tele stan Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 I'm planning to build a guitar from a diy kit where the neck is maple, Im realli digging the roasted maple neck style. I was wondering if I bought such a kit and just exposed the neck to the appropriate temperature would it work? Will there be a problem with the frets and thrust rod being put in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 No - not a good idea. Two reasons. Commercially available roasted maple will have had a controlled, industrial process performed on it. This will include full control of temperature profiles and humidity control. It's a bit like accelerated seasoning. It is very unlikely this can be replicated in a domestic oven. The timber is processed and then a neck is made from that timber. Secondly, heating a finished neck to any great degree is really not a good idea. Warping, failure of the heat softening wood glues causing splits of the fretboard, etc, frets loosening. Indeed, heat is what you use to remove a fretboard and to defret a guitar. It is likely to wreck it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 (edited) I fully agree with @Andyjr1515. Definitely a no. A few years ago I got a 1 metre piece of poplar, 70 cm in diametre. After having sawn a few thick blanks out of it with a chain saw (Note to anyone interested: It was a PITA with a regular chain, no matter how sharp it was) I wanted to get them dried. So I visited a local kiln owner. They didn't want to take the three blanks inside since the kiln was calibrated for pine. Not only was it because my wood might not have liked it, they also were worried about that small amount of "wrong" wood potentially spoiling their calibration. I also once had to re-dry some pine for flooring. Do I have to mention that some of them warped badly? Torrefying is an even more delicate art than kiln drying. You can use a blow torch, though, to burn the very surface. There's similar risks of warping and a couple of other caveats like breaking glue joints, but it can be done. Burn, brush clean, oil... Edited December 16, 2019 by Bizman62 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 21 hours ago, tele stan said: I'm planning to build a guitar from a diy kit where the neck is maple Welcome, by the way! There are some decent kits around and a kit build is a great way of understanding the bits you can take liberties with and the bits you can't. Excellent way of leading you towards more extensive modding projects and full builds. Which kit is it? Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tele stan Posted December 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 2 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said: Welcome, by the way! There are some decent kits around and a kit build is a great way of understanding the bits you can take liberties with and the bits you can't. Excellent way of leading you towards more extensive modding projects and full builds. Which kit is it? Andy Im not sure which one exactly. All I know for now is that I'll try to get as close as possible to this thing I build on some custom shop's website. If I bought it from them I would've spent about 2000 euros what is far beyond my budget so I thought why not build it myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 Looks nice! You could always stain the neck and fretboard if it's a roasted maple colour you are specifically after... Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tele stan Posted December 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 Are there any downsides to staining fretboards? I've never heard of that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 1 hour ago, tele stan said: Are there any downsides to staining fretboards? I've never heard of that Not really. There are some tips and techniques to ensure the stain is even and resists wear / discolouring but other than that, it will stain as well as any other wood. In terms of specfic stains, the brands to look for depend where you are in the world. Are you US based, UK or where? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tele stan Posted December 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 If it works I might just use staining. Thanks for that idea! Acutally I'm from Poland do I guess that I should be looking at uk/eu market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted December 17, 2019 Report Share Posted December 17, 2019 12 hours ago, tele stan said: Are there any downsides to staining fretboards? Yes and no. Water based stains may resolve by sweat and make your left hand dirty, so spirit or other tech solvent based stains are more recommendable. Obviously lacquering will seal any loose stain. Oil has also been used without issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted December 17, 2019 Report Share Posted December 17, 2019 I've actually used both spirit stains and water-based inks. However, spirit stains are more likely to be colour fast and are also more likely to come in the 'wood' colour ranges. I don't know if Chestnut Spirit Stains are available in Poland, but Chestnut do a great sampler variety pack (they do wood colours and poster colours. For matching roasted maple, it would be the wood colours you need). Great thing is that there are around 12 bottles of different wood shades - each enough for a few necks and fretboards - that you can experiment with to find one at the right shade. But if not, I am sure there will be decent wood stains available in Poland. Make sure, though, that they are wood stains and not coloured varnishes. I 'fix' the colour using Tru-oil or Danish Oil. I can take you through the process if you go this route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tele stan Posted December 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2019 okay so I think I'm gonna go with spirit stains then. From what I found there aren't any Chestnut dealers in Poland. The closest are in germany so I guess I'll have to use a different brand. Do you know any other good ones? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted December 18, 2019 Report Share Posted December 18, 2019 Crimson Guitars in the UK has their own range, Liberon (also UK based) has also proven to be a good brand whose products may be imported to Polish hardware stores as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted December 18, 2019 Report Share Posted December 18, 2019 10 hours ago, tele stan said: okay so I think I'm gonna go with spirit stains then. From what I found there aren't any Chestnut dealers in Poland. The closest are in germany so I guess I'll have to use a different brand. Do you know any other good ones? Quality-wise, most woodstains are going to be OK. It's more about the colour ranges. It's worth trying your normal DIY/Hardware stores. The 'proper' stains generally come in small tins or bottles. In UK, they are sometimes called wood stains and sometimes called wood dyes. The problem, certainly in UK, is that the manufacturers can be a bit loose with their descriptions and sell tins of 'stain' that are actually just tinted finish. My general rule is that if it's with the other paints and varnishes and in a paint tin, it is NOT likely to be the right kind of stain! Proper stains are going to be the consistency of mineral spirits and are usually sold in smaller, small-topped tins. These are two makes popular in UK and both have a wide range of colours Feel free to post links to some readily available in Poland and we can give you a view of whether it's likely to be the right stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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