Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi OLFer's!

For your viewing pleasure, I have just published a profile on Bunya Pine as part of my ongoing tonewood database. As always, improvements, corrections and additional information/ your own experiences are much appreciated- I'll update the profile citing you and linking back to you!

I can't link pics directly to here so do pop by to http://guitarbench.com/index.php/2008/10/08/bunya-tonewood-database-draft/
for the full Visual presentation. As always, I present the text portion of the interview for your consideration- although I do highly recommend popping by to see the pics!

Warmest regards,
Terence
http://www.guitarbench.com

Araucaria bidwillii| Tonewood Profile | ”Bunya”

Tonewoods Database


Quick Facts
Scientific name: Araucaria Bidwillii
Trade names: Bunya
Janka: 650
Uses: Tops
RIYL: Port Orford Cedar, Cypress.
Bling factor: Can have some figure
Availability: Very Limited.
CITES status: Not listed. No restrictions

Note: (RIYL) Recommended If You Like
Bling factor rated out of a maximum of 10, based on the most highly figured sets we have seen.

Natural History
Australian Bunya is a large evergreen conifer native to south-east Queensland and New South Wales. which used to be plentiful in North Eastern. Height of up to 50 m have been documented.

Status
Although populations of Bunya have been reduced through logging, dam construction and historical clearing, large populations are protected in reserves and parks.

Physical properties
Bunya has an excellent stiffness to weight ratio and is actually 10-20% stronger than Englemann spruce. It lacks differentiation in annular rings due to it’s sub tropical and tropical habitat provides less seasonal climate variation.

Rapid growth Bunya maintains these physical properties and coupled with less visible annular rings allows or plantation growth of this topwood. It has a Janka of 650 lbf and a specific gravity of 1.3.

As a tonewood…
Bunya was pioneered by Bradley Clarke during his period at the Maton guitar factory. The story goes that in 1998, Clarke discovered through paper research that Bunya had the lightweight and stiff characteristics of a good topwood.

Subjective tone…
Bunya topped guitars characteristically have a direct, strong sounding instruments with more midrange compared to spruce guitars.

Availability
A plantation resource in South Queensland and Northern NSW ensures a continuing supply of Bunya.

Tonewoods Database

Links/ References:
Cole Clark Guitars http://www.coleclarkguitars.com/
Australian Tonewoods http://www.australiantonewoods.com/

©2008 Terence Tan.

Pictures copyright individual holders.

Any infringement of copyright is entirely unintentional. Any copyright issues should be address to: writers@guitarbench.com. We will attempt to resolve these issues quickly.
www.guitarbench.com




warmest regards,
Terence
www.guitarbench.com