Official Luthiers Forum!

I recently purchased a side bender from this wonderful seller on EBay. I figured I would check what else he had up for auction. When I saw the price of this book matched set, I almost fell off my bed. But doing a little research the story is amazing. If you're like me and didn't know what "the tree" is, look it up

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Tree-Bookma ... 4ad53e46ef

I've seen other "Tree" sets for sale recently for $2,500.

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Brad

I have some quilted mahogany. I wonder if I could sell it as coming from "The Tree"?

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Old growth, shmold growth!

How about "A Tree"?

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Brad

Imagine the confusion that would cause!

"For sale, quilted mahogany from "A Tree"! $25,000 for this magical wood! Once you've felt this material, you won't be able to stop touching it. Seriously. Stop touching my wood!"

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Old growth, shmold growth!

It's all hype.
"Tonewood" like this is for guitar "Royalists" that like to spend lots of $$$ to pet their instruments...

I disagree, Haans. When you buy wood from "the tree" or any similar you aren't just paying for the look of the set. Yes that's part of it, part if it is also the tone. But mostly you are paying for the history and the amazing story that goes along with it. I understand this isn't for everyone but the statement you made is a very narrow minded way to look at things.

Fill me in on what is so great about his wood. I have never in person seen a guitar made with this, so I do not know how pretty it may be. Does it have a special sound, for example like the LS redwood? I used to see "brain" mahogany for up to $500, and I could see why that looked pretty. I think the wood mentioned on sale now is only backs, so you cannot even get a set.

Here is an article
http://www.guitarbench.com/2009/10/07/t ... e-article/

Also those ebay sets don't look like authentic "tree" to me. (Could be because they are quarter sawn as he states I dunno. But It usually looks a little different)




Also I have this set of "the tree" listed in the classifieds for anyone interested. Very good price on it too

This appears to be an unsolicited judgement of one's character, or something to that effect, IMO. After all the recent fallout, do we need more of this? Does it benefit the group?

I'm going to get down off my horse now.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

Not judging character and my statement is no more of a judgement than saying ppl who use a certain wood are "royalist" who like to spend money and pet their instruments.

You may disagree, Zeke, but I also may have my narrow mind. It's allowed. Special tonal qualities? White oak has special tonal qualities too. It's like the "famous" Gilchrist sugar maple "D" log at OSW. Was supposed to make magical Gilchrist mandolins. Bunk. Loars were almost all red maple. Gilchrists are pretty strident...someone (knowledgeable) told me once that they sounded like a drawer of silverware tossed down a flight of stairs. I agreed.
I seriously doubt that is "Tree" myself, but it may be some lousy sets of some part of the trunk. This is also why I rail against using this kind of wood, because someone will always come along and try to sell you pommele sapele as "The Tree".
AND, I was referring to PLAYERS with "deep pockets", not builders when I used the term "Royalists".
Amazing stories? Uh, sure...I got some.

Redacted

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Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

I never claimed it had special tonal qualities. It does have it's own tone just like any wood has it's tone. If you like the way a certain wood sounds to you then that's a reason to buy it. And as far as stories go, this one is pretty well documented and interesting. If people feel like having an interesting piece of wood that also has a good story to it the how can you say that it's all hype? It's no more hype than those who think guitars have to be made with perfectly quartesawn straight grain sets. To each his own. Just as you are entitled to your opinion so are the people who enjoy sets like the "tree". To call them out is just as bad as someone saying your guitars are cheap because you use plastic bindings. It's narrow minded.

This is the real deal. Wood belongs to Jay Howlett.

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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

^^love the tortoise shell figure. I like the less blistered kind as well but how can you not love the veins in that tortoise shell stuff!?!? Anyone want to trade some of the veiny stuff for my set let me know lol

Personally, when we attribute too much significance to a particular piece of wood I think we are selling ourselves short. Certainly, some woods have better qualities for a particular use than others, but I have heard some pretty nice instruments made with some pretty common woods. Who doesn't like an interesting story. Yeah, I think it's mostly salesmanship.
Has anyone ever measured the qualities of this mahogany, or the LS redwood to see if it is truly different from what can be found in other trees?

"There is a class of wealthy guitar buyers who like to spend crazy money on weird and wacky guitars. Many of them don't play at all, or maybe "Dust In The Wind" or a similar worn-out song."

I bet if you thought about it you could insult even more people!

See this painting



See this car



All hype. Nothing special about either one. They are out of the price range of most ppl therefore I don't like them. I mean most of the ppl who own a Lamborghini only take it out once in a while and don't even know how to drive a race car...

Well, it should be self evident that EVERY set of wood off "The Tree" will have identical properties no matter where it's cut. In addition, the use of a set from "The Tree" renders what the builder does completely OBSOLETE, as "The Tree" has magical properties that negate the influence of the neck, soundboard, bridge, and the physical strings themselves.

Incidentally, a set off of "A Tree" does the same thing, but ten times as much, hence the hefty price tag of $25,000.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

There's a few Lamborghini's in here, same color too I think....

Some curse words too, but you can turn the sound off if you wish, but you'll miss the sound of the racing engines, screeching tires, and amusing thumps as these monster cars fail in their task of going the distance....

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Old growth, shmold growth!

"I mean most of the ppl who own a Lamborghini only take it out once in a while and don't even know how to drive a race car..."

Probably true - most are not professional race car drivers, and I doubt it is their daily driver.

" Nothing special about either one."

Not quite true, they do have some unique qualities...

" They are out of the price range of most ppl therefore I don't like them."

That's very egalitarian of you!

The wood shown by Bobc is really nice and a quite unique figure. Really special. Seems like the Tree was a nice tree

The wood shown in the Ebay link looks quite....usual...not special for me.

Quilted sapeli / kahya / sipo and also quilted genuine Mahogany is not so rare, but with this sharp quilt Brain figure...thats really something special.

I somehow have the feeling that sometimes every piece of mahogany with some figure in comes from The Tree...

Would be very interesting to make a genetic test, for example from Bobc´s wood and from the Ebay The Tree...then you can tell for 100 % if all this stuff comes from the tree.

I do not care from which tree the quilted stuff comes from, but I care a lot about the quality of the figure...

Cheers, Alex, from The Forest with These Trees....

Redacted

Certainly not within the reach of the average income or even above average but there are a lot of folks out there that can afford a guitar from this tree, So why not. life is way to short to not enjoy the special woods, cars, guns, motorcycles or whatever floats you boat if you can afford it. No need to knock those who can!!

_________________
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