

Whoever said it was right, the neck will indeed be getting burnished. I already polished my Clapton carve maple neck all the way up to 2000 grit and its like butter. The padouk, being different wood already feels significantly better than the maple out of the box, and as it's naturally a more oily wood it may need less work to get it up to that pane of glass feeling.

I'm considering the options for the body, there's a pretty decent looking effort in the finishing forum using just some dark grain filler, so that may be an option too. I'm half tempted to just do that, but I'm not set up to clear coat anything which makes tung oil attractive. And a gentle yellow tint I think would really bring out the grain on this piece which would really pop with the black scratchplate and red toned neck