Well it looks pretty good mocked up so far...at least to my eyes? I'm not sure if this is the right area....I was talking finishes at one point?
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t255/Wa...otherMockup.jpg
No it's not my backyard, that's where I work. It certainly seems like home sometimes. Yellow birch is really nice, hard to split for firewood sometimes..well most of the time.
Although I'm only a beginner I always thought it would be more logical to use readily available woods before branching out to the exotic/expensive stuff. Here's a few pics of nice wood I found right at work the other day...let me know what you think.
These two are old white birch...could be junk but could have some cool spalted look in there.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t255/Wa...e/OldBirch2.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t255/Wa...e/OldBirch1.jpg
Here's a freshly cut red maple...soft but makes nice turnings and has a nice feel to it.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t255/Wa...ne/RedMaple.jpg
Here's a new freshly cut white birch that is a pretty impressive log which I sure has cool figure.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t255/Wa...e/NiceBirch.jpg
Here's one of my woodpiles I was rooting around in, I found a few nice pieces in there.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t255/Wa.../LotsOfWood.jpg
Looks great....glad to see some pine and poplar used instead of the normal swamp ash etc. I spotted some beautiful poplar at Home Depot, very similar to what you used, nice stuff.
I'm not worried about dings and dents......I know how soft the stuff is, plus my son is 14 so he can destroy anything anyways. What's a film finish mean?
I'm finishing my sons spruce tele with some water based Minwax. Kind of applying it then wiping it off to accent the grain. Many people tell me this should be sealed with some form of clear coat because it will wipe off when the guitar is rubbed against things, sweat on against skin etc. I don't want any shine on it at all. Here's a pic of a test piece...any ideas if this would be true?
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t255/Wa...ne/100_1425.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t255/Wa...ne/100_1429.jpg
Or maybe leave it with no stain and some non-shiny clear coat stuff?
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t255/Wa...ne/100_1378.jpg
I realize it's not of the "ash" family.....I think I read it was in the rose family, but I could be wrong on that one. Finding a straight, big one was pretty lucky....the wood is beautiful in real life, pics never translate at all do they?
Here's some pics.....the cool grain doesn't really show up at all.
http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t255/Wa...nt=100_1384.jpg
http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t255/Wa...nt=100_1382.jpg
http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t255/Wa...nt=100_1381.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t255/Wa...ne/100_1380.jpg
http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t255/Wa...nt=100_1379.jpg