Ash Les Paul: Neck Colour

In the last week or so I have been patiently working away at the neck and headstock of the Ash Les Paul build. Firstly I sanded it down to 400 grit and then coloured it with Colortone dyes. I attempted a burst on the headstock similar to the ash veneer, and tried to get the neck colour as close as possible to the solid ash body. In the end, the headstock burst came out *ok* (it's growing on me), whilst the neck colour is quite a bit darker than the body.

Headstock with an Amber/Red Mahogany/Tobacco burst and 5 coats of
Tru-Oil. There's some oil overrun to fix up on the right edge.

The neck has been coloured with Amber/Red Mahogany and
5 coats of Tru-Oil.

All in all I'm reasonably happy with the results. I would have been happier if the neck wasn't quite as dark as it is, but when you see it against the body it doesn't look too bad. Just goes to show you what an in-exact science this dying stuff is. In truth, I really should have dyed the neck and body at the same time to guarantee as close to the same colour as possible. With the different woods (Ash vs Rock Maple) there is always going to be somewhat of a difference in colour at the end of it all, so I'm not too precious about it. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the results when you see the two pieces together.

The bursts on the headstock and body complement each other.

The darker neck colour still works well with the lighter ash body colour.

After only 5 coats of Tru-Oil on the headstock I was still toying with the idea of spraying it black. But the burst is growing on me and I think that in the end it compliments the look of the burst Ash veneer. It's just a matter of applying a few more coats of Tru-Oil to the neck, wet sanding down to 1200 as I go, and the finished neck will be ready for gluing. I'm waiting on some new cream pickup rings and electronics upgrades from Realtone, so once they arrive I'll be able to see how this axe is really going to look assembled. I'm pretty excited about how she's gonna look, and can't wait to chug out some thumping rock rhythms. Fun times ahead!