Official Luthiers Forum!

I recently aquired a relatively large plank of oak from a moving job, and am curious as to how it would work on a guitar. I know Taylor makes a limited model of thier infamous "pallet" guitar, which is made of oak. But I was wondering if anyone here has tried it in thier shops for back/side sets, or necks for that matter. I'm interested in it's tonal qualities, but as a luthier, I'm equally interested to know how well it works during construction. I'd really like to know if it would be well worth the effort in planing and cutting blanks for a guitar, or if I should just leave it for a more traditional project later on. Any experience you all can share would be greatly appreciated.

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Jake Archer
~~Make a joyful noise unto the Lord~~

I help a friend assemble an Oak Kit (Dreaunaught)from Martin 6 years ago and it sounds great.
We put wood bindings on it and scalloped the braces .
He still plays it out regularly and loves it.
Mike

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Mike Collins

What about the tone? Is comparable to a rosewood, or to something more like maple or mahogany or something?

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Jake Archer
~~Make a joyful noise unto the Lord~~

That depends on many factors.
Top thickness& bracing
body size-back thickness-etc.......
Treat it like any other hardwood and you'll be fine.
Leave the back .110-it's not as dense as mose rosewoods(usually)
the sides .085 if they're quuarted !

Good luck!
Let us know how it come out.

Mike

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Mike Collins

There are some discussions in the archives about how oak guitars sound but I couldn't find one just now. Perhaps someone can do a search and post a link for us please?

Here is a link to oak guitars over at the UMGF. Interesting thread and some shots of a very beautiful oak guitar built by John Arnold.

http://theunofficialmartinguitarforum.yuku.com/topic/62377

Other than pore filling, I think that building one would be pretty cool. I'm in to Arts and Crafts movement furniture and it just fits right in.

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

hi Jarcher1991
last summer I paid a visit to Brooks Guitars here in the UK.
http://www.brookguitars.com/
They were getting for the Cheltenham Git Fest
and had at least a dozen guitars ready to go. I tried most and to my taste the best sounding was an OM Spruce front and Oak back & sides but as stated it depends on the quality of the timber.
sound I’d say was somewhere between mahog and r/wood.
Best wishes
Geordie

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some tunes on acoustic and guitar synth.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGeordieAdams
http://www.myspace.com/geordieadams

That is one beautiful oak guitar on the Martin guitar sight.

I am in the process of building with some relatively "old growth" oak. I was fortunate to aquire some oak beams from a barn that was built around 1850. Counting the growth rings, the beams were 120 + years old when timbered, which means that the trees were standing before the Revolutionary War!

On the down side, there is a lot of insect damage and many splits. After quarter resawing, I was not able to get a two piece back set, so I settled on a four piece back, which even has some small holes, needless to say it will have plenty of character.

I am relatively new to this forum, and if I can figure how to post pictures, I will do so when it is completed.

Chuck

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Here's mine, from the archives, that I posted last November.

http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10102&t=14723&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=oak+bloodwood+old+man



Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

I built an oak guitar with an Engelmann top and manzanita bindings/headstock
To my ears, oak is a wonderful tone wood, along with myrtle, mahogany and koa etc.
I liked it so much, I am building myself one now with a lutz top.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Ah, this is one hard to forget!
Did you sell it? I was wondering if that manzanita gets darker with time.

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Build log

I've only made one with silver oak so I'm not sure about its tonal quality. To me this guitar sounds just fine.
http://dorm.nsysu.edu.tw/~c8632136/Loure_nylgut.mp3

Yes it sold, but I'm making another one.

I don't think manzanita gets darker. It is hard to find any long enough for bindings.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Jake,

I have built three guitars using oak and I really like the tone. Two of them had sitka tops, the other had an adi. red spruce top. I was lucky enough to get a quartered board that was cut from the historical Pemberton oak in east Tennessee. The "Overmountain men" rallied under this tree in 1780 on their way to Kings mountain South Carolina where they defeated the British. The tree is estimated to be 600 yrs. old. It made a great guitar! I have found that oak is easy very easy to bend, it does have large pores in the grain that will require filling, but other than that, it finishes beautiful. When oak is quartered it exhibits a beautiful grain pattern with lots of medullary rays. I don't think that I would use it as a neck material because of weight. I say, go for it! It will make a great guitar.

Mark L.

A long time ago, lots of commercial guitar were made with oak. I have three old parlor guitars that are made with it, and as these nice photos show it can be really nice looking.
Al Carruth made one, and said it was nice but he couldn't sell it, because no one wanted to buy an oak instrument...sad.
If you know how to do ammonia fuming, you can get a really wonderful golden brown color out of it. I've read about Rick Turner doing that, but never saw it myself.

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Mark Swanson
Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com