Roasted Ash Guitars by Fender

[Hendrix]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ1hMWPGVFU

[youtube]XJ1hMWPGVFU[/youtube]

 

[amigarobbo]

I saw that, their editing has passed into irritating a while ago now. They do look quite nice.

I also saw this, nice to see Julian Assange hasn't been wasting his time stuck in that embassy.

[youtube]OvyofUHrXRM[/youtube]

I was surprised to hear so much difference. Dunno if I'd be able to tell the difference blind mind.

 

[rgand]

Both videos were good. Thanks, guys.

 

[bagman67]

Assange gots some skillz!

But seriously - the difference between those two necks may be ascribable to the roasting, or just being two different pieces of wood, but my goodness, is the difference profound! 

 

[musicispeace]

Greg Koch also did one of the roasted Fenders in a Wildwood guitars video. Sounded good/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G58t3Q_E7Q

 

[Wizard of Wailing]

      I recently replace both my roasted maple necks with plain old maple.  In my case the roasted maple made the tone incredibly darker, just like in this neck comparison video.

 

[amigarobbo]

Darker?

Oh, That's not what I hear.

Maple + presence boost + low mid cut = Roasted maple.

Your experience may vary. As Jimi said to Mitch.

 

[Cagey]

I recently replace both my roasted maple necks with plain old maple.  In my case the roasted maple made the tone incredibly darker, just like in this neck comparison video.

I suspect some other variable was in play, if you'll pardon the pun. I've had a number of roasted Maple necks go through here, and "dark" is not a word I'd use to describe them. As close as I've been able to tell, they're at least as bright as raw Maple. They're so brittle that there's a cracking/splitting risk from running screws into them if you're not careful. Wood that resistant to movement is not "dark". Quite the opposite.

 

[MikeW]

Darker?

Oh, That's not what I hear.

Maple + presence boost + low mid cut = Roasted maple.

Your experience may vary. As Jimi said to Mitch.

Yeah, but, are YOU experienced??

I'd agree with this assessment. I put a Roasted Maple neck on the 8-Ball, replacing a Birdseye Maple neck; same dimensions, same fretwire, same parts (well, TBH, I changed from Sperzel to Schaller tuners), and the tone was definitely edgy-er. Not in a bad way at all, especially given the pickups that are in it.

 

[swarfrat]

Not really interested in bodies but I have noticed that white Ash has similar or better stiffness, hardness and moderately better dimensional stability than rock maple. Like why isn't this the standard neck wood?

 

[bagman67]

My guess would be tradition, as much as anything else; plus the open grain makes finishing a bigger pain in the neck, and if you don't fill the grain, it will accumulate more gunk.

 

[swarfrat]

it will accumulate more gunk.

Talk about being ahead of its time....