What color should I stain this guitar?

frankfalbo

frankfalbo

In Fluence Y'all
GSZ-RadiusClassic006.jpg


This is an Ibanez GSZ that I got from a forum member, I stripped it, and reshaped it into a Radius style shape. The wood is a mystery. It has the appearance of Swamp Ash, with some Mahogany and Oak style grains. It might be Agathis. We'll see how it sounds when it's together. It's also a 3-piece, so a lighter natural color will highlight the separation of the pieces. For that reason I'm leaning toward a dark raspberry stain. The guitar will be oiled or lightly satin finished. I won't spend the time grain filling and glossing a guitar of this caliber. Although the neck is truly exceptional for an entry level guitar like this, it is afterall, still a GSZ at heart. I'll put fancy pups and electronics in, as well as superglue lock the frets and dress them. The neck wood is even worthy of a refret. I'll probably strip, slightly reshape, and oil finish the neck, too. But I still won't do a $500 high gloss finish. It's not worth it, plus it's 3-pieces anyway. I just want to wipe some coats on and be done. More before/after pics here:http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v655/gpenguins/Frank/GSZ-Radius/

So here are the choices in order of my personal favorites:
Dark Raspberry
Light tan
Teal blue
Whitewashed
Gibson SG Cherry
I'll take other suggestions, but I'm kind of stuck on these. I don't want to do a dark brown, orange, green, or trans black.
 
Re: What color should I stain this guitar?

The dark raspberry or Gibson SG cherry would look really cool with that wood grain.

As for the neck, just strip it and finish it in a nice clear satin finish for that natural feel but protected. A 3-piece neck is actually very stable, possibly more stable than a 1-piece. I say possibly because it depends on the quality of the wood used to begin with but in general 3 will be stronger and resist twisting better than 1 will.
 
Re: What color should I stain this guitar?

Cool project!

3 piece construction is deluxe on most Ibanezes. Shoot, when I stripped my RG I found 8 pieces of agathis glued together. Be fortunate you've only got three!

I think the darker colors would look best on the guitar, and because I've been drooling over a raspberry finished guitar lately, I'm going to have to give that an edge over the heritage cherry.
 
Re: What color should I stain this guitar?

Sorry if I confused you Erik. The neck is one piece with a scarf joint. I'll oil finish it with a polymerized tung oil w/varnish resins. It seals like a light poly but I like how it feels.

I was talking about the body being three pieces, and why I wouldn't spend a lot of time grain filling and glossing the body, being it's both mystery wood AND 3pcs. (catalog says poplar, which it's clearly NOT)

Edit: It doesn't take the raspberry very well, because it's an oil based aniline. So the raspberry goes into the pores, but somewhat wipes off the skin. It floats rather than penetrates. So if I choose that color, I'll use a deep red water based aniline to penetrate and deeply dye the whole guitar first, and follow up with the raspberry aniline suspended in my oil finish. It should produce a little 3-dimensional quality that way.
 
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Re: What color should I stain this guitar?

I'd like to see how you go about staining & finishing the body, because I'm thinking of doing the same thing to my old Peavey strat. Don't want to sink much into it, you know?
 
Re: What color should I stain this guitar?

Ahhh, I gotcha. Still, a 3-piece body isn't bad. My '94 American Standard Strat is 3-piece as is my Chandler alder bodied frankenstrat. The less in the grain the more that body could resonate. When I made my frankenstrat, I didn't do any sand-n-sealer or anything, just finished it with a clear coat. The thing resonates like mad. Is the fingerboard maple or rosewood?
 
Re: What color should I stain this guitar?

It's Rosewood, and it's really dark and purplish-burgundy, with excellent straigh blackish brown streaking, no grain runout either. What's the finish on your avatar frankenstrat? I was considering a light lacquering instead of the oil finish. I can't decide how shiny I want it to be. Even if I oil it, I'll rub it out with paste wax, so it'll be a little glossy. And whenever I say "oil finish" I'm usually referring to the polymerized tung oil varnish, which you can buff out if you want.
 
Re: What color should I stain this guitar?

The guitar in my avatar at the moment is my '94 American Standard Fender Strat. I've still got the stock SSS pickguard but wanted to go HH with it for a while. It's the midnight wine color and is actually darker than the current MIM Strats in the same color. The only ones I've seen as dark as it are the American Standards of the same era.

My Frankenstrat is finished I think with some light tint poly gloss finish, but I didn't use a lot to build up a thick finish and it's not polished at all so it's not even very glossy. To be honest, I can't remember exactly, it was done 13 years ago. If you go here, you can see a few shots of it.

Since your board is rosewood, the darker colors I think will look better.
 
Re: What color should I stain this guitar?

I was thinking Heritage Cherry until you mentioned the Raspberry. I think that would look killer. Good luck, whatever color you go with.
 
Re: What color should I stain this guitar?

Why not leave it as is? Natural color?
 
Re: What color should I stain this guitar?

My "light tan" option is basically natural, but I'd put a little color in there to try to unify the three pieces. In the pics, the guitar is totally raw, and the sun light or flash really minimizes the two transitions. In person, the three pieces are much easier to spot, and with the light ambering of even a natural finish with no color, they stand out even more. I'm still thinking about natural though.
 
Re: What color should I stain this guitar?

If you go Rasberry, make sure you wear a baret.
 
Re: What color should I stain this guitar?

I honestly don't think that would look good stained, unless it was very deep red ala gibson. grain is too plain

I think a solid color would lend itself to the shape somehow... something pastel :D

Slade
 
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