What would a guitar made out of balsa wood be like?

[ZeppelinPie792]

I was just thinking of this. What would it sound like? What would it feel like? Would it be able to support all of the hardware/PU's without falling apart?

[Samnite]

Well, it'd be light.

 

Dunno how it would sound, but I'm sure it would be strong enough to support the hardware. Balsa actually has one of the highest strength to mass ratios of any wood in the world (read, it's quite strong compared to its mass.)

[Rand-O-Monium]

Musoland?

[strat6866]

Gary loved the smell of balsa wood.

[Ian Chandler]

Ask Tom Fischer from Celtic Frost.

[bluesrock70's]

Use lots of super glue:thu:

[HanSolo]

Musoland?

 

Hey! Watch it buddy. Musoland uses nothing but the finest tonewood shavings blended with space-age polymers (white glue) and formed under tremendous pressure ( pile of rocks) for true resonant-resistant solid body construction. It's amazing.

 

WRT Balsa Guitar - Very light and broken to pieces the minute you put string tension on it.

[zatoichi]

on the same overall note, what would a guitar made of mattress sound like? Or pound cake?

 

Balsa wood may be (and is) strong, but there's strong, and then there's strong: I'd be very wary of balsa's ability to withstand string tension (face mask, duck), as it's quite easy to break, as well as being strong.

[metalheadUK]

Gibson built some Les Pauls where part of the body was balsa wood...I believe they called it "Chromite".

 

Just had a look, the Les Paul Studio lite.

['s mel gibson]

the Les Paul Studio lite.

 

Sounds like a beer or a cigarette.

[BlackCat]

Isn't Basswood close kin to Balsa?

[Funderbunk]

For $22, why not find out?

 

Just order a 2x6 block from here:

 

http://www.balsasupply.com/balsablocks.php

 

It's 36 inches long, so cut it in half and you can glue it up to have a 12" x 18" x 2" thick body blank. You could route it out with a ballpoint pen cap, and shape the sides with a paring knife and some sandpaper!

[KarateSchnitzel]

dented..

[caveman]

I've worked quite a bit crafting balsa fishing lures and yes it's strong and light. It's biggest faults are that it crushes and punctures easily. My solution to the problem was to use a hard finish as a kind of exoskeleton.

 

I imagine you could use a center block with balsa wings and use veneer for top, bottom and sides.

[conway]

Add some wings to it and throw it. Then count how many seconds it flys. Also count the number of pieces it breaks into after the crash and let us all know how many. Thanks..........

[Brewski]

I'd like to know what a Poplar wood guitar sounds like. I've got this poplar tree in my yard that I keep cutting down and it regrows - if I make guitars out of it I can built one a year forever!!

[Funderbunk]

I've worked quite a bit crafting balsa fishing lures and yes it's strong and light. It's biggest faults are that it crushes and punctures easily. My solution to the problem was to use a hard finish as a kind of exoskeleton. I imagine you could use a center block with balsa wings and use veneer for top, bottom and sides.

 

Yep, you could order one of these:

 

 

And use Balsa for the body around it...

[gtrjones]

Neck heavy.

[ajcoholic]

Balsa wood - well, being as model airplanes is one of my biggest hobbies I have used a ton of the stuf over the years. It varies in density from as low as 4 to 5 lbs/cubic foot (very very light and soft) to quite hard and "heavy", similar to basswood. As a wood, it has similar properties to bass (fuzzy, little grain) but thats about it.

 

I would think balsa wouldnt make a good body - especially for a bolt on (the plate and screws would crush the wood and the neck pcket would over time loosen up) but you never know.

 

But its very very porous and would suck in a LOT of finish....

 

DOnt have a clue about the tone Balsa, and I wont be tyring it out in any of my guitars.

 

AJC

[DaleH]

Fragile

[gt_jumper]

I had always thought that balsa wood properly protected with a harder type wood might make an interesting guitar, I think it would resonate but the decay will be very short and sweet. I have been thinkin about doing it for a long time. Neck heavy has never bothered me.

[DaveAronow]

There is a reason that you see NONE of the bigger manufacturers or anyone in the aftermarket parts game using it.

[metalheadUK]

 

There is a reason that you see NONE of the bigger manufacturers or anyone in the aftermarket parts game using it.

 

 

Apart from as I said earlier, Gibson using in some Les Pauls they made.

[foppy]

I recalled ZZ Top played solid balsa guitars custom made by Gibson, so I did a search and found somebody who said they were big white hollow-bodied-looking solid bodies called "Johnny Firesmith" models (?). I have a vague mental image of them playing these big white guitars.

 

Actually I've been told balsa isn't cheap as woods go. But Gibson used the word "chromite" because balsa sounds cheap to people.

 

For a while, I had a semi-hollow Gibson ES-135 with a chromite (instead of maple) block in it. It was a lot lighter than my 335 and sounded good.

[bgmacaw]

Balsa wood - well, being as model airplanes is one of my biggest hobbies

 

They even made a real warplane using it in WWII: the de Havilland Mosquito

 

 

Another soft wood you'll see used in guitars is paulownia. It's about as light as balsa but tougher and more durable. Rondo had some Douglas guitars made with it a while and some Dean models use it under a venier.