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I saw ( I believe a Martin) a few years back that used a combination of woods for back and sides. With my recent experience of breaking sides I got to wondering if anyone out there changes species between the sides or sides and back? Clinton

never seen one DESIGNED that way as I guess it would look aa bit weird.

no reason why not STRUCTURALLY

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Yep, I've seen one. It had a back like a D-35 and 2 different side woods. Not sure if it was a prototype or just a small run?
There a pic in my Martin book--bet you could google it?

Check this item# on Ebay 160078350385

That's what I was talking about. I', just wondering if there is a problem with differnt woods expanding and contracting at different rates? Clinton

Never seen one. But I`ve thought about it .I mean why not.The only thing ,it seems that all the suppliers sell back and side sets.A person may have to buy two different sets and build 2 guitars. Or maybe contact a supplier and ask if they could set you up for that kind of build.I think a person could come up with some interesting looking and sounding guitars.
                             James W B

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

[QUOTE=James W B]The only thing ,it seems that all the suppliers sell back and side sets.[/QUOTE]

The Allied website prices the sides and back separately, so you could probably get spare sides from them.

There's no 'mechanical' (contraction, etc) problem with using different species for the sides and back. Some well-reputed builders are laminating sides using different species on the inner layer for increased strength.

As long as you can get something that looks OK, go for it! Much better than trashing a project.
IMO, something with a definite contrast would be better than two species that 'almost match'.
John

[QUOTE=crich] That's what I was talking about. I', just wondering if there is a problem with differnt woods expanding and contracting at different rates? Clinton[/QUOTE]

Sounds like a description of what happens in nearly all guitars.

Todd - my first Weiss was Sapele top and back with walnut sides. Looks great. And what about a certain Mr Klepper's Son of Dovetail Madness:



Dave White39110.619224537

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

OMG..... Howard!
Everytime I see one of his guitars, Im blown away, even if Ive already seen it a thousand times - true art!
Cheers
Charliewood

Kathy Matsushita has built a very nice one with EIR lately!

Richard Schneider was known for his promotion of Kasha braced guitars and one of the signature combinations of woods he built his classicals and steel string guitars from was the combination of BRW sides with Redwood tops and backs. The look was unorthodox but then the outline of a Kasha design is non-traditional so it all worked well together.

Didn't Martin do an MTV guitar that was different woods? Maybe maple and EIR, I think. Anyway, seems like I played one and thought it was fairly good.

I think it's a good idea.

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I think the mahogany and walnut combination should work just fine. Back and side wood only serves to colour the tone that the instrument makes 90%+ being contributed by the top. Mahogany and walnut both come from the same end of the tone colour palette and will not be fighting each other. In fact I've often thought of trying combinations of B&S wood to try and build a tone colour. What would a centre piece of say African Blackwood or Honduran rosewwod do to the tone colour of a mahogany guitar? There are so many possibilities. My last Lute, had alternate back staves of EIR and London Plane, and it sounds all right to me.

Cherry and Walnut makes a beautiful cake combination so why not give iot a go in a guitar?

Colin

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I have just ordered IRW sides only from Allied to replace the one I broke.  It took a week or so to fill the order.  They should be here this week.

All dovetail joints are backed up except for the trussrod cover.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Last year I visited Koaloha Ukulele while on Oahu. Dang, they have a lot of Koa waiting to build with. One of their luthiers, Ben Sacro, showed us a tenor ukulele that was built with either 7 or 8 different woods as an anniversary gift for the owner Alvin Okami. Every piece was a different wood including halves of back, top, sides. He the ukulele was to thank the Okami family for all the luthiery skills that he has learned from them. The uke looked great and sounded wonderful. If I can find a photo of it I will post it later. One of the things Koaloha is known for is their distinctive bulkhead bracing system. Yes, bulkhead like in a ship. It is a single piece that goes all the way around the inside of the uke just behind the sound hole. I own one of their extended neck soprano ukuleles but I believe it is on others as well. As a demonstration of strength Ben put a ukulele body on the ground and stood on it. My guess is that we won’t see that at a guitar factory. By the way the ukuleles are built quite light.

Philip

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