Get your paisley here

gpower

Blues Junior
Some nice bodies and necks on there at really good deals. The guys on here who've tried them have been pleased with the results too. Scroll to the bottom and they have shielding paint for 9 bucks a bottle.
 

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
Some nice bodies and necks on there at really good deals. The guys on here who've tried them have been pleased with the results too. Scroll to the bottom and they have shielding paint for 9 bucks a bottle.

I got two Strat style bodies from them, one the base brand and the other the "deluxe" one. Both were okay, but both also had some faults, including chipped paint around the edges and some sloppy routing. I used the better of the two when I built my nephew's partscaster and had to re-rout a few places and touch up some edges. In general it wasn't bad, just nothing close to the quality of workmanship in the Warmoth body I got for the Spincaster.

Not knocking GF, they're amazing value, just a cautionary note that sometimes their stuff needs a bit of elbow grease to work with. :)
 

gpower

Blues Junior
To be expected Mark, but the price isn't Warmoth either. I have a high end Tele build with a one piece Warmoth swamp ash body and a USACG quatersawn maple neck. Just bolt together with little tweaking required.
 

PapaRaptor

Father Vyvian O'Blivion
Staff member
I bought a Tele body from them several years ago made of Paulownia (or however it's spelled) that was the biggest POS. It felt like balsa and was almost as soft. There are several other purchases I've made from them that I did like. My favorite player (a Tele... big surprise) started life as one of their Xaviere guitars.
IMHO, their pickguards are utter garbage, at least the two Tele pickguards I bought from them. they aren't even close in contour to any Fender Tele body. The mounting screw holes also are nowhere near close to Fender factory specs.
I've seen the pink paisley bodies and I've been tempted more than once to take a chance with them, but they are advertised as paulownia, and I really don't think I want another one, no matter how light they may be.
I have been impressed by their pickups.
 

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
To be expected Mark, but the price isn't Warmoth either. I have a high end Tele build with a one piece Warmoth swamp ash body and a USACG quatersawn maple neck. Just bolt together with little tweaking required.

Yeah, methinks I was having a Captain Obvious moment. :)
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
I bought a Tele body from them several years ago made of Paulownia (or however it's spelled) that was the biggest POS. It felt like balsa and was almost as soft.
Yup, that wood is extremely light and soft. The Paulownia trees grow VERY fast. If you haven't figured it out yet, they grow all over North Carolina by the roadsides and in the mountains - they are the trees with the huge friggin leaves. In the US they are typically considered to be an exotic invasive species. I had one in my yard over by Mooresville when I lived there. I'd cut it down to the ground every year, and it just kept coming back, getting taller every year than the past year. Couldn't kill it.
Here is some additional info:
Paulownia was named after Queen Anna Pavlovna of Russia (1795-1865), is sometimes called Royal Paulownia or Princess Tree, and is known in Japanese as Kiri. In Japan it is customary to plant a Paulownia tree when a baby girl is born and then to make it into a dresser as a wedding present when she marries. Paulownia seeds were originally used as packing material for shipments from Japan, and have spread prolifically across the U.S. blooming annually.

Native to Eastern Asia, Paulownia is very light in weight (17 to 21lbs per cubic foot), fine-grained, soft, warp-resistant, and has a natural resistance to Termites. Blonde to golden brown in color, it is a substitute for Balsa wood and similar to Catalpa, another lightweight and porous hardwood. It is used for chests, boxes and clogs. In the U.S., the wood is mostly used for water and snow sports products. It is a great carving wood and a substitute for balsa wood. It’s widely used in Japan for construction of the koto (a stringed musical instrument), as well as for other plywood, veneer, furniture, boxes, millwork, siding, musical instruments such as electric guitar bodies, clogs and carvings. Due to it’s porosity, the wood takes a wide variety of glues, stains, and finishes very well.
 

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
For some odd reason that (fascinating) tale had me thinking of Kudzu. The joke where I grew up was the best way to plant it: drop a seed and run. :confused:
 

david moon

Attempting the Blues
Wow- another wide-ranging thread. If that P^^^^^ wood is comparable to balsa, thats REALLY light and soft.I would think that is bad for sustain and maybe even marginal for holding screws (like a Hardtail bridge)
 
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