Members Birdy Posted November 22, 2005 Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 Quartersawn: A wooden log that is cut in half lengthwise, and then cut in half again, to yield four pieces as long as the original log. Most logs are basically sliced. That is, they are cut as if whittled. Quartersawn oak is particularly prized for mission style furniture (the dark oak stuff with little rectangular spindles in it). It makes for a pin-stripe effect which is much sought after. Be sure to look for it if you are in the market for a piece of mission furniture. There may be a small stability advantage in quartersawn wood, but I doubt it. I have no idea what the advantage would be for a guitar. Probably none. I doubt that there would be any demonstrable advantage to very old wood over well-dried new wood. If you have a sentimental attachment to a piece of wood because it was once the mantle of the family farmhouse, or it was a walnut railroad tie(yes, they sometimes used Walnut for railroad ties) on the line where your grandad was a brakeman, then of course, that would be pretty neat. It won't be any drier. wood is like a sponge. It will absorb and lose moisture depending on its environment, at least until it gets an impermiable coating. Decent quality wood of all types will be well dried. There may be a considerable difference in appearance between kiln (pronounced "kill") dried wood and air dried wood. Given all the cosmetic things we do to guitars and then the wear they receive, I doubt that I would pay extra for air dried wood. If it were me, I would see if I couldn't pay a visit to an exotic wood place and check out their lumber. Plenty of it is as hard or harder than any more conventional wood, and with research, you could get some fairly exotic woods that would not be too far off conventional tonewoods in terms of sonic performance. If I were using a particularly heavy piece of wood, I would take care to compensate for the weight, probably by sizing down the body a little. I saw a guy build an electric guitar out of purpleheart a naturally purple wood. I would especially look into Hackberry, or Osage Orange. Those, along with Purpleheart are the most striking woods I know. Naturally you would want to avoid the unstable woods, such as soft maple, or lacewood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ronaldo Posted November 22, 2005 Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 Originally posted by ThomasD I am not aware of the characteristics of legacy wood giving any better acoustics/tone in an electric guitar and it seems a little wasetful to use what is likely to be very physically attractive wood for the entire body of a guitar. Better to maximize its use for visual/aesthetic purposes and stick to a body with known, and desireable tonal features. Older wood always will sound better because the longer it dries, the more the resin crystalizes and the more 'resonant' it becomes .. assuming it's a nice sounding tonewood to begin with. The longer a piece has been drying, the better it will sound. Walnut is definately an accepted tonewood in it's own right. It is used on very fine acoustics and sometimes in electrics. It's considered to be an excellent wood for tone, although it's very dense and heavy ... and on the bright side, so better to hollow out sections. Dude, you should definately go for it. Buy the neck, making the body is so easy, I did it with no experience at all -- but you must have a drill press/router to get the neck pocket flat. You can literally make the body in a weekend, easy .. just don't make the neck, that would be foolish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dr Wanker Posted November 22, 2005 Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 It's a beautiful wood too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members silverbullet Posted November 22, 2005 Author Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 Speaking of it being beatifull... I was looking up info in the woods tonal range and uses today. "The overall tone is similar to Hard Maple with a restrained upper range and deeper lower. The overall tone is warm."- Ballurio Guitars "Black Walnut is a beautiful wood with exceptional figure and feel."-Ballurio Guitars Now I'm wondering what constitutes it as "Figured Black Maple". Is that like saying its a grade AAAAA piece of black maple??? The wood is also said to be useful for the top, body, and neck. But not for "fb" which im guessing is a figured back? It says the price range is medium. I also see that Ballurio stopped using Bloodwood, anyone know why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members quicksilver544 Posted November 22, 2005 Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 Quatersawn wood is much stronger that woods with that is cut in parallel to the grain. Quater awn woods have grains that run perpendicular to the cut. Makes great necks, very hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jerry_picker Posted November 22, 2005 Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 Originally posted by walfordr May: "No, that's quite true. This old fireplace just happened to be around; it's about 100 years old. It's laminated actually. The thing that takes the strain is oak, a square section, on to which is bolted the mahogany neck. The rest of the body is a softer wood, and it includes some acoustic pockets. All the parts are very closely coupled together, screwed and glued, so the whole thing acts as one resonator." How did you get Brian May to comment so directly on my answer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members walfordr Posted November 22, 2005 Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 Originally posted by jerry_picker How did you get Brian May to comment so directly on my answer? He just decided you were worthy I guess! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thredlok Posted November 22, 2005 Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 Originally posted by dammithoney Quartersawn oak is particularly prized for mission style furniture (the dark oak stuff with little rectangular spindles in it). It makes for a pin-stripe effect which is much sought after. There may be a small stability advantage in quartersawn wood, but I doubt it. I have no idea what the advantage would be for a guitar. Probably none. I doubt that there would be any demonstrable advantage to very old wood over well-dried new wood. The reason I suggested that he get quatersawn wood, is because he was talking about one-piece construction. Quatersawn wood is more stable, stiffer, and has less tendancy to warp under the pressure exerted by the strings. The pin stripe effect that you speak of is called medullary rays and is more comman in oak than walnut, but you do get some nice figure pattern. Sycamore exhibits great figure when quartersawn. The advantage to old growth wood over new growth, is that as mentioned earlier in the thread the the tightness of the grain pattern. luthiers measure the grain ring per inch in in spruce tops to catagorize it. (20 rings per inch is desirable) This is an extreme example but, the most sought after spruce for violin tops is the sppruce from the north face of the