So I had a V7 for a couple years and ended up cracking the wooden battery cover in half one day. The black “ebony” cover turned out to be some sort of light colored wood that was dyed black on the surface. I’ve since noticed inconsistencies in the coloring of Sire V8 and V10 necks. Do we think they are actually roasting them or just dying them? I’ve grown somewhat paranoid since discovering the battery box cover was just dyed ash. They have a great marketing team, but they also seem very secretive on their production methods and the whereabouts of their supposedly privately owned factory. Is Sire the real deal or are they pulling one over on us? I’d love to hear what you guys think.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
Welcome to TalkBass! Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Does Sire dye their roasted necks?
- Thread starter Maestro29
- Start date
Certainly roasted! Also brittle!
Attachments
Wow! That is all the evidence I need!
Also, sorry for your loss.
Actually? It was the shippers fault, the top of the box was bent over like it had been sticking out of a pile and they had dropped a pallet on it
I made the best of it though.Was fully refunded, and got to keep it.
Replaced the neck.
Then moved it along .
Attachments
Well done?Whoa! Maybe they left it in the roaster for too long
Smooth_bass88
vaxx!
- Oct 31, 2006
- 10,974
- 14,389
- 6,413
- Disclosures
- have been on nationally released albums, charting on the Billboard 200
maybe they should broil 'em instead
Wow what a gorgeous piece of wood! Who made the neck?Actually? It was the shippers fault, the top of the box was bent over like it had been sticking out of a pile and they had dropped a pallet on it
Was fully refunded, and got to keep it.
Replaced the neck.
Then moved it along .
Turnaround
Commercial User
- May 6, 2004
- 10,889
- 22,427
- 6,476
- Disclosures
- Independent Instrument Technician - Retired
Yessir - just another one of those compromises. There are benefits to roasted maple (mainly stabililty) but the downside is that the wood is more brittle.
I retained the neck shaft from the Sire D5, will resurrect as a headless for a future build!
Obtained the neck from Freestone on eBay. Freestone Guitars
Curly Maple with Canarywood fretboard. Dual action truss rod, medium fret wire.
Came unfinished, I stained it with Aqua Fortis. Finished with TruOil.
The necks are fantastic, the woods are gorgeous, the price? Unbeatable value:
This is another, finished with nitro.
Bubinga fretboard. Got this Meteora body from Franklin Guitar works on eBay.
Attachments
Last edited:
Regarding the dyed ebony you mentioned...it likely was Ebony that just wasn't naturally dark so they dyed it. Pretty common for ebony necks actually. Ebony can sometimes have large streaks of lighter color or just be outright not that dark. Check out this image of an ebony neck.
A handful of years back, I read/watched a press blurb that PRS was going to start using more of the streaky parts of ebony trees, not just the perfectly black parts, to put more of the trees to good use and, by extension, to be more cost-efficient. Apparently, leftover wood that was quite functionable, but not “visually perfect”, was simply being burned and, therefore, wasted.
To play the “devil’s advocate” card, it would not surprise me to find out other manufacturers were darkening their ebony, much like how Fender-Japan was/is dying the rosewood fretboards for their Aerodynes.
To play the “devil’s advocate” card, it would not surprise me to find out other manufacturers were darkening their ebony, much like how Fender-Japan was/is dying the rosewood fretboards for their Aerodynes.
Sorry that happened to you! Thankfully it wasn’t your fault, you got a refund, and got to keep the body!Actually? It was the shippers fault, the top of the box was bent over like it had been sticking out of a pile and they had dropped a pallet on it
Was fully refunded, and got to keep it.
Replaced the neck.
Then moved it along .
Incidents like these is why I don’t like the shipping industry.
That looks like a piece of wood that has been floating in sea water for years, only to have become infected with dry rot.
Considering how cheaply we can get some of these instruments now isn’t it totally expected that they’re going to cut some corners
What I wonder is, why don’t they roast the bodies as well? Seems like it would help with resonance.