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I have some quartered hickory. Has anyone tried to build with this domestic wood? Clintoncrich39070.9483333333

No, but it is good for smoking fish !

McKnight

Yeah, Tim McKnight has, and I have played a couple of his Hickory guitars and they sound great.

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

What tops does he use? Sitka? Is it similar to a maple?
Clinton

The guitars I saw had his '59 Sitka' on it. He found a series of very nice quartersawn billets that have been stored for 40+ years. They are very nice tops. However I am sure it would sound great with anything really stiff.

The sound he got was very big. I would call it a very FAT mahogany sound. It was fast and clean sounding.

Maybe Tim will jump in and offer his opinions.

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

Tim McKnight was already mentioned. I wish I read more thoroughly...WarrenG39071.4498032407

Yes, Hickory is a very underestimated tonewood. It bends like butter and the only downside is that it has caveronous pores. Two coats of Z-poxy and the pores disappear though ;) It's tone is similar to Mahogany but more balanced without that strong midrange bite that mahogany has. I have used Sitka (primarily 1959) as well as Cedar, Englemann and Adi and they all have sounded really big. My only suggestion is to build light (thin) and you will be pleasantly surprised.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

I hear that Hickory is very hard on cutting tools.

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

Thanks! I don't know if it's harder on tools, but my wife says it smells like cow...... manure. I have to admit that it does stink in my book. I wonder if there is any other domestic woods I maybe over looking? Clinton

OAK!

Make sure it's well quartered, though.

I've also used persimmon, and Osage Orange, as well as the 'usual suspects' of cherry, maple, walnut(sounds like ice cream!) and myrtle/bay. Rick Davis works with American sycamore. I've seen ash guitars, and fiddles, for that matter. One of my students built a butternut Flamenco. Mesquite and locust wood have been used. Apple would be nice, if you can get it big enough. Need we go on? There are lots of 'local' alternatives.

Walnut, cherry and maple immediately come to mind. But if you are looking to try the road less traveled, Serge is finishing up an ash guitar. I have also seen white oak, as opposed to red, used successfully in guitars. I would love to try apple, plum, almond or pecan if I could find pieces big enough. I will add some Osage Orange to my stash and maybe some mesquite. But if I to pick one domestic to work with, it would probably be eastern walnut.

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Aoibeann

I seem to remember an episode of the Woodwright's shop where Roy Underhill was talking and said that hickory or persimmon (I can't remember which, but I think it was actually persimmon) was also known as "american mahogany." Here again, I'm not certain, but I'm definitely curious as to the tone of building with those woods.

Actually persimmon is an ebony.

Al

Another consideration is that Hickory is one of the most unstable woods known to man. It has more drying movement than almost any other wood.

I would make sure it is quartersawn and super seasoned. (I love it under my BBQ chicken though)

Homeboy

I'll second the unstable comment. I sawed up a nice hickory log, air dried it for years but it was so unstable I haven't been able use it for anything except for splitting wedges.


                       Paul

Thanks for the heads up. I will re saw,stack and let it sit for a couple of years. I figured the walnut I resawn should sit for about 6 months in my shop. It's been outside stickered and drwying for over a year. Maybe I should look at some type of moisture gage.? Clinton

Mesquite is my favorite domestic--it is a joy to work, sands easily and smells even better--you can throw the scraps under your steak!

[QUOTE=Homeboy] Another consideration is that Hickory is one of the most unstable woods known to man. It has more drying movement than almost any other wood. /QUOTE]

Well if you are building with air dired wood, at least here in Ohio, it will only normalize to about 12%-13% MC no matter how many years it has been stickered. If you are building with wood that is that green you are just asking for trouble. I don't build with Hickory unless it has been stabilized at 6%-8%MC for several months. I have several dozen Hickory guitars in the hands of players and they have not had any problems with action changes or wood movement.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Ah-- thanks for the correction about the persimmon... I know it went by fast on the episode, but I didn't realize it went by THAT fast... hahaha... I guess "zoot" is "zoot" by any name, right? :-)

Tim, how do you know the MC? And how did you get it down to 6-8%? clinton

Persimmon is used for the head of wood drivers in golf.

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Aoibeann

[QUOTE=crich] Tim, how do you know the MC? And how did you get it down to 6-8%? clinton[/QUOTE]

I use a Wagner pinless moisture meter to measure MC (Moisture Content). It will not measure anything less than 3/4" so if you have thin wood you will have to stack it together tightly until it is 3/4" or thicker to get an average measurement.

I have a small room that I keep an electric "milk-house" heater in, an overhead fan and a dehumidifer. It is like a small kiln. I use this room to dry my wood.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com