Nightburst
New member
Documenting the whole process in this thread, maybe someone will find this useful or fun to read.
Had it in my head a long time, now it has become reality. The stratocaster homebrew project is a-go!
What really kicked it off is that I found a good source for a swamp ash body and a rosewood board neck. Both look particularly stunning to me with the grain patterns. If they will be as nice sounding and resonant is a toss up but the least I can do is make it all look and feel great.
Because I am located in Europe it's not so easy to get USA stuff over here for a reasonable price, shipping and customs charges can quickly make any item too expensive. I was lucky to find someone rather locally who sells this quality for a good price.
So what do you do with a beautifully grained swamp ash body? Well, you stain it in a nice deep color of course! I choose cherry red, to pay hommage to the red mustang I was driving while on holiday in California last summer. The idea is to capture that vibe and to be inspired for a long time. Crimson guitars from the UK sells these stains, premixed in a bottle. I highly recommend these 'stunning stains'. I never did this before and got great results. The video's they have are super helpful too for learning some techniques to apply properly and to see how the color will turn out.
Anyway, here are some pictures. Most pictures don't tell the whole story, to do a project like this the right way takes time, effort and a lot of elbow grease. I learned a lot about sanding and staining because I had to do a lot of (re)sanding and (re)staining to get it right!
Behold this beautiful body, it is about to be stained!
Did a test stain on a piece of scrap wood to see how the color turns out in real life. After that I did the body...hmm something is not right, the body doesn't absorb the stain very well... not digging this pink at all!
to be continued...
Had it in my head a long time, now it has become reality. The stratocaster homebrew project is a-go!
What really kicked it off is that I found a good source for a swamp ash body and a rosewood board neck. Both look particularly stunning to me with the grain patterns. If they will be as nice sounding and resonant is a toss up but the least I can do is make it all look and feel great.
Because I am located in Europe it's not so easy to get USA stuff over here for a reasonable price, shipping and customs charges can quickly make any item too expensive. I was lucky to find someone rather locally who sells this quality for a good price.
So what do you do with a beautifully grained swamp ash body? Well, you stain it in a nice deep color of course! I choose cherry red, to pay hommage to the red mustang I was driving while on holiday in California last summer. The idea is to capture that vibe and to be inspired for a long time. Crimson guitars from the UK sells these stains, premixed in a bottle. I highly recommend these 'stunning stains'. I never did this before and got great results. The video's they have are super helpful too for learning some techniques to apply properly and to see how the color will turn out.
Anyway, here are some pictures. Most pictures don't tell the whole story, to do a project like this the right way takes time, effort and a lot of elbow grease. I learned a lot about sanding and staining because I had to do a lot of (re)sanding and (re)staining to get it right!
Behold this beautiful body, it is about to be stained!
Did a test stain on a piece of scrap wood to see how the color turns out in real life. After that I did the body...hmm something is not right, the body doesn't absorb the stain very well... not digging this pink at all!
to be continued...
Any ideas or suggestions are always welcome of course.
It just screams more 'bad-ass' to me. I might put a black cover on the 'middle' pickup to get a faux zebra going on there. I like that idea a lot actually.
