Veneer Brainstorming

So life has been a little crazy lately and my two ongoing projects have been taking a little longer than I've hoped, but hopefully some progress will be made next week. Anyways in the meantime I've been accumulated some randomly ordered parts that I'm hoping to turn into some beautiful guitars.

I orders packs of burled walnut and maple veneers that are looking quite awesome. I'd love to hear any thoughts on what kind of guitars these would look good on. I was originally thinking of using the walnut on an EX kit.

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Pic nr 1 is mindblewing... I say a guitar with as less as possible other things on it. One bridge, one volume pot and one pu and the rest this wonderful veneer.

That's a good idea Kick. A minimalist approach would definitely allow the beauty of the wood to take center stage. Luckily I have three bookmatched pairs of each wood so I can try a few different options or body styles.

nice score! I agree, keep it simple and show those off.
Guitar companies take note THAT IS BOOK MATCHING. Even PRS can't seem to do that properly

Look out ....wood candy.

I am dreaming of a tele with the control cavity loaded from the back, string through, babicz bridge, metal pup mounting for the neck pup....oooohhhhh yeah....birds eye ma ma maple fingerboard.....

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Those veneers would really pop if they were clear-coated or Tru-Oiled.

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Originally Posted by Dedman

nice score! I agree, keep it simple and show those off.
Guitar companies take note THAT IS BOOK MATCHING. Even PRS can't seem to do that properly

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I'm surprised you didn't suggest painting it black!!!

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Originally Posted by Andy40

Look out ....wood candy.

I am dreaming of a tele with the control cavity loaded from the back, string through, babicz bridge, metal pup mounting for the neck pup....oooohhhhh yeah....birds eye ma ma maple fingerboard.....

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Careful Andy, you'll go blind....

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Originally Posted by CascadiaGuitarGeek

So life has been a little crazy lately and my two ongoing projects have been taking a little longer than I've hoped, but hopefully some progress will be made next week. Anyways in the meantime I've been accumulated some randomly ordered parts that I'm hoping to turn into some beautiful guitars.

I orders packs of burled walnut and maple veneers that are looking quite awesome. I'd love to hear any thoughts on what kind of guitars these would look good on. I was originally thinking of using the walnut on an EX kit.

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CGG, i think we can safely say that the rest of us are turning green with envy. Great score. How thick are they?

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Originally Posted by FrankenWashie

CGG, i think we can safely say that the rest of us are turning green with envy. Great score. How thick are they?

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Well then my mission is accomplished. They are 0.025" thick according to the supplier. After doing some reading I think I'll need to find some veneer softener, especially for the maple as it's quite wavy. Since I have spare sheets I'm tempted to try applying one on a carved top to see if I can pull it off.

nice score CGG, remember an explorer body is massive must be close to over 500mm long or about 20+ inches in crappy imperial units. How long are they ? I would do the first veneered axe on a flat body and work up to an archtop. As others have said minimum controls and hardware and all veneer is the go and certainly no pickguards !

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Originally Posted by wokkaboy

nice score CGG, remember an explorer body is massive must be close to over 500mm long or about 20+ inches in crappy imperial units. How long are they ? I would do the first veneered axe on a flat body and work up to an archtop. As others have said minimum controls and hardware and all veneer is the go and certainly no pickguards !

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They come in variable widths of 18"-24" so I requested they send the longest they had in stock. The maple came in 24" but the walnut is only 22" so an explorer in the walnut will be cutting it pretty close. They are all 8" wide.

I'll definitely be doing a flat top first. The carved will be something to work up to. Maybe I could combine the two and do a contrasting wood pickguard for a total woodgasm.

no worries glad you got the longer veneer if you are doing an explorer. You could always glue a veneer to the control cover or pickguard or get some 3-4mm thick pieces and cut the shape

Alright so in more procrastination from my main projects I've been assembling more wood and parts to use with my fancy veneers. I found a handy guitar wood supplier in my neighborhood of Canada and ordered a swamp ash body blank and sitka spruce unglued boards to try out my router skills on.

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A while ago I also picked up a couple cheap Chinese necks on Amazon to try out on my scratch build bodies. The first idea I have is a tele with the burled walnut veneer on the swamp ash body with a maple neck. The body would get either a walnut grain filler or brown stain to get it closer to the darkness of the walnut veneer.

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Next up I'm thinking of an Ibanez FR shape with the burled maple veneer on sitka spruce body with a maple/rosewood neck with 'copper' dot inlays. I also want to try modding some chrome hardware to copper to tie it together.

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wow CGG some excellent body blanks and veneers there, bet you can't wait to get started !

Yes indeed. I'll have to make myself wait at least until I finish my Red Ensign and Uncle Milty projects before I add to my work in progress. Then I'll have to start my Flying V as well. The first step in dealing with GAS is admitting you have a problem.

But why ever deal with it? Just accept and embrace it. It is part of who you are.