Help me choose the look for my Tele Deluxe build

[Markdude]

I've been daydreaming a bit about a Warmoth build I'm going to get put together and I'm having trouble deciding what look I want to go for. It will be a Tele Deluxe with P90s (actually The Creamery Wide Range Humbuckers in soapbar P90 size) but I'm going to go with a normal Tele headstock rather than the big 70's one (some days I like the look of it, some days I hate it -- but I always like the regular Tele headstock). I definitely want a swamp ash body with a deep transparent red stain and a maple neck, but I can't decide what fretboard wood and headstock paint/stain (or lack of) I want to go with. I've done some mockups so please cast your vote on which one you think looks the best. I do know that if I go with rosewood or pau ferro, I'm going to go with a dark choice and possibly oil it to make it even darker.

Maple fretboard, natural maple headstock (vintage tint) (pretty much the same look as the Black Dove Telecaster):

Rosewood/pau ferro fretboard, red stained headstock (back of the neck will be stained red as well) (similar look to the Jim Adkins JA-90 Telecaster):

Rosewood/pau ferro fretboard, natural maple headstock (vintage tint) (probably would go with natural maple for the back of the neck):

Rosewood/pau ferro fretboard, black painted headstock (probably would go with red stain or black paint for the back of the neck -- if you like this one then let me know what you think would look best for the back of the neck too):

 

[zebra]

If a Maple fretboard, I'd go with a Maple headstock.

If a darker fretboard, my ranking is as follows:  1) black 2)red, then 3) plain.

All four options look great, though!

 

[Guitarsan]

Red tinted head stock far and above for my taste. Would not have guessed that without photos.

 

[Re-Pete]

I selected the third one down, but would prefer to see a white pickguard on it if you went with that colour scheme.

 

[BigSteve22]

Red tinted head stock far and above for my taste. Would not have guessed that without photos.

Yeah, have to agree on both points. Definitely looks great with the red stained headstock, and I too would not have thought so had I not seen the pictures.  :icon_thumright:

Keep us posted on the build progress..........

 

[pabloman]

I'd go with a Strat headstock. The Tele headstock reminds of this time when I was a kid and I saw this old man's big ol penis in the swimming pool locker room. Seriously, why do old guys walk around naked??

 

[ByteFrenzy]

Red tinted head stock far and above for my taste. Would not have guessed that without photos.

Yeah, have to agree on both points. Definitely looks great with the red stained headstock, and I too would not have thought so had I not seen the pictures.  :icon_thumright:

Keep us posted on the build progress..........

Same goes for me. Definitely the red stained headstock, and until I saw that picture I was really thinking maple/maple.

 

[Cagey]

I'll pile on for the red headstock. Looks great. And don't finish the back of the neck - use roasted Maple and burnish it. Feels better, sounds the same and costs less due to lack of finish.

I also agree with Pablo about the droopy dick headstock. Use the Warhead. Similar to the Tele headstock, but much more attractive. Also, you may be able to take advantage of a lower-priced ready-built Strat neck in the showcase. They'll recut those to Warheads for $45.

 

[MikeW]

Red tinted head stock far and above for my taste. Would not have guessed that without photos.

This. Without seeing it I wouldn't have thought that normally. But that one really stands out after looking over the other combinations.

 

[DangerousR6]

I'd normally go all maple neck with natural headstock. But I'm not really liking the tinted maple, so I'd say the red or black headstock.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Rosewood and the red headstock.  :headbang:

 

[Wizard of Wailing]

I'll pile on for the red headstock. Looks great. And don't finish the back of the neck - use roasted Maple and burnish it. Feels better, sounds the same and costs less due to lack of finish.

I also agree with Pablo about the droopy dick headstock. Use the Warhead. Similar to the Tele headstock, but much more attractive. Also, you may be able to take advantage of a lower-priced ready-built Strat neck in the showcase. They'll recut those to Warheads for $45.

    I agree that roasted maple feels way better but I have two roasted maple necks and two finished maple necks and I can here a big difference.  The finished maple necks are WAY brighter.  That could just be a fluke though. :dontknow:

 

[Markdude]

Thanks for all the feedback! I was slightly leaning towards the red painted headstock and rosewood or pau ferro board and it looks like most other people are as well.  :icon_biggrin:

I think I will indeed go with a roasted maple neck for the extra stability and because I've heard nice things about the tone too. If I did leave it unfinished and therefore unstained, I'd want it to be a really dark shade though...and it appears I wouldn't be able to pick the actual piece of wood (unlike fretboards) if it's a custom order. I know I could hunt through the showcase hoping that something I dig pops up, but I want pretty specific neck options and it's very unlikely that the exact combination I want is ever going to show up AND have a really dark piece of roasted maple. Because of that, I think I will end up getting it stained/finished, but maybe I'll go with a satin finish so it feels nicer to play. I'm not really picky about neck finishes and can even jive with gloss necks just fine (I mainly just do recording at home, so sweating and stickiness isn't a huge issue), but I am picky about the neck profile itself.

