Official Luthiers Forum!

Anyone try out B&S set made of swamp ash? Care to share your impressions?

I know it's a PITA to grain fill, but tone-wise and stability-wise how's it work out?

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....

You mean like this?

This is Ash.. I dont know if it is swamp ash or not...

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Reguards,

Ken H

Nice Ken! I like it!!!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Ken, from the pics that could be either one....FWIW swamp ash is a lot lighter than northern ash.

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....

I was told it was just "ash". I have no clue what the difference in "swamp ash" is.

As far as sound, there is a sound clip/movie of me playing this guitar over on luthiertube.com if you want to hear it. It is toppped with Adi and quite sa few people have been taken back by the volume and tone of the guitar. If it means anything, I bought a pallet load of this wood after building this guitar. I am drying the wood now and it will be at least a year before I can start using it.

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Reguards,

Ken H

If you believe the brochure, it isn't as heavy as regular ash. It is used a lot in electrics. Especially tele's and strats.

The problem is, it is hard to know if it is swamp ash or not. The weight and density of ash seems to be all over the place from the electric blanks I have got.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Good light swamp ash checks in around 1.5 to 2 lbs/board foot, but it can get heavier than that. Northern ash is about 50% heavier, 2.5 to 3 lbs/bf or more.

For you botanists, swamp ash is most likely Fraxinus caroliniana or F. nigra. Northern ash is most likely F. americana. Pretty difficult to tell the difference without weighing it. Swamp ash is usually sourced from the deep South (Louisiana, Missisippi, Alabama, Florida).

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....

Mine came from Indiana, so it is most likely plain old Ash.

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Reguards,

Ken H

"Swamp ash" is fraxinus nigra (and I've also seen reference to fraxinus caroliniana as "swamp ash") grown in "the bottoms"...in or near swamps or along river banks. The lower ten to twelve feet of the tree tends to be quite low in density as it grows very fast, but it's quite resonant. It's very highly regarded for solid body instruments, and other than the very coarse and open pores, there's no reason why it shouldn't make wonderful acoustic guitars. Martin made some ash models a while back, but I'm not sure it was "swamp ash".

Nice stuff, and I love making solid body basses with it.

True enough. I don't doubt that lighter swamp ash exists. The problem (at least from my experience) is that just because someone is selling "swamp ash" that is no guarantee that you are going to get the lighter stuff. For me it has been about a 50/50 experience.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

You have a link Ken? All I get is an "osage" under your name!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

I'm not much of a player or a singer, but here is the link:

Sweet Baby James

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Reguards,

Ken H