Pine Body, Whitewashy, upside down wiring

So a couple of recent threads have inspired my newest build for myself. I was toying around with a finish for some pine bodies I had, and then Herb (adirondak5 on this site) made this beauty of a snakehead guitar.



post number 574 under SSSSSSSSNNNAKEHEAD. I just LOVED his work so much that I knew what I wanted finally only with a little twist though. here are some pictures of what Herb did. isn't it just stunning.

My twist is I wanted is that I wanted some p90's with white knobs, but not the traditional strat knobs, but something A little sleeker looking. anywho I chose to use some Pickling stain from Minwax for the whitewash look. and then used Shellac for the sanding Sealer which ambered it a little, but not too much.

The initial whitewash raised the grain a little so I had to sand it back with 220grit, then applied again about 3 more times until I felt it looked white enough. I used a couple of T-shirts to apply it. . The pine took the stain well and looked really good after the initial review. The black one is for a friend. and is a stained pine black which i think gives it a tough look rather than the solid black. it's my p90's brother if you will

Next I just wanted to try something different for the neck so I went to woodcraft and was looking for so an interesting fretboard wood, What I found was Ancient Kauri in fretboard length, and then some flame maple. I figure if it didn't work I still have an old strat neck that I have that I refretted with jumbo frets that I could use too.

The Kauri has a sort of shimmer to it that really came out when I used some Naptha on it after cutting the fret slots, (the dust really gets stuck in the fretslots when you radius the board with blocks). So I threw a coat of Shellac on it,.. again I have no idea how it will work or last, but it makes the shine really come out. I also used Black MOP dots for the Inlay is it sort of looks like an older Maple neck, but not really (don't you love that "Yes but no" answer). The neck I did a soft V shape using Colt Knight's Knife like rasp approach. Took me a while to do it since I don't have a work bench and had to hold it with one hand and rasp with the other. I think I'll ditch the black pickguard I made though.

I found that the knobs I were looking for were actually amp knobs just with a black line on them. Very sleek and I think sexy looking. the they have good control as they are grooved Again I think I'm going with a aged white Pickguard. I used a Wilkinson half bridge, but I think maybe before I am done with this one I am going to hit up Marc Rutters for one of his half bridges, Or maybe a Glendale, not sure yet, but the wilkinson will work for now.

For the wiring, i did a sort of an upside down thing (CTS Pots 500K, Oaks Grigsby switch, Mojo Dijon Cap, switchcraft jack, electrosocket cup blah blah blah). I put the switch on the botton as if it were on the top meaning towards neck is neck pickup, etc. and the volume as the top knob, it took some upside down thinking and checking all my connections twice before soldering, but I got it. I think the rest of my Teles will be wired this way from now on. I play hard and my hand always switches the selector on me during shows so I think this will help.

I am got the Lollar 50's wind p90's as I play through a smooth cone speaker so I don't need more mids, and from the samples and some emailing I was recommended them.

I also finally made the aged white pick guard for it, exactly what I was looking for. The lead singer in my band does the all black thing, and I wanted something just different. I also had a custom neckplate made with my bands logo on it. Came out looking awesome.


I can't wait for the very thin finish I put on the neck to cure, so I just threw my strat neck on for a test run. The guitar is super light and feels great. Sounds AMAZING, the pickups are so smooth and have a little bit of bite for p90's which sounds awesome through my amp which has the smooth cone speaker, really bluesy . Im on the road for work for a little bit, but when I get back I'll post some better pictures of the guitar with the Kauri neck and some soundbites.

That looks great, and it's pretty much how I'd like a pine body to look that I have at home with some nice grain. I've been trying to figure out the best way to get a white wash type of finish that is partially opaque yet still lets some of the grain show through. Mine has some nice chocolate looking streaks that I like, but I don't want to just go natural or slightly ambered.

Did you just use the pickling stain directly on sanded wood and then coat and sand on top of it? No grain filler or sealer before or after the stain? Is the end result as smooth as it looks?

Thanks.

I basically did the following steps:
*Sand with 220
*whitewash coat ( it raised the grain)
*Sand raised grain
*whitewash 2 more coats
*shellac sanding sealer
*sand with 320
*Clearcoats of Behlens brand 15-20
* wet sand up 400-2000 grit
* compound then swirl remover.

Came out great. Hope that helps

Yes I applied whitewash directly to.the bare wood. Sorry forgot to.answer that

Never really heard of a pine body, how does it sound? I have two pine mills in the city I live in, so getting the pine would be extremely cheap, this would be a pretty sick wood to play around with.

That's beautiful. Please post some clips.
The kauri neck is real nice, but the maple neck seems right.