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The Story.....

A friend of a friend of a friend approached me a few weeks ago asking if I was interested in buying some plywood from him. I really wasn't interested but I discussed it with him anyway. During the conversation I asked what the face material on the plywood was and he said 'rosewood'. I became interested because I've NEVER seen rosewood faced plywood, not to mention that the idea this guy was pulling my leg began to coalesce. I asked if he was sure it was rosewood. He said yes. I asked if he knew what kind of rosewood it was. He said it was Brazilian Rosewood.

Long pause.......now I know he's off his rocker (that's what I'm thinking).

After a little more back and forth he maintained it was Brazilian Rosewood faced plywood. He wanted 100 dollars a sheet and he had two barrels of cutoffs he was giving to the guy that bought the plywood. I asked what kind of the wood the cutoffs were....he said Brazilian. I asked if he was interested in selling the cutoffs to me. No he said....the person that buys the plywood gets the cutoffs for free. He maintained that the individual that bought the plywood would need the cutoffs to edge band the plywood...so it would look right. I suggested that a lot of people liked contrasting woods for edge treatments etc...he wasn't having any of that. Super good guy...easy to talk too..but wasn't ready to have the mental bridge he'd built between the plywood and the cutoffs torn down by anyone.

Another long pause......

I made arrangements with him to come see the plywood.

On the visit day he had the plywood standing up against the wall of his garage. It was COVERED in wood dust and it looked old as dirt. He grabbed a rag and a bucket of water and started wiping the crud off the first sheet....and as the face material became clean...and as more and more of it was revealed....I couldn't believe my eyes. Three quarter inch 4x8 sheets of Brazilian Rosewood faced (one side) plywood....still had the General Pacific stamp on the back that listed the core material and face material on one side (the rosewood). The other side of the plywood was freakin' mahogany!!!!

I confessed that I was doubtful of his story at first and apologized to him. I then asked where the cutoffs were and he pointed to two round yard waste bins in a dark corner. They were even more dirty than the plywood. We washed a piece off and I looked at it. It was hard to see as we just rinsed it off with a hose. I took my knife out and started scraping the surface to get past the oxidation and dirt. It was dark...heavy....and had that very disntinctive sweet Bazooka bubblegum (for those of you old enough to know what that is) smell to it. It was strong...you couldn't miss it. Two barrels of Brazilian Rosewood right in front of me and I can't get it from him without buying the plywood.

Maybe more kitchen table talk will work.

I asked how he came to own this stuff. He said 40 years ago he tried to get an apprenticeship with a mill shop here in Jacksonville that was owned by "...Mr. Hamon". The apprenticeship didn't work out. A few years later this shop (which I now know to be Hamon Fixture Company...because the full address is stamped on a couple of the cutoffs) was closing and Mr. Hamon was selling off the shop's left over inventory etc. This guy bought most of Mr. Hamon's remaining inventory. During the exchange with Mr. Hamon....Hamon relayed that the plywood and cutoffs were used to remodel the The River Club several years ago. It's a local exclusive affluent businessman's club here in Jax located on TOP of the Modus building. So this lumber is ATLEAST 40 years old.

To shorten the story here...I didn't have the money available to buy this plywood so I left. I told him before I got into the truck that I was going to find someone to buy his plywood from him....and that's exactly what I did....and I got the 2 barrels of cutoffs free. It's been a week since I got the cutoffs into the shop....and I'm still loosing sleep. Took an entire day to clean each one of them.

Please read the questions at the end of this post. It would help me out a lot!!!!

So here are the pics:

Here are the two bins of cutoffs




Here's a piece I just grabbed and wiped with a wet rag


Sorting through it all...not cleaned up yet








Can you say fingerboards??



All cleaned up...most of it anyway








Here are my concerns / questions:
I don't have the idea in my head that this will happen regularly...to me anyway. Consequently I need to make the MOST out of this. Admittedly most of this will be processed to suit my needs. Some of it will be processed for sale at a later date. THIS ISN'T A SOLICITATION FOR BUYERS!!!!!! I need 2 pieces of dimensional information from as many people as possible INCLUDING CLASSICAL BUILDERS.

1. What's the final dimensions of your bridges?

2. What's the final dimensions of your headstock overlays?

I'm hoping to get some input from all the different builder types out there.

Thanks for reading and thanks for the input!!!
Chris

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

Chris-
Very nice find!
Classical bridges usually finish somewhere in the 10 x 30 x 190 mm range, but it does vary. Extra thickness is necessary if fitting the bridge to a higher-arched top. A few mm extra is a lot better than risking undersize.
Allied lists 7"–8" X 1.75"–2" X 3/8" for classical/SS bridges, but that's a bit on the thin side for me for classical bridge blanks if they are at all rough or twisted.
LMII lists 7 3/4" x 1 1/4" x 7/16" or 19.7cm x 3.2cm x 11.1mm which is more what I would look for.
Going by the dimensions from a supplier like LMII would be a good guide.

I think it would be a shame to waste Brazilian RW on fingerboards, BTW.

I don't think I would put a Braz headplate on a guitar unless the b+s were Braz as well.

Cheers
John

John I am aware of the various suppliers dimensions.