alps, which yeilds a very tight ring pattern from it's slow growth in a cold environment. Kiln dried wood can have a bad effect on the stability of wood if not done properly, or too fast. The rapid removal moisture from the wood can cause it to crack and check, and twist. The important point here is to make sure the moisture content is in the working range. You don't want shrinkage and warping in a guitar it causes lots o' problems! PS. walnut is good for necks a liitle soft for F/B though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members walt0915 Posted November 22, 2005 Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 Originally posted by quicksilver544 Quatersawn wood is much stronger that woods with that is cut in parallel to the grain. Quater awn woods have grains that run perpendicular to the cut. Makes great necks, very hard. "quarter-sawn" wood has no effect on hardness. It can improve stiffness of a long narrow piece. Mostly it improves stability, and may affect the beauty of the grain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members silverbullet Posted November 22, 2005 Author Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 Given all the cosmetic things we do to guitars and then the wear they receive, I doubt that I would pay extra for air dried wood. I'm npt payng extra, my professor is basically giving this to me from what he has said so far, though I told him I'd pay for it. So some are saying to match it up with another tone wood, and others to go with a one peice. convusing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members walfordr Posted November 22, 2005 Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 Originally posted by silverbullet I'm npt payng extra, my professor is basically giving this to me from what he has said so far, though I told him I'd pay for it.So some are saying to match it up with another tone wood, and others to go with a one peice. convusing. I'd keep it simple. You want a guitar.Guitar's are made of wood.You've got wood...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members John S. Shinal Posted November 22, 2005 Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 As others have said, it has cured/dried enough at this point, but it still may require some work. Planks tend to twist, or to bend in either of the other two directions as well as have narrow cracks called "checking". Any of these may require the plank to be sawn again, ("resawn" to make it into a freshly-requared piece of wood suitable to work into a finished product). Do some web surfing on wood drying, warping, checking and resawing so you understand this bit - then pick through the planks to get one that needs minimum work. Take a strong and foolish friend with you, there may be a LOT of sorting through huge pieces of wood to find one in good shape that has grain you will like. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SoundwaveLove Posted November 22, 2005 Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 sweet make a cab out of it too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members walt0915 Posted November 22, 2005 Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 If he's giving you a plank, then he will probablylet you shift through the pile and get what you want. If you can get a plank that has verticle grain, that is the same as "quarter-sawn", and it will also be the widest piece. You will probably want all heartwood (the dark stuff). Most likely you will not find one piece big enough for a whole guitar - but who knows, you might. Whatever you do, pick a plank with straight grain, no checks (splits), and not badly warped (some cupping is OK, but not twisting - if you get verticle grain the warping should be minimum). You need it to be as much as 1/2 inch thicker than you plan to use. You probably won't have to plane that much off, but be ready for it. Certainly it much be wider that you plan to use. If you can't get one piece, then make sure there is enough length to cut two pieces and join them. If you can't get verticle grain you almost certainly will need to join two pieces, and you will probably want to anyway to maximize stability. After that, its just a choice of either doing it yourself, or paying someone to do the deed for you. Either way you should end up with a beautiful guitar. I'm envious - I wish I knew someone who would give me a big ol' plank of black walnut! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members silverbullet Posted November 22, 2005 Author Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 I'm envious - I wish I knew someone who would give me a big ol' plank of black walnut! HAHA, you are envious of my wood:D . Well I'm gonna start researching black walnut then... thanks for the help everyone, its gonna be a great while before this prject takes off, but I will post pics when it is all said and done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted November 22, 2005 Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 You might want to consider scoring enough of that wood to make a deal with a luthier. Maybe have him make you a body and neck in exchange for some of the wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Monsoon Posted November 22, 2005 Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 I was thinking the same thing. See if you can get a bunch of it and barter with a luthier. That's what I'd do. Definitely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members silverbullet Posted November 22, 2005 Author Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 What constitutes a "bunch". Like how much wood we talking? a pickup truck full or something? I would definitely like a real lutheir to do it, but I will haveta see its even possible for me to find one in my area. I know I have heard of one guy in West Virginia, and I live close to ohio and pennsylvania, so maybe I will find one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members janmoreye Posted November 22, 2005 Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 I would reccomend you to use it as a top wood. Use a nice light swamp ash as back wood, mahogany neck, 2 P-90s, RW board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members silverbullet Posted November 22, 2005 Author Members Share Posted November 22, 2005 Hey I just read about a guy on another post named Dan Erlewine that is in Athens Ohio... perhaps he would be interested in a wood trade situation, anyone know how to get ahold of him(assuming I can get that much wood). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members silverbullet Posted November 23, 2005 Author Members Share Posted November 23, 2005 BUMP for info on erlewine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Birdy Posted November 23, 2005 Members Share Posted November 23, 2005 Re: Bloodwood. Don't know, but Bloodwood dust can be a bit poisonous. Not much of an issue in a one-off, such as you are contemplating, but a big issue in a commercial shop. Should be no problem with the finished goods. Its gorgeous. If your research shows that it is stability and tonally suited, go for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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