25 years in… NGD - 594 WL

Big shout out to DFD at Wild Cat Guitars. I’ve known him for a good decade now. We’ve been close to doing some deals a few times. I’m always looking for something specific so it’s hard for me make something happen at the right time. This one popped up in my Reverb feed after I’d given up on finding a charcoal 594 with a roasted maple neck. Right time, right place, righteous guy. He shot this out to me quick with some nice swag to go along! Thanks Doug!

Congrats, sir - that’s a beauty!

And DFD is an awesome guy. Bang Stallions - in the night!
 
Wow! That grain is fantastic, what a beautiful instrument! And that neck....man, roasted maple is on my "want" list and seeing this one just made it that much more desirable!

Congrats, it's an absolute beauty!
 
Congrats !
For a split second I thought this was one I had briefly owned couple months ago, same exact specs and look except mine had a black back instead of natural. I much prefer the natural look of yours, and your top looks nicer too.

As I’m typing this, I get a pop up for auction ending on bone phase III tuner buttons. Those gold ones gotta go- it’s the only thing I dislike on the guitar so far.
Have you considered charcoal-stained curly maple buttons :p
 
Congrats, that’s killer! Looks terrific in your photos so must be epic IRL. Nice when a long term treasure hunt ends successfully.
 
Congrats !
For a split second I thought this was one I had briefly owned couple months ago, same exact specs and look except mine had a black back instead of natural. I much prefer the natural look of yours, and your top looks nicer too.


Have you considered charcoal-stained curly maple buttons :p
I did actually consider contacting you about that! I think bone will look nicest with the binding, bone nut and white headstock sig.

That said, I’m interested in doing something with the back plates! Trying to decide if matching the roasted maple neck look or the charcoal top would be cooler?
 
Thanks for all the compliments everyone.

One thing I noticed last night is the tonal changes with the knobs is super sensitive. All my PRS are pretty good in this respect, but this is next level…move the knob 1 number and I hear a change. Not sure if that’s the pickups themselves, the TCI deal or what. It pretty crazy though. Will see if that’s good or a detriment when I play with the band.:D Maybe it won’t be so noticeable then with other noise getting in the way of my guitar tone!:eek::D:D
 
I did actually consider contacting you about that! I think bone will look nicest with the binding, bone nut and white headstock sig.
That's fair. The stained buttons on my Eriza Verde 594 work great because it adds a lot of contrast to the rosewood headstock/fingerbord, not so much with charcoal and if it's contrast you want then the faux bone are the way to go.

That said, I’m interested in doing something with the back plates! Trying to decide if matching the roasted maple neck look or the charcoal top would be cooler?

Funny, I made an extra set of curly maple 594 backplates couple days ago when starting a Faded Glacier set for someone. Figuring is basically identical:
omDcSWz.jpg


No quilt though.
I did roast a piece of curly maple in my kitchen's oven last year and it turned out fantastic. Just haven't tried it since.
Roasted maple is extremely brittle though, but this is slightly less of a concern on 594 backplates with the mounting holes being a lot further away from the edges than the tremolo cover of a Custom.
 
That's fair. The stained buttons on my Eriza Verde 594 work great because it adds a lot of contrast to the rosewood headstock/fingerbord, not so much with charcoal and if it's contrast you want then the faux bone are the way to go.



Funny, I made an extra set of curly maple 594 backplates couple days ago when starting a Faded Glacier set for someone. Figuring is basically identical:
omDcSWz.jpg


No quilt though.
I did roast a piece of curly maple in my kitchen's oven last year and it turned out fantastic. Just haven't tried it since.
Roasted maple is extremely brittle though, but this is slightly less of a concern on 594 backplates with the mounting holes being a lot further away from the edges than the tremolo cover of a Custom.
Yeah I’m not sure roasting the thin back plates is something I’d want to try because of the brittleness. All maple doesn’t roast the same in terms of color. I was thinking of maybe having you stain to try to match the color of the roasted neck? Or maybe some contrast on the back with charcoal? Might need to start a poll.:)
 
Yeah I’m not sure roasting the thin back plates is something I’d want to try because of the brittleness. All maple doesn’t roast the same in terms of color. I was thinking of maybe having you stain to try to match the color of the roasted neck? Or maybe some contrast on the back with charcoal? Might need to start a poll.:)

Stabilizing wood (superglue) would likely be sufficient to address any concern about the brittleness of roasted maple.
However the amount of roasting varies how dark it gets, on top of inherent wood differences; short of being very lucky the color would most likely not match well enough.

The same goes for stained backplates trying to match the brown/orange of a roasted neck: it's a crap shot and could look jarring depending on your OCD level if the color doesn't match (and it won't) and especially if they turn out lighter.

Charcoal/black backplates on the other hand work, and since they are never next to the top any mismatch is a non-issue.
 
Nice guitar! I was thinking I might need new tuner buttons as well on mine. Enjoy!
 
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