Considering a different color for my Charvel body

[Beyond Black]

Alder has little, to no visible wood grain. That's why you never really see them with transparent finishes. Might look better in white.

 

[scottywompas]

The white will look classy. I think the natural wood stuff has been done to death on the superstrat guitars in the past.

Scott

 

[Motorpud]

I'm not really a fan of the natural look unless it's highly flames or quilted maple. I think the white would look great though. Decided against the sea foam huh?

 

[Capulin Overdrive]

Warmoth might have some pics of natural from them, or more likely in thier customer pics.

 

[PeteLaramee]

I love natural finish guitars. Here's one I did with Tung Oil on Basswood.

 

[PeteLaramee]

Here's a pic of tung oil on alder I just grabbed from the Carvin site

 

[Vrad]

Pick up some Birchwood Casey's Tru Oil. Best sounding finish IMO.

Alder should have nice grain, but does it really matter? It's gonna sound better.

 

[Vrad]

So I bought some white nitro for my Musikraft Charvel body and now after surfing The Music Zoo's Charvels, I am really liking the natural guitars

this means you read the directions on the paint

It's a pain in the ass. I did it once. It came out really good, but I won't be doing it again... LOL!

 

[Vrad]

So I bought some white nitro for my Musikraft Charvel body and now after surfing The Music Zoo's Charvels, I am really liking the natural guitars

this means you read the directions on the paint

Nah, painting isn't that hard. You just need to pay attention. The good thing about nitro is that each coat melts into one another and sanding is pretty easy. I was just thinking about any dings, etc. With natural, dings won't really show up. On a solid color, they will. The cool thing about white is that after a few years it will be naturally reliced.

It's not hard, but its messy, time-consuming and an all-around pain in the ass. Easily forgettable experience. LOL!

 

[messenger]

I LOVE the look of natural guitars. I'd oil it.

 

[dfrattaroli]

Heh? Alder looks great in trans finishes. I had an Alder Suhr Modern with an Aged Cherry burst finish. It looked great. Not completly unlike ash. Of course it depends on the piece you get.

 

[Digital Jams]

My Alder Charvel, grain is pleasing enough for me.

 

[mysticaxe]

I love my natural finish on alder. I bought a little wood dye from a woodworking shop to tint the alder to a honey/mahogany type shade. A lil' Tru-Oil (after reading about Vrad's Musikraft), and it was good to go. Came out great, and I'd definately do it again.

 

[FUZZboat]

 

[ratter]

If you're torn, I would say just live with it for a while as-is. If after a few weeks you don't like the look of the grain, paint it. If you want to seal it in the meantime, without 'committing' to oil, wipe on a quick coat of Zinnser seal coat shellac (dewaxed). Shellac leaves your options open to either nitro or oil (or anything else) down the road.

 

[Anonymous]

So, I had it professionally painted and then when all was said and done, I learned that I hated the sound of swamp ash

found a pict of it:

I've had two swamp ash guitars and they both sounded like crap... Never again...

Steve

 

[Stramm8]

Here's my vote:

I always loved the look of natural wood and I used a couple of coats of tung oil and a coat of gunstock wax. As far as the wood goes, I have a guitar made of swamp ash and it doesn't sound as good as this one which is northern hard ash. This body is pretty heavy and IMO sounds awsome

 

[JackTripper]

The grain looks pretty decent in your body for a natural finish, IMO. Alder can sometimes be plain, but that body looks good.

I did a natural finish a few years back (musikraft mahogany body) with casey's tru oil. The more coats, the darker the finish.

 

[Stramm8]

Here are pics of the body...

That looks pretty nice. If it were me, I would at least load it and slap it together, just see what it sounds/looks like. But then again, I have zero patience when it comes to stuff like this

 

[tnourse]

I love natural finish guitars! No sense covering up the beautiful wood grain! I have 2 Koa Charvel guitars. One is a Music Zoo Custom Shop and the other is a San Dimas reissue from the mid 90's. I've also owned natural finish Les Pauls (Swamp Ash) and Jacksons (alder with Maple top).