Local wood for guitar body

[free2rock]

Billets?!  They're for babies!  Get the whole f@cking log!!

LOL! Get a chainsaw while you're at it!

[mastergelo]

Hi guys  newbie here.. Anyone here have experience with the wood "Kalantas", i was wondering paano ung tone nya?? bright ba? dark? any help / information is appreciated.. thanks 

[jbarot]

Hi guys  newbie here.. Anyone here have experience with the wood "Kalantas", i was wondering paano ung tone nya?? bright ba? dark? any help / information is appreciated.. thanks 

can't tell you about the tone (tone is sooooo subjective ), but i think its a great wood for guitars, be it body or neck.  i like it because it's light (weight to me is a tone killer) and easy to work with. look great too.

[jbarot]

todd taggert of allied lutherie replied re my new wood:


Dear JB,
We have received wood out of SE Asia, including the Phillipines. We just consider it an ebony species and give it a name based on what it looks like. We would call that wood Malaysian blackwood. We have material just like it.
Good luck! (Sorry for delay, just back from vacation.)
Todd
Todd Taggart
Allied Lutherie Inc.
www.alliedlutherie.com


considering that
1. todd is the wood guru
2. the name "malaysian blackwood" is just a luthier coined moniker (such tree doesn't officially exist in botany)
and luthier's mercantile sells MB sets at a ridiculous price
 sometimes its better to be lucky than good

[free2rock]

todd taggert of allied lutherie replied re my new wood:


Dear JB,
We have received wood out of SE Asia, including the Phillipines. We just consider it an ebony species and give it a name based on what it looks like. We would call that wood Malaysian blackwood. We have material just like it.
Good luck! (Sorry for delay, just back from vacation.)
Todd
Todd Taggart
Allied Lutherie Inc.
www.alliedlutherie.com


considering that
1. todd is the wood guru
2. the name "malaysian blackwood" is just a luthier coined moniker (such tree doesn't officially exist in botany)
and luthier's mercantile sells MB sets at a ridiculous price
 sometimes its better to be lucky than good

Lucky indeed. I'm hoping to get a good bonus for this payout so I can set aside some funds for WAS.

[Rmansh]

question lang guys

may nakita ako na gibson lp with flamed mahogay back,(normally they are just straight grain). i wonder if there's any tonal improvements at all or pure aesthetics lang?

[jbarot]

IMO walang gaanong difference.  but if it were an acoustic guitar there would be some since flamed mahogany is stiffer.  the main difference is the price since flamed wood is very desirable   if you've ever heard of "the tree" mahogany you'll know what i mean

[Rmansh]

^tama, mas mahal nga sya maganda nga talaga pero nasa likod? tapos yun front nya plain tops lols. google ko yan "the tree" hehe

[free2rock]

IMO walang gaanong difference.  but if it were an acoustic guitar there would be some since flamed mahogany is stiffer.  the main difference is the price since flamed wood is very desirable   if you've ever heard of "the tree" mahogany you'll know what i mean

I think I know that one.

Back in the 60's, in Honduras, local loggers found a massive Mahogany tree that had a spiral bark--which means the wood is highly figured. The tree was so big that they could not bring back the entire thing to be milled so it stayed there for several years. Fast forward, somebody returned and got the big hunk.

I read it in the McPherson Guitars website. They have a special edition guitar made of that wood.

[nitotela]

mga guys ask ko lng , ok ba ang manga wood na guitar body?magaan kc sya e

[jbarot]

I think I know that one.

Back in the 60's, in Honduras, local loggers found a massive Mahogany tree that had a spiral bark--which means the wood is highly figured. The tree was so big that they could not bring back the entire thing to be milled so it stayed there for several years. Fast forward, somebody returned and got the big hunk.

I read it in the McPherson Guitars website. They have a special edition guitar made of that wood.

i used to live near mark berry's shop and he showed me a small piece of "the tree".  normally with figured wood that is raw and unfinished you'd have to look closely to see the figure.  but in that case the raw plank was just screaming with figure.  there are still sets of the tree out there, but you'll have to pay top $$$.  it's up there along with the "lucky strike" redwood planks

[jbarot]

mga guys ask ko lng , ok ba ang manga wood na guitar body?magaan kc sya e

pwede basta kahoy!  mahirap lang daw patuyuin.  it tends to crack

[free2rock]

pwede basta kahoy!  mahirap lang daw patuyuin.  it tends to crack

Uy! Pwedeng motto yan ah... Pwede basta kahoy!

I like it! LOL!

