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hi
I am a beginner and I am anxious to build my first guitar! i bought all the tools that I need and some nice pieces of wood! but i also bought some cheep wood that i found in a lumber store here. Is sapele mahogany. I bought a large bloc and i divided it in 3 pieces: necks, sides and backs. but some of them has nodes that i cannot miss. they are in the middle of the back. Is this a problem? and if it is how can i solve it? they re not large nodes they are small. thanks

You mean knots probably. You'll find the term "node" has a different meaning in luthiery.

If they are stable, small knots generally don't cause problems in backs. I like them much less in sides. Photos would help here. Decent quality straight grain Sapele is cheap and plentiful. I personally would just find a better stick of wood, even if it were my first guitar. Peter just posed some nice hog sets in the classifies, some of which I'm sure wouldn't break the bank.

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Aaron Craig

are they affect the quality of the sound or the structure of the body?

i suspect the primary reasons knots are avoided is because they are so difficult to work/shape. they are usually extremely hard, like ebony or worse, and the grain goes every which way around them, causing tearout when machined

True. Sharp scrapers and sandpaper will work though. Knots in sides increase the likelihood of cracks and breaks. Knots in backs are less problematic in that regard. I would imagine that knots on a back plate would have some affect on sound, but that would be difficult to pinpoint or quantify.

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Aaron Craig