Finishing Basswood body, dying- tung oil

Hello,

I'm currently in the process of refinishing a basswood body which came with this 'conversion' resin-like finish. I've just finished sanding down to the wood on the top then again to 180 sandpaper. I've a seen a basswood body being sold in the UK, made from basswood, which looked identical (in shape and the wavy styled control plate) and the guy who was selling it told me it had a maple top but he was not sure.

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/Edd6464/IMG_0771.jpg

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/Edd6464/IMG_0780.jpg

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/Edd6464/IMG_0788.jpg

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/Edd6464/IMG_0792.jpg

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/Edd6464/IMG_0791.jpg

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/Edd6464/IMG_0793.jpg

From what people say of basswood, it doesn't have figurative grains and comes in a "horrible" pale colour with green mineral streaks.

I'm not particularly experienced in identifying wood, but if the preconceived notions of basswood's "horror" are true.. this must be an exception; or it's maple, but again I couldn't tell.

To my knowledge Basswood is incredibly soft and porous which makes dying it hell so it should have a single/double layer of pre conditioner before dying is attempted (although i'm not sure if that is needed). I'm planning on using a water based dye which will darken the wood and colour it to bring out the grain, and something darker on the sides and back.

I may go hunt for a chunk of basswood to test the dyes and tung oil on so I know what colours i'll be getting as after dying it it will get darker depending again on the amount of tung oil coats I have to apply. I'm not looking for a high gloss finish and I don't want to comprehend the nice wooden texture I like to feel on my wooden guitars so I won't be applying too many coats. For the neck, it's a different story, as warping is a slight consideration and the amount of wear. I'll either use tung oil again or apply tru-oil.

how many times have i committed guitar finish sacrilege?

advice would be very much appreciated,
thanks very much

The unfinished basswood guitar bodies I have seen (admittedly not a lot of them) have been pretty uniformly colored, generally in a very pale pink verging on white. They have not been terribly open-grained. It is on the soft side, for a hardwood, but if you're not too hard on your guitars generally, it shouldn't be substantially more prone to dings. I have no knowledge as to its dye-worthiness, but because it's not a highly figured wood, I wouldn't bother. Maybe shoot it with a colored toner, but definitely not a dye job. Generally I see basswood with opaque paintjobs. If the top of the guitar in your photos is basswood, I'd say it's one of the less attractive specimens I've encountered.

Good luck!

Bagman

With those greenish streaks in it, I'd say that it might be what we call poplar in the States. Kind of a light-weight hardwood, much harder than basswood but softer than maple, ash or alder. It does get used in guitars quite a bit, but most often with opaque colors. I'm sure you can figure out why.

What's the rest of the body made from?

The body is basswood, and I have a felling the top is as well cause it doesn't look too much like maple but I wouldn't be the one to ask.

this dude here tung oiled his basswood guit and I have to say it's pretty impressive,
http://guitarmatrix.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=rgseries&action=display&thread=905&page=2

I could always mix dye into the tung oil.