New Project - Spalted maple Tele - input needed

[Troyw]

Hey All,

I thought I'd ask a few questions about the project I'm beginning. It's a spalted maple cap over mahogany. Before I get to the questions, I'll start with the eye candy....











Ok, so here are the things I'm pondering at the moment...

STABILIZING
i know it needs to be done and right now, I'm leaning towards epoxy. If I had my way i would do an oil finish on this but i just hate the idea of putting oil over a plasticy product. I've been reading some wood turning sites where guys are using shellac to stabilize but I feel like it wouldn't be hard enough. I've also had someone recommend thinning tru-oil and using that - Any thoughts on this would be great. It doesn't seem to be that punky but I'm not an expert by any means! Here are some extreme close ups of some of the spalty areas.





The other question I had about the stabilizing -- should i stop at the mahog or just do the entire body? I know it needs to be grain filled and that epoxy is sometimes used for this but it's usually with a thicker consistency so I'm just wondering if I DO go with the epoxy what the order of things should be before i get started.

HARDWARE
I'm not doing traditional as you can see from the HB route. It's going to be a cross between tele/paul - So...I'm struggling with bridge ideas. I originally wanted to do a hipshot babygrand but I don't like the idea of having to recess it into the body a bit and I'm not comfortable with that. I came across this last night and thought it might be a safer alternative. i'd rather screw up the neck than this body.

http://reviews.ebay.com/LUTHIER-TIP-...00000005372106

I'm putting a carvin neck on it with Steinberger Gearless Tuners and i was thinking about trimming down the head stock and doing a 4+2 config. anybody done anything like that or seen a post that I could refer too?

Well, I think that's probably it for now...I'm sure i'll have other ideas and questions as this thing takes shape.

Looking forward learning a bit more from you all here.

Thanks in advance!
Troy

[SSO720]

Troy
I am in a similar situation with a pending build with spalted hickory. One of my friends said the spalt needed to be stabilized and said to use thin CA glue. I have not gotten to the point that I have tried it yet. The spalting on yours is beautiful. My friend said the old time woodworker called the spalting "fairy writting".

[Troyw]

Yes, I've heard of the CA method along with others...I'm definitely staying away from CA since I've been told it gives off highly noxious fumes when applied to the wood. I'd love to find a method that is not a plasticy finsh. I'd like to finish in an oil finish but hate to put it over something like epoxy.

[Troyw]

I've thrown in the towel and I'm going with either epoxy or minwax hardener.

I'm just wondering how much I'll need to get the job done.

Also, the minwax says you can stain the wood after which makes me think it leaves it semi porous. Has anyone tried this?

[Chet Johnson]

Cool. Theres a spalted maple musikraft neck on ebay. Pair that with it?

[Boolywho]

What is the difference between "stabilizing" and "sealing" wood? If they are the same thing, then you could think about using shellac. People seal bodies with shellac all the time, then put an oil finish on top of it. I think this is a fairly common practice, so you might want to look into that.

Someone else can correct me if I'm wrong here, as I've never done this myself.

[Troyw]

Here is the way I understand it. With Stabilizing, you want the product to get down deep into the wood and harden to stiffen up the fibers. (Spalted wood is really soft.) With sealing you just want to cut off the capillary action of the pores to to create a barrier so the finish will rest on top.

Someone else can correct ME if I'm wrong...LOL

I just wiped the body down with MS and it's got some nice tiger striping in the figure.