Poplar and Proud (or putting the POP in poplar)

[swarfrat]

My son wanted a green bass, and when I stopped to get some more 1/4" poplar I found this:

I was planning a rattle can finish, absolutely not doing a figured top but this was rather striking.  Any suggestions on making the contrast pop and preserving the green streaking from fading?

Also - it's about 1/4" shy of being wide enough for a one piece top. It's too thin to book match, but I might can pseduo bookmatch - cut it to length, take the remaining and flip it over. But ... I could also use that purple for some contrast on the edges - pseduo binding.  Thoughts?  I know poplar is not generally regarded as "pretty" and expecially the green streaking but dang... I couldn't pass this one up.

 

[Gemcutter]

So, 1/4" shy on width...1/8" per side. For a one-off, custom body...that would work. Now, if size was really an issue, and you were to do the pseudo book-match, which color would you put in the center, the green I presume? My opinion is that if you took your time and studied the board, you may be able to come up with a decent match. Now, if you were to think outside the box, maybe a multi piece top (maybe 4 pieces matched) would allow you to exploit the green and not force you to use the purple (it just sounds like you would prefer to stay away from the purple). A little farther outside the box...maybe cut so the grain is book-matched, but angled in a sort of a 'v' shape; make the best of all the variations in color, and it would be a very interesting pattern.

Lots of us wish we had this problem to work through - you'll do fine with whatever you choose, that's some really sweet lumber.

 

[swarfrat]

That's actually two different pieces btw - one is mostly purple/black.

I've since read that the green will eventually fade. I'm wondering if I can maybe stain the green with a green stain. Either the parts that already are green, or maybe even the whole thing.  The green rattle can I bought is just a shade darker green than most hi-viz yellow-greens. Most of those are more yellow than green, this one is more of a green yellow.  Anyway - the poplar streaking on this one piece in seems like a natural analog to the hi-viz yellowgreen color my son was gravitating towards. But I do love the dark streaks plus green + brown.

 

[swarfrat]

OK - looks like green dye and burst to black on the edges to cover my piecing.

 

[Cagey]

OK - looks like green dye and burst to black on the edges to cover my piecing.

That's a good idea. There's a school of thought that says edge anomalies were the genesis of burst finishes. End grain normally absorbs more dye and ends up darker, so a burst covered that up. You could accomplish the same thing with your 1/4" shortfall.