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So I have two guitars to make which will both be out of Aussie Blackwood (which I got from Tim Spittle of Aussie Tonewoods )

Now, I've never worked with this wood before and I don't want to have to call Tim up and ask for another set because I screwed something up.

Bending? Anything I need to know here? I'll be thinning the sides down to 0.080-0.085" I normally wrap my wood in aluminum foil after a light spritz with water. Will this be OK or will it turn green like Koa can?

Glueing? I'm planning on these two guitars to be mostly built with fish glue, will this be a problem at all for the Aussie blackwood?

Working? My guess is that the wood works easily enough. I use a drum sander for thicknessing and your basic other power tools - routers for binding channels etc...

Thanks in advance for any responses (perferably on target and not smart grass comments )

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Rod, It works similar to Koa. I believe that wrapping it in aluminum foil will turn it green, not sure though. I wrapped mine in paper and it bent just fine.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

The aluminium will turn it green Rod. Just use kraft paper.

Other than that it's fairly easy to work with no special precautions needed.

I don't use fish glue but both Titebond and hide glue work on it.

Bob

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

Yep Black Tasmanian Blackwood Acacia..... can be worked just like Koa.

Rod got any pictures of your zoot please?

I`ve used it for bindings,and it seems extremely brittle.This was on a cutaway,which gave some problems in this area.I used kraft paper and didn`t have any trouble with it turning green.I also used super soft ,which seemed to help.
James

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Don't touch it with any steel tools when it is wet either, or you will get black stains.
So dont try to clean up fresh glue with a chisel..

Awesome, thanks guys. Jeff good advise on cleaning up the glue squeeze out, I usually use a poor quality 6" engineers scale but I'll use some spruce sticks sanded to a knife edge.

Hesh (and other's) here's pictures of the two sets I have. Both will be Olson SJ, no cutaway, with lutz tops.

This will be the second guitar in AB (austrailian blackwood) and I'll be starting that one hopfully in Feb 09.


This will be the first guitar in AB and I'll be starting this one this coming week I hope.


I'm looking forward to working on these two guitars.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

gives me a woody....

Ive worked with tassie blackwood from Tim, it is very well behaved,

Very purdy Rod!!!! I love the stuff and look forward to building with it again.

Most significant workability issue is interlocking grain, which can make planing tricky.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Hey Rod,

My guitar with a Venetian cutaway bent great on my fox bender with light bulbs! I did get staining from my slats so use craft paper. NOW, my flamed maple bindings are whole other story...I now have a double heat blanket systems and I just can't those puppies bent! I have broken about 10 sets now.

Have fun, Aussie Blackwood is one of my favs and those sets are particularly spectacular!

Shane

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Canada

Like other have said; Use no foil!!!!!!!!!!, use only distiled water if moistening!! I have had no issues bending at 300-310f Works pretty much like Koa and tooling issues are as Howard said interlocking grain. Out side of that you will have no problems

Interesting....I use aluminum foil around all my wood, and have bent a few sets of Tasmanian Blackwood/Aussie Blackwood/Black Acacia with no staining issues at all. Maybe I got lucky, but then maybe I was using distilled water to moisten it...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Don, it's because you command a higher level of respect from your wood than the rest of us do

Thanks for all the input folks. I'm looking forward to building these next couple of guitars.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

If only this were true!

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Hi:

I have toasted a side by leaving it a little to long in the bender (using a blanket) so suggest avoid to high a temp or watch the time in the bender. This was when my router speed control unit aka temperature reostat had died and I did not know it.

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GEO
perpetual beginner