 

[Cagey]

There's no point in going with roasted Maple if you're going to finish it. May as well use regular Maple.

 

[musicispeace]

Roasted maple doesn't need a finish and is a VERY hard wood so not a magnet for gunk. I have one waiting for more money and a project idea and it is pretty dark. (subjective opinion for "pretty dark") Nice, nice color but the grain is still quite apparent. Filter the showcase for roasted maple and study the apparent variations to make an assessment as I did.

I have two raw necks now, one on a working guitar. Highly recommended. I love the red headstock but have to tell you I have recently rediscovered my love for the sound and feel of Rosewood however it factors in as a small percentage of what happens when you plug into an amp and touch the strings.

 

[Markdude]

Isn't roasted maple much more stable than hard maple though (and also less likely to warp in the yaw axis than quartersawn maple)? My primary reason for getting it would be stability.

 

[Cagey]

It's not that it's more stable, it's that it's stable without a finish. Hard Maple is only stable as long as it has a hard finish on it. Usually lacquer or polyurethane, but some have gotten away with oils.

Roasted Maple will sand down to a super-fine point that will feel like the finest satin you ever put your hands on. It'll feel good as delivered, but you can take it even farther by burnishing it. That's simply a process where you sand it with progressively finer papers until it's super-slick. Finish won't even stick to it, it's so slick. Ideally, you run from 400 grit to 2000 grit jumping roughly 200 grit at a time. The results are stunning. No manufacturers offer it, as it's a time-consuming process - usually takes a couple hours. We just do it around here because we know about it. It's unlikely you'll hear about it anywhere else. But, I expect over time it'll catch on. Every time someone does it or has it done, they're amazed at the results so word will spread.

 

[DangerousR6]

It's not that it's more stable, it's that it's stable without a finish. Hard Maple is only stable as long as it has a hard finish on it. Usually lacquer or polyurethane, but some have gotten away with oils.

Roasted Maple will sand down to a super-fine point that will feel like the finest satin you ever put your hands on. It'll feel good as delivered, but you can take it even farther by burnishing it. That's simply a process where you sand it with progressively finer papers until it's super-slick. Finish won't even stick to it, it's so slick. Ideally, you run from 400 grit to 2000 grit jumping roughly 200 grit at a time. The results are stunning. No manufacturers offer it, as it's a time-consuming process - usually takes a couple hours. We just do it around here because we know about it. It's unlikely you'll hear about it anywhere else. But, I expect over time it'll catch on. Every time someone does it or has it done, they're amazed at the results so word will spread.

Yes, I've gotten away with it several times, but they're all birdeye maple. Maybe something about birdseye vs. other straight grain maples... :dontknow:

But I do believe Charvel is using roasted maple now. But it was only on the custom highend guitars, like $3400 guitars..

 

[musicispeace]

Isn't roasted maple much more stable than hard maple though (and also less likely to warp in the yaw axis than quartersawn maple)? My primary reason for getting it would be stability.

The one local guy who's words I trust in my area is of the mind that if a piece of wood is the one in a hundred (or whatever) that doesn't want to be a guitar neck and twists then no finish is gonna stop it. Think of vintage Fender's where the finish on the back of the neck is totally worn off from decades of playing. They are not twisting and warping by the hundreds like lemmings going over a cliff. If you have concerns about the humidity/environmental conditions/temp changes etc in your area there are things you can do to keep your guitar stable given the weather environment. I've talked with someone in Winnipeg which can go down to -20 below zero in winter and hit 90 in the summer. They have had the same guitar for years.

 

[Cagey]

Yes, I've gotten away with it several times, but they're all birdeye maple. Maybe something about birdseye vs. other straight grain maples... :dontknow:

But I do believe Charvel is using roasted maple now. But it was only on the custom highend guitars, like $3400 guitars..

Warmoth says about 10% of unfinished/untreated Maple necks will distort within the first year. My personal experience with unfinished Maple (not guitar necks) puts that number much higher, but over longer time frames. As for figured Maple, the general consensus is there's no greater occurrence of distortion, but some will argue otherwise. Actual evidence is only anecdotal, though. If the only unfinished/untreated Maple neck you have is figured and it warps, I'd guess the tendency is going to be to blame the figuring.

I think Music Man uses roasted Maple on special units, too. I don't know how far they take the polishing/burnishing, though. I'll bet they don't go much beyond 320 grit.