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Roasted Marauder Body! Pics bottom of page 1

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 5:58 pm
by Deed_Poll
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Roasted poplar body blank! This one's super cool, very smooth and even surface and it has these cool spider web grains in it? I guess they could be cooked mineral streaks!

Weight on this wood is great, density of about 0.5g/mm^3 which puts it in lightweight alder territory. Some is a bit denser. If you're a tap tone guy, these ring out like crazy with a good knock!

Cheers

Re: Best looking poplar ever?

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 6:32 pm
by kdanie
I wish I had access to wood like that at reasonable prices... I love it.

ken

Re: Best looking poplar ever?

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 7:13 pm
by Shadoweclipse13
That's damn lovely Dan!

Re: Best looking poplar ever?

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2017 1:07 pm
by Deed_Poll
Cheers guys! Here's a different piece with straighter grain - just cut the body back of a top-secret project! (tribi9 knows what I'm on about!)

I'm loving the grain on this one, and this is the first board I've glued which is joined on the flat-sawn AND really looks like it could be one piece... It's easy enough to join on the rift sawn, because the surface grains are usually very straight, but this one just works for some reason!

Even from the end I think there's a good chance this will look like one piece, at least at the butt end of the guitar, because the join is pretty much perfectly flat sawn!

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Who could've imagined poplar could almost pass for pau ferro!

Re: Best looking poplar ever?

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2017 1:11 pm
by Embenny
I need to see this when that body is fully cut.

Please tell me there's some sort of transparent or translucent finish going on this? Would be a crime to hide that under an opaque finish!

Re: Best looking poplar ever?

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2017 1:26 pm
by Deed_Poll
Poplar that it's a crime to paint over... Now I've heard everything! Haha

This one could be kind of a trial run I guess... I think tribi9 was planning on a solid finish, and a lighter blank. This one was the heaviest of the pieces I had. I'll wait til I hear from him whether he'd rather have good looking or lightweight :)

There will be more on this tomorrow when I get around to the front :)

Cheers!

Re: Best looking poplar ever?

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2017 1:30 pm
by Embenny
Deed_Poll wrote:Poplar that it's a crime to paint over... Now I've heard everything! Haha

This one could be kind of a trial run I guess... I think tribi9 was planning on a solid finish, and a lighter blank. This one was the heaviest of the pieces I had. I'll wait til I hear from him whether he'd rather have good looking or lightweight

There will be more on this tomorrow when I get around to the front

Cheers!
I agree, when I think of poplar I think of very plain wood, sometimes with unappealing mineral stains. That baked stuff looks like a completely different species!

Re: Best looking poplar ever?

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2017 1:46 pm
by Deed_Poll
Yeah it's nice, a big reason people don't use poplar is because of the green/grey discoloration which is quite common. And looks apart, it's an excellent body wood.

The old Danelectros used it as a neck wood as well and I can understand why having got my hands on it. I think this torrefied stuff would work great for necks.

So I've had an idea in the back of my mind for a while about a back to basics guitar based on my Jupiter shape, with a glue-less Japanese blind scarf joint for the neck, I feel like this stuff could be perfect for that.

A thin nitro sealer coat (or even unfinished neck, it's very smooth to the touch), one boutique PAF in the bridge position, a mojoaxe one piece wraparound bridge (I have one on my '60 LP Special and it rocks) and a volume knob...

Been looking at strand woven carbonised bamboo for fretboards too. Very sustainable, extremely hard and tough, looks great and cheap...

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Re: Best looking poplar ever?

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2017 3:56 pm
by Fiddy
:ph34r: :w00t:

Lightweight please... It's going to be a solid finish

This looks pretty awesome... :-*

Re: Best looking poplar ever?

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2017 4:28 pm
by Deed_Poll
tribi9 wrote:Lightweight please... It's going to be a solid finish

This looks pretty awesome...
Nice one! I think you might have saved me from the condemnation of the wood gods... Always best to be in their favour!

So I'll do this one 25-1/2" as per usual...

I also have a USA Mustang vibrato in the post to measure the holes in the plate and sort out a body route for it. Your bridge thimbles are on their way as well. Was it a Mustang trem you wanted in yours?

Cheers!

Re: Best looking poplar ever?

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2017 4:36 pm
by Fiddy
Awesome thx

Yes, Mustang trem.. :w00t:

Re: Best looking poplar ever?

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2017 4:40 pm
by Deed_Poll
tribi9 wrote:Yes, Mustang trem..
Sweet... I can do a slightly angled neck pocket as well if you like so you shouldn't have to use a shim. I do about 1.5° :)

I don't suppose you could send me a link to the roller pots you're planning on putting into this bad boy?

Re: Best looking poplar ever?

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2017 5:42 pm
by Fiddy
Im not sure what they are to be honest...

Ive been working long hours and haven't had the chance to research anything...

Let me get back.... Or if someone could help in the meantime...

Angled neck please.

Re: Best looking poplar ever?

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2017 7:25 pm
by Fiddy
Full size pots and Jazzmaster roller knobs.

Re: Best looking poplar ever?

Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2017 12:14 pm
by Deed_Poll
So here she is straight off the machine with a very quick & dirty sand to 80 grit just to take the sharp bits off! Can you guess what it is yet?

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The super-deep contours worked really nicely. I did them 30% deeper than usual, and this body is 42.9mm / 1-5/8" like a JAM or Jag. Both these things together make this a really comfortable body to hold, from what I can tell.

I did have a piece of the neck pocket chip out on me I forgot to put the neck heel sized plug in the pocket before running the outline.. doofus! :fp:

Luckily I found the piece and glued it back in, and it's all inside the pocket so it won't show - but it will be annoying to put right! I'll need to sand it down flat with a tiny block to be sure of a tight fit...