Official Luthiers Forum!

Finally, somebody mentioned maple.
African mahog, walnut, and perhaps lyptus?
I have a piece I might use.
Plain and boring,
just like me.
I also have some qs Anigre that I'm going to try out.
All of these woods can be picked up as planks at your local hardwood vendors for about $5- $6 a b.f.

Osage?
I used salvaged wood for several years when I started building. Pallet boards, shelving boards, old furniture, old pianos, boats, etc.
Salvaged woods I have used include:
Curly Hickory (pallet board)
White spruce (piano soundboard)
Engelmann spruce (shelving board)
Elm (piano)
Ash (pallet)
Cherry (pallet)
Pecan (pallet)
Ambrosia maple (pallet)
Walnut (pallet)
Ponderosa pine (shelving board)
White Fir (shelving board)
Mahogany (piano and boat)
Persimmon (pallet)

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John

And we have a lucky winner. If I ever steal that tree you will get 5 bridge plates and 3 of those freaky green-brain-apples

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Build log

Peruvian Walnut or Sapele for me.

Flitch matched Brazilian rosewood veneer. Pretty and cheap.

MDF.

well... Along the lines of Trevor and John's suggestions... Found wood is by far the most affordable... as is stuff that's been sitting around for so long that you can more or less count it as "Sunk cost".... It's pretty amazing what you can do with stuff that you stumble upon...

Thanks

John, how did you like the white fir?

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

I like a lot of these answers.

Haven't seen this answer yet: Myrtle

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Cocobolo, Myrtle and Walnut. Great woods and can be found at decent prices.

I thought I saw an orange hanging there :^)

Somewhere, in the recesses of time long forgotten, I lived somewhere close to a street that must have had a half dozen Osage trees on it - the oranges were all over the place in the fall.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

We've had some really ugly weather here in the northeast in the last year or so.... lots of big trees came down.... maple, walnut, ash, spruces from time to time (but they seem to weather the ugly winds and ice storms fine).

There's not shortage of good wood to be had if you don't mind calling a couple tree guys and asking them to give you a holler if there's a nice sized tree down.

I only saw one Osage Orange tree in the wild where I grew up in rural New Jersey. That thing was so big, and dropped so many big fat, brainy monsters. We had "snowball fights" with those things but you really didn't want to get hit in the head with them. They were somehow fruity but heavy and dense. Think I'll drive back in the old neighborhood and see if that tree's still there...

I really like the plantation grown Indian Rosewood (otherwise known as Snookling), its got nice straight grain, and although not as good looking as the old growth stuff its close.. I mean its the same species.

It only cost 1/3 as much as Indian Rosewood...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

WA Sheoak..Allocasuarina fraseriana very good wood, especially if you live in Western Australia



Cheers

Kim

Casuarina AKA Sheoak... or Australian Pine as us Americans call it....
It grows like weeds in Florida, Texas and other places with similar climate.....

It's hard to get it cut up without it cracking all over the place - but it sure is pretty stuff (And hard too...)

Unfortunately, the folks down in Florida just push the stuff into ditches or throw it in the ocean.... I was able to salvage 1 small, quartersawn board of it... Gonna try to see if I can make it into a guitar starting this winter....

Thanks

Other than the disagreeable scent, it is very much like Engelmann. It made good bracing stock. I have cut a few guitar tops, but I haven't used those.





I also made about 1500 1/4" square by 10" long sticks that I use to sticker fresh cut tops. Even after 20 years, the smell is still there.

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John

back & sides...white oak.

Japan's, you are the king of working with white oak! You sure know how to stain it and make it look great.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Dad gum-it.......that should have said Haans! Stupid cell phone spell correction..........sorry.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Gorgeous!

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Chris - what's it like as a top?? A bit like Mahogany? Take a while to open up? Very interested.

Primavera. Nice light color, sounds like a dream, good sets will have some sweet flame/curl in the them that really pops through the finish.
$50 for a B/S set
Plus when you heat them to bend, they smell like popcorn.

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“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

Corky, walnut as a top is a very mellow sound. It is most focused in the mids, then bass, then trebel. It is a constantly opening up and changing sound. I really like it. But I also know that it is not for everyone.

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