Official Luthiers Forum!

With Kauri (http://www.ancientwood.com/)

So, who has done it and who has some pictures? I want to see some of the "whitebait" figure. I've read it can be hard to bend.

But HOW cool is it to build a 50,000 year old guitar?

Mike

Yeah, agreed. Put some fossilized mammoth tusk on the nut and saddle and you've got a theme!!

I haven't built with it, but I have handled some at one of the shows. It had a bit of a floppy feel to it and the tap wasn't very musical to my ears. YMMV, and that certainly could have been one atypical sample. Cool story though.

I'm finishing up a tenor uke with whitebait and doug fir now. It's sprayed, but not yet leveled or buffed. Taps like wet cardboard. Easy to bend.

I've got a set in my wood tower. Indeed floppy and makes a muffled thunk with no ring at all when tapped, but still gorgeous and mystical. I'll just put a heavy lattice on it so it doesn't move too much. I'm going to pair it with giant sequoia if possible, since the big ones are some of the oldest living trees. Definitely fossil ivory appointments and a prehistoric inlay theme Since the kauri set is quite large, I'll make it a jumbo baritone, which also fits with everything being bigger in dinosaur times.

Kind of hard to see the figure without any finish on it, but here's a pic

Where do you guys get your Kauri from? And what kind of prices are you seeing?

Mike

I got mine from ancientwood.com . One board of heavy whitebait, about 1-1/2" X 12 X 48. Had to work around some checks and worm holes, but got some nice ukulele sets from it. If it would have been for guitars, some worm holes would have to have been filled. Paid a little less than what it goes for on their site now, but that whitebait ain't cheap.

Steve

Steve, did u ask for "clear" wood?

Will they do that?

Mike

I didn't ask. They had pictures and dimensions on various boards. I picked one and bought it.

Mike - the Zootman had several sets a year or two ago, which is where I got my 4 sets (haven't built with them yet). I know David Freeman at Timeless Instruments has some listed now on his website.

Prices for whitebait tend to be around $275 ish, I paid around $150-$200 for less figured sets.

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Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

Steve, based on your dimensions, and the whitebait figure, did you spend over $500 on that board?

Mike

No. It was about 400. It was kind of a wedge, had some scallops from the planer and some other issues. I didn't get the number of sets that math told me I would. Of course, I rarely do, seems par for course when it comes to me and resawing.

All in all, glad I got it. It's a beautiful wood with an interesting history, hope it sounds great when I get it strung up. I have enough to build a few more and don't plan to replace it when it's gone.

Steve