WOOD

Solid Body Steels, Reso, Weissenborn...
Post Reply
The German
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2017 1:50 pm
Location: Souther MN

WOOD

Post by The German »

Curious about sources of wood for these often times beautiful instruments being built. My first build was with some walnut that came from a tree my dad had planted when I was a kid. My brother had to cut it down and had it sawed into a few boards. I also used maple that I bought at Home Depot. I want to make my next build from some ash and it shouldn't be that difficult because it is very prevalent around here in Southern MN. Finding someone who saws the stuff is the kicker. What and where do most of you come up with material you use?
A good instrument is like a lady. Treat it nice and it will make memories.
maxi19
Posts: 365
Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2012 12:55 pm
Location: Milton Keynes, England

Re: WOOD

Post by maxi19 »

I cant speak for others, but, I tend to look around 'ad's' and such for interesting woods.

Ron Mc ;)
ljs
Posts: 101
Joined: Mon Sep 06, 2010 1:30 pm
Location: North East(the town) PA

Re: WOOD

Post by ljs »

In my case, the first lap steel I built was a piece of textolite with a fretted guitar neck bolted to it. It came from a trash dumpster where I worked. Someone apparently was going to build a fretted guitar with it and gave up. The second was from a slab of hard maple that I acquired from my brother-in-law. He had intended to make a work bench but never got around to making the bench. The third was cherry from an old bed head board that my parents had. The fourth and fifth were from an ash tree that was on my dad's farm. My brother lives on a piece of that property now and cut a few of the ash that were dying about 12 or 14 years ago and I asked him to save me a couple logs. My next guitars will be from a piece of spalted beech that I acquired. It looks like it might make an interesting looking guitar.

So I guess I can say I just keep my eyes and ears open for potentially interesting pieces of wood. Of the guitars I have built so far the most "uninteresting" was the hard maple. It lacked any kind of grain pattern and I put a clear finish on it but probably would have looked better with a dye or tinting done on it. I still have quite a large piece of that left and I think I may have learned a few things along the way. Maybe I'll try one from that slab again someday.
LaVern
Post Reply