Wood Leo Used For the Stringmaster

[Tony Oresteen]

I've been researching the wood type that Leo used for the Stringmaster. I couldn't find much at all. There was a thread from the old board that mentions a few types.

https://steelguitarforum.com/Forum2/HTML/004921.html

My interest is mostly the 1970's versions as my T8 is a 1978 but I have a couple of 1953ish 26" necks. I am no expert on wood but I am thinking that swamp ash was used. Is there one type of wood that was predominantly used?

Anyone know for sure?

Thanks!

[Henry Hibbert]

I would like to know too. I have a 1954 long scale and recently acquired a 70's D8.

[Chris Clem]

Ash was used for any semi transparent finish (Blonde/Butterscotch) The Ash that Fender used was not Swamp Ash it was standard Ash from the east coast.

[Henry Hibbert]

Chris,
Thank you for your note. Mine are indeed blondies.

kind regards,
Henry

[Tony Oresteen]

Chris,

Thanks for the info.

What wood would have been used for a solid black colour T8?

I have a couple of brown necks like Doug B's Quad. Would ash have been used for brown necks?

[Robert B Murphy]

What is "swamp ash?" Are you referring to Green Ash?Carolina Ash? Pumpkin Ash? I have trouble seeing a timber buyer for Fender wanting anything but White Ash.

[Chris Clem]

[quote]What wood would have been used for a solid black colour T8?

Solid colors would have used wood that doesn't require filling the grain. Ash would not be used for solid colors. Leo would have had used either Alder,Poplar or Walnut.Those were all considered Paint grade woods. He probably used all three depending on what he could get that week.

[Bill Groner]

Walnut is very porous and I am sure would take a lot to fill it.

[Noah Miller]

Fender used ash and alder for both solid and transparent colors, depending on the year. It had nothing to do with appearance; they switched because it was cheaper. Early ones were sometimes made of pine for the same reason. I have seen many Fender steels with a walnut-colored stain, but not one that was made of walnut wood.

[Tony Oresteen]

What is "swamp ash?" Are you referring to Green Ash?Carolina Ash? Pumpkin Ash? I have trouble seeing a timber buyer for Fender wanting anything but White Ash.

"Swamp Ash" is Green Ash but musicians know it as "Swamp Ash". If you mention "Green Ash" to a bunch of guitar players they will look at you like a deer in the headlights. That is why I used the term "Swamp Ash".

It is lighter than Ash and that is why it is preferred for guitar bodies. If you go to Warmoth's guitar site and order a guitar body, you can get "Swamp Ash" or "Roasted Swamp Ash" or "1 piece Swamp Ash" but no "Ash". Plus about 15 other kinds of wood.

If you order a neck from Warmoth they don't offer any Ash type wood as it's not considered a "neck wood".

I think Leo bought whatever was the lowest cost available. Hence he bought pine for his amp cabs. I was asking for the most common wood that Fender used for the Stringmaster necks.

[Robert B Murphy]

One of my wood handbooks lists White Ash at 41 lbs/ft^3 and Green Ash at 22 lbs/ft^3 so, yes, it sure is less dense. I have an Arkansas State publication that lists "swamp ash" as a local name for Carolina Ash but, as the term is loose, I suspect different locales mean different species by it. All ash seems to be water loving, I have a huge White Ash growing in the cleft of a gulley that gets all the run-off but some types seem to prefer having their roots submerged all the time.

Tom Wheeler's American Guitar has a picture of the room where they softened sheets of cellulose nitrate in acetone and used a "flare heater" to stretch them over steel guitar bodies. Leo's comments are hilarious calling the place a "bomb" and said the fire inspector took one look, left the building, and called them from a pay phone blocks away. Leo said the process was commonly used on toilet seats back then. I think it was only used on steels by Fender.

My D-8 is ash.

[Erv Niehaus]

That type of covering was used on numerous brands of guitars.
It was called "MOTS", mother of toilet seats!
Erv

[Scott Thomas]

Ash is the most common by far. Early on, there are actual walnut Dual Pro and Custom models but for the most part they are ash (even the walnut stained ones).

