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Flying V Finish


GuitarGoat

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I've started building a Flying V style guitar. Set neck, redwood body, maple neck, ebony fretboard. I don't know what kind of finish would look good. I want to leave it natural maybe? Or do like a sunburst that would leave part of it natural. Any ideas? I think I'm going to put curly maple binding on the fretboard, headstock, and body, also. Thanks for the help.

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Using Redwood for a body is a little unusual, where did you get the idea to do that?

If you have the wood, please post a pic.

Redwood is very soft, very porous and typically easily dented, something that would seem to me to not be a good choice for a hard-rockin' guitar like a V...and I would presume a very muted, soft tone.

It will soak up finish like a sponge unless you seal it with epoxy or some similar sealer first.

Where is your experience level right now, it will help assess the best answer to your question.

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Well my Grandpa found two huge pieces of Redwood in his basement and gave them to me to use on a guitar. I'll try to get pics up soon if I can.

Experience-wise I've already finished a guitar - a solid maple Superstrat kinda thing, neck-thru, Recessed Floyd Rose, EMGs, that kind of thing - and I have already started my second guitar. The second one is going to be a solid maple Dean ML style guitar. It's going to have a more "fancy" appearance with binding and such.

I got this Redwood and since it could easily make a body I really want to make a V with it and it looks really nice. That's just my idea. I could've sworn there was like a Dean made out of Redwood. I could be wrong though. Thanks for the help and any more suggestions would be nice.

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Well my Grandpa found two huge pieces of Redwood in his basement and gave them to me to use on a guitar. I'll try to get pics up soon if I can.

Experience-wise I've already finished a guitar - a solid maple Superstrat kinda thing, neck-thru, Recessed Floyd Rose, EMGs, that kind of thing - and I have already started my second guitar. The second one is going to be a solid maple Dean ML style guitar. It's going to have a more "fancy" appearance with binding and such.

I got this Redwood and since it could easily make a body I really want to make a V with it and it looks really nice. That's just my idea. I could've sworn there was like a Dean made out of Redwood. I could be wrong though. Thanks for the help and any more suggestions would be nice.

the deans you are thinking of have a curly redwood top, not the whole body. i made a v out of redwood one time. it was one of my worst ideas. sure it works, but one slight bump, and you have a 4" chunk missing from the wing tips. and yes it is very hard to finish becuase it requires so much to get it preped right.

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If you like the look of the Redwood, then I would choose some other wood for the body core, and have a piece of the Redwood resawn for a 1/4" or 1/8"bookmatched top.

Bookmatched rear, too, if you want to do that as well.

Binding would look really good against it as well.

JMO. :D

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Thanks for the help guys. I guess the Flying V won't be happening yet, since I don't have the capabilities to resaw it here and it's way too soft. Maybe I'll do a Mahogony/Maple V eventually. Keep your eyes open for the ML once it's done, it should be pretty BA. :D

Check around to any local cabinet makers. Any of them that are set up to resaw are usually willing to do the work for only a few bucks/beers.

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