Help me pick a stain color (Ash)! Post pics of your favs

[Frogman]

Commenced on a new build.

HxS original 80s Charvel Dinky spec body.
Reverse ESP banana style Maple/Maple neck.
Basically will be a DeMartini/Lynch love child.

Northern hard ash
Recessed Gotoh Floyd (gold)
22 frets
1 volume only with mini switch for parallel.
Zebra/cream or Cream/cream.

Please post pics of your favorite stained/dyed ash bodies!

 

[GuitarDoc]

The natural color of ash lends itself to amber or brown toned stains. Reds or orange colors will sometimes be ok. Greens and blues tend to look a little muddy. Amber with a tobacco brown burst would be my choice.

 

[solspirit]

The natural color of ash lends itself to amber or brown toned stains. Reds or orange colors will sometimes be ok. Greens and blues tend to look a little muddy. Amber with a tobacco brown burst would be my choice.

This sounds good to me, you need to get those grains highlighted somehow, I'm sure there's a trick for raising the grain, I just don't know it.
. If you could Raise the grain with a tobacco or dark honey tone and go over it with amber, it would be awesome.

 

[Frogman]

This sounds good to me, you need to get those grains highlighted somehow, I'm sure there's a trick for raising the grain, I just don't know it.
. If you could Raise the grain with a tobacco or dark honey tone and go over it with amber, it would be awesome.

I’ll be accentuating the grain with black before putting in color. Black stain > sand back > repeat as necessary.

I could also do the “antique ash” treatment — I’ve made some furniture in the past with the black tea & vinegar + steel wool concoction and it always looks really cool.
But because I am doing a color stain on top, I would probably nix the initial black tea step to keep it from getting too dark, while still maintaining the cool driftwood undertone.

 

[Frogman]

Leaning toward slime/lizard green burst.

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[Frogman]

Some others I like.

 

[Mincer]

The green and the grey are 2 colors I thought I'd never consider, but they look wonderful with that raw finish.

 

[Frogman]

Lots of cool stuff.
I dig the whitewash a lot too.

Something right between these two colors would look really good:

 

[TVFV]

That grey with black hardware is just sexy af!

 

[ICTGoober]

I always liked what Ibanez did with this antique violin finish.
They stained the grain black, and then bursted the edges leaving the middle a nice rich caramel.

 

[d1dsj]

I like the gecko burst look. I once nearly bought a Blade strat guitar that was black with silver grain. I’m assuming they painted it silver and then sanded it back leaving silver in the grain and then stained with black? That guitar haunts me, it was awesome in every way.

 

[Mincer]

That whitewash looks amazing. Now I am thinking of having a guitar in that color....

 

[PS412]

This one.

 

[treyhaislip]

Here's one I did that I thought turned out well, Vintage Blue Stain with Silver Metallic "Ceruse" finish.

 

[Ascension]

Always liked the transparent Orange over Swamp ash on my 95 Washburn USA MG 102. In person it's closer to the color of the upper horns the flash here makes it look more yellow but it's really closer to Gretch transparent orange. Really pops under stage lights.

 

[Ascension]

Also my red Swamp Ash 94 Washburn USA Silverado is a killer.

 

[Demanic]

I'd clear coat that.
What was the final choice?

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[Frogman]

I'd clear coat that.
What was the final choice?

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I just posted this 2 days ago — you think I can make such a big decision that quickly?? Hahahahaha I’ll be lucky to have decided in 3 more weeks.

Nah but I’m getting close. Natural and neutral stains, like the antique ash option from Kiesel is normally right up my alley. But with this guitar having a maple/maple reverse banana with nightswan inlays, IDK if it fits the “theme”.

Maybe the gray wash with a very thin transparent stained edges could be a good compromise.

 

[solspirit]

I like #2 & #1

 

[playas]

I really like that transparent orange that Ascension posted for that body...next fave from this thread would be #3 above.