Stringmasters are typically ash in one of two finishes--transparent blonde and transparent brown. The earlier brown ones of the '50s had a subtle shading with darker brown on the edges going to more amber in the center. It is easy to see the ash graining in the 50s/60s models.

As the '60s wore on, the finishes got more opaque and went from lacquer to poly based just like the whole Fender guitar line.

Stringmasters were still in the catalogs into the '70s. They were available in opaque white and in black. Since there is no grain visible in those it's hard for me to know what wood was used. Did they continue with ash or?? I have heard poplar as a candidate.

Anyway, those later ones are rare. I would have to say, if you see a Stringmaster, it would have to be over 99% certain to be made of ash.

[Tony Oresteen]

Thanks Scott; my T8 is a 1978 in black poly I have not looked under the "hood" to see what's there. Next string change I will.

Erv, I'd hate to run into one of those MOTS!

[Scott Thomas]

Yours must be one of the last ones made! What I know of Stringmasters is from my own (previous) '54 and about 25 years of seeing many others posted on this forum. Outside of Rick Aiello's D-8, I have never seen another one in black. You add a lot to the "database".

[Glenn Wilde]

My '50 Deluxe is Ash, my '46 K&F is Maple.

[Mike Schway]

I have two Champions. A 50 (maybe 49?) and a 54 (or 55?). The 50 is pine covered with a translucent yellow film. The 54 is ash with yellow MOTS cladding.

[Andy Volk]

I used to strum my 3-neck Fender Custom's unplugged strings on the way out of the house just to hear them sustain for 30 seconds or more. I always referred to that guitar as "Swamp Ash" but I see that might have been a misnomer.

[Tony Oresteen]

Yours must be one of the last ones made! What I know of Stringmasters is from my own (previous) '54 and about 25 years of seeing many others posted on this forum. Outside of Rick Aiello's D-8, I have never seen another one in black. You add a lot to the "database".

Here she is:




I found it Blairsville in North Georgia. When I saw it I knew it was going home with me. Came with a black Fender case. It's been hardly played.

[Scott Thomas]

Wow. 24" scale, too. Awesome!

[Roger Fletcher]

Here she is:

I have one just like it. I bought it on Ebay from Japan!

[Carl McLaughlin]

I have a Dual 6 Stringmaster ,I think it is 1960s Blonde, what wood would likely have been used?

Carl

[Brad Davis]

To OP:

I would surmise that, just as with Telecasters and other guitars, by the early 60s Fender was already finding suitable Ash less plentiful or available and was largely switching to Alder except for clear finishes meant to show off the grain. The 1970s was not a good time for musical instrument manufacturing. I think there's a good chance your 70s Stringmaster could be made of Alder, or it could be something completely different. I think I've seen a few from that era that were supposedly Walnut also. Ash is unlikely, but not impossible.

I have a couple of 53/54 first gen Stringmasters, and they are certainly the variety of Ash being used on the earliest Teles.

[Jack Hanson]

It was called "MOTS", mother of toilet seats!

It was originally known as 'pearloid.' Some clever wag from the guitar flipping industry dubbed it 'mother of toilet seat' late last century, much to the chagrin of many who know better. There's interesting anecdotal info about its application in the Smith book:

[Andy DePaule]

I know that Fender used a lot of Poplar on their guitars. My best guess is that they also used it on the steels because it's a closed grain wood that does not need grain filler before the finish is applied. I'd expect it was used on some or all of the painted ones.

You'd need to remove the tuner pans to see what the wood is in a painted model. Then you would also learn the date it was made because Fender always dated them under one of the pans.

Poplar is also a very stable wood so very good under string tension.
I'm thinking of using it on my next two lap steels with Maple and Walnut veneer over it.

Not often used on stained guitars because while much Poplar is a light tan color a lot also has green or very dark brown places in the wood that many people would not like to see.