[Rmansh]

mga master woodshredder:-D

meron ba difference yun location ng cut/joint/dugtungan sa body? regarding tone (here we go ), performance, stability, etc etc. i usually see sa middle, yun iba like this pic, sa upper bout and lower bout. tia

[free2rock]

@rmansh, IMO there should be little difference in tone when comparing multiple-piece bodies with one-piece bodies. It's primarily aesthetic. Regarding stability, there are different methods and glues (this alone has another debate altogether) that work well for different woods (e.g., hide glue may not work on highly porous woods like Paulownia because it absorbs too much). Notice how the orientation of the grains are aligned on the glue joint?

[jbarot]

its more economics.  its hard to get a plank wide enough for a body, expensive if ever.  it just became THE standard. now we see more off cut wood turning up in guitars, which explains the off center jointing.  in a blind test, no one can ever hear the difference between a 1 piece from a 2,3 even 4 piece.  so to me it doesn't make a difference.

re porous wood, i think it glues better, you just have to put a bit more glue.  aside from the joint, the glue will seep into the pores and latch on the wood even more.  think of them as microscopic nails.   as long as the wood is properly seasoned and very stable and as long as the joints glued are true there will be no problems with it.

[j-sonic]

if you're uncertain of strength and stability of glued bodies,you can add dowels before gluing pieces together

[maxi_musikero]

mga master woodshredder:-D

meron ba difference yun location ng cut/joint/dugtungan sa body? regarding tone (here we go ), performance, stability, etc etc. i usually see sa middle, yun iba like this pic, sa upper bout and lower bout. tia

Ang ganda ng grain ng strat body na yan ah! Bagong GAS ba yan? 

Regarding your question, i'd prefer 1-pc bodies but since it's hard to find a big enough slab for a 1-pc body as JB mentioned, i'd settle for 2-pc nothing more. Aesthetic din. Mas madali mag-bookmatch pag 2-pc. I also believe in less glue, more wood. 

[free2rock]

its more economics.

+1 here

Also, electric guitars have more (i.e., electronics) into its tone equation, whereas acoustic guitars weigh heavily on wood quality and construction

Speaking of acoustics, does wedging backs have any tone difference or is it simple aesthetics?

[Rmansh]

@jbarot, free2rock, jsonic

yun na nga siguro, economics, ang naisip ko lang sa mga 2 piece body(center) pag hindi maganda ang joint, sigurado affected yun performance since mostly sa gitna sila lahat, neck, bridge, tailpiece. Pag off-center naman it looks more stable kasi untouched yun wood??? curious lang my theory may be incorrect

@maxi

no gas, nakita ko sa Eden eden yan may bagong ash/alder bodies sila, looks promising. i think CNC'd na sila. eto pa pics

[free2rock]

no gas, nakita ko sa Eden eden yan may bagong ash/alder bodies sila, looks promising. i think CNC'd na sila. eto pa pics

Most, if not all post-prod bodies are CNC'd. Better economics (again).

[jbarot]

some actually prefer 2 or 3 piece bodies for stability.  if say you have a 1 piece body and it decides to crack, it will follow a fault line and that line may run through the entire length of the guitar. if it warps it the whole body will warp.  with a 2 or 3 piece, warping is minimized since movement will stop at the joints.  and smaller pieces of wood are more stable than big pieces, cracking is not likely to happen (but it can ).  folks who prefer this do not worry about aesthetics because they put paint on the body.  and some really good luthiers (like rick kelly and stefan sobell) can make multi piece bodies that match so well you couldn't tell even if you really look at it closely.

again this all starts with properly seasoned wood and good glue techniques

[free2rock]

some actually prefer 2 or 3 piece bodies for stability.  if say you have a 1 piece body and it decides to crack, it will follow a fault line and that line may run through the entire length of the guitar. if it warps it the whole body will warp.  with a 2 or 3 piece, warping is minimized since movement will stop at the joints.  and smaller pieces of wood are more stable than big pieces, cracking is not likely to happen (but it can ).

I haven't heard it that way before. I always knew it was good to be cheap! Nice!

Anyhoo, I'd like to put my question out there again: Speaking of acoustics, does wedging backs have any tone difference or is it simple aesthetics?

[maxi_musikero]

@maxi

no gas, nakita ko sa Eden eden yan may bagong ash/alder bodies sila, looks promising. i think CNC'd na sila. eto pa pics

looks promising nga.

[jbarot]

does wedging backs have any tone difference or is it simple aesthetics?

you mean putting a 3 piece back with a triangular center? 

again its economics and sometimes aesthetics.  for tone wood that is hard (or expensive) to get in standard sizes, a 3 or 4 piece back is the logical step.  just look at stefan sobell's brazilian rosewood "scantlings" build.  or one may have two plates of good tone wood but is no big enough for a standard back they wedge another species of wood in between, usually maple. then some just like the look of it.  personally i don't, to me it just interrupts the flow to of the grain to my eyes. 

its impossible to tell the difference in tone, again i say that no on can accurately tell