I understand the .440 ish thickness....but 8 inches in length? If that's the classical thing then so be it. Some of this stuff is flat sawn which isn't good for bridge blanks (from what I've read). That means the flatsawn pieces would best be used by cutting bridge blanks off the sides of the given piece, which means the blank is going to be in the .980's to 1.110ish range for width. By the stated dimensions of the various vendors that's not an acceptable width for classical bridge blanks. That's why I asked for finished dimensions on bridge blanks.

Bindings? Are BRW bindings desireable?

_________________
There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

My (SS only) bridge vary from 7" X 1 7/16" X .350" to a pyramid that's 6" X 1" by the same thickness. I usually like to start with at least .450" thick so I can be sure to get rid of all the sanding/machining marks. I've used a few braz headplates. I don't know the exact measurements of my headstocks, but they're 3" at the widest place, and 6 1/2" (??, I think) long. I've made some by starting out with a piece that's 1 1/2" wide, and at least 1/4" thick. I'll cut it, and make a bookmatched headplate. You can also use small pieces for heel caps, tail wedges, and radial rosettes.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Nice score. If there's no rush, why don't you wait to cut it into blanks. Who knows, maybe someday you'll only want to use pyramid bridges and you'll be kicking yourself for having 8x2 blanks. Regarding sales, my .02, I'd rather have bridge blanks and bridge plates than trim pieces like headplates any day. That said, a matched suite of headplate, fretboard, bridge and bindings would probably command a nice premium.


Bob

This is not true. You don't want quartered due to splitting. Ideally you want it at an angle. \\\\\\ when viewed from the bass side. That way the grain is being compressed.


No, Send them to me for disposal

Glad you approve! You need to get a unit converter handy as a lot of the classical dimensions are in mm. 190 mm is about 7.5 inches.


Yes. Back in the 70s, all the 'basic' guitar kits from Lewis Luthier Supply (later LMI) came with Brazilian bindings - even the mahogany kits. Times have changed!
BTW, you don't need 32" for binding most guitars, though that seems to be a common length from suppliers. 29" would do most classicals, I think.

John

wow, you should try and get some back and side sets out of that. If your ok with a 4 piece back than you may be ok with a 6, 8, or even 10 piece back. I think Wayne Henderson made a guitar with a 12 piece Brazilian back. Good luck

Nice Score!!!!

There are many outfits that will lay up any type of plywood that there is veneer made of. I have used and outfit in Berkely, CA. can't remember the name. It was some time ago.

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http://goatrockukulele.com

So a classical bridge blank that's 7" x 1" x .440 thick (or) 8x1x.440.....is acceptable?

There is one piece in the pile that is big enough to make a couple back sets out of, but there's nothing big enough to make sides. The long skinny stuff is going to be parsed up between bridges and bindings and other smaller stuff.

Thanks for the input so far folks. I really appreciate it. Hopefully you can see where I'd like to maximize every square centimeter of this material.

Chris

_________________
There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

Just FWIW, Brazilian makes a great fingerboard, and it looks awesome on a classical. Though generally, I think you are probably right.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I make a point to try and not cut anything until I absolutely have to. You never know what you will need at some later date and you would really kick yourself at having cut a whole pile of stuff just a little bit too small.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

I am with Burton, don't cut anything until you have to.

That is a great score!! Congrats. There is a restaurant in a hotel in Cincinnati that is covered with BRW. It is a sight to behold. I am keeping a close eye on that in case they ever go out of business.

I love great stories like this. Jeff Traugott told me the story about how he came into his stash and it was a deal kind of like yours. It just fell out of the sky and was almost too hard to believe.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Dude, nice score. I guess it goes without saying that we know what you will be featuring at next years swap a palooza!

I have been seriously considering just sitting on it and not cutting the whole pile into pieces parts. Like some have suggested here, I have already experienced the situation where I wished I'd have not cut something because it's now too small.

Thanks for the input folks.

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

I'm with Woody BRW makes truly great fingerboards, think of all those golden era Martin's in fact the planks of BRW I managaed to lay my hands on were big enough for B&S, but have ended up as fingerboards, bridges and headplates, much better use of a rare resourse wood.

Oh and yes don't cut it until you need to.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Good Score!
Bring some to the next meeting.

Err, that would be Waddy, Colin! I know, it's hard, I've lived with it for 66 years and I'm the 4th in a, finally, ending line!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Great score Sniggly! Yes,BRW bindings are desirable to me,as are fb's bridges,headplates and you name it! Like Chris P. said,
Bring it all to our next meeting so we can drool and sniff it like a bunch of hound dogs!
BTW- My L-OO that you played at our first meeting had BRW bindings,fb,bridge,headplate,and rosette. Congrats !

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Thanks for the advice.

Filippo I've seen some of your stuff manage to find it's way onto the forum here. I've got my ears hard to the ground for some Ziricote like you have. I should be able to get quite a few binding sets out of this stuff so I'm happy about that.

Chris & Dave...one of these days I'm going to make another meeting. I really enjoyed the first one and I do remember that guitar.

So a lot of it I'm going to sit on...and I'll start nibbling away at it for this and that. Maybe sell some of it during the next swapmeet.

It also looks as though I might do well to stick to some of the more conservative dimensions the common supply houses use rather than nit pick it to death.

_________________
There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.