Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello all again,

This may well fall into the category of really stupid posts, but it's something I could really use some experienced advice on.

I have a colleague (I work in a law firm) who makes an awful lot of money (being a lawyer). He owns a yacht which is decked and trimmed in Teak. As I am just a ‘lowly’ Head of IT (yes, technically I outrank the guy, but hey, lawyers trump everyone, right?) he was talking down his nose at me when I was describing my new interest in carpentry / guitar building boasting how he had some enormous stash of Teak which he bought a year or so back when he had his yacht re-decked. He made some derisive comment to me about giving me an off cut if I wanted.

Anyway, as is often the way with this mysterious world we live in, just a few days later I was on the look-out for some hardwood to make a base for a wooden trophy I’ve carved for our upcoming Christmas quiz (I know this doesn’t yet relate to luthierie, please bear with me).

Anyway, I called the guy on his offer and to his credit he turned up trumps with a couple of pretty small rough offcuts. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever actually held real solid teak, and definitely the first time I’ve worked with it.

I have to say I absolutely love the wood. The smell is gorgeous, it planes just incredibly smooth incredibly quickly, cuts like a dream and after a little filling finishes really beautifully (I’ve used French Polish on the trophy base, but tested a bit I didn’t use with clear water-based gloss lacquer just out of curiosity)

Now, once my colleague saw what I’d done with the teak which really just involved some simple router work and jointing using tips taken directly from the archive of this forum, he’s suddenly offered me a bunch more Teak (and stopped giving me funny looks when I talk about woodworking too).

The bits he has are slabsawn, and the grain pattern looks really attractive even to my untrained eye, so I’m pretty sure I could use it as rosette material without much difficulty.

What I’m curious about is what else in the construction of a SS guitar the experts on here would consider it suitable for?

The things which strike me are that it seems fairly heavy (although I’m not experienced enough with other hardwoods to know how this compares to others) and I’ve been told it’s fairly oily / difficult to glue. Obviously I didn’t experience that with my minor trophy base construction, but that’s a whole different ball game to a SS guitar where the joint will potentially be under stress.

What I don’t want to do is accept a bunch of teak which will likely sit around taking up space in my increasingly cramped workshop waiting for a project, however as my next project is the guitar I’m happy to accept the gift if it would be useful for anything substantial like the neck or similar. I understand from a friend that teak is actually fairly expensive if you have to buy it, which is why I’m conflicted on the issue.

I then had a brainwave and figured that given we have a whole cornucopia of experts right here at the OLF, it couldn’t hurt to ask…

So what do you experts think? Accept the gift (and probably assuage his conscience for all the ribbing he used to give me) or politely refuse?

Might be good for bridge blanks..

Saying that, I have seen a few teak bridge blanks being sold on Ebay.........

Its ok wood but the teak you can get thease days is plantation teak and
very very inferior.

If you find some old stock burma teak use with gusto it very nice stuff but
very hard to find.

Teak grows very fast and the forced growth wood you get these days is
unstable and full of compresion wood.

It also depends on the peice you have like any wood it varies in quality
from peice to peice.

It may however be suitable for a bridge blank or two just make sure its
quarter sawn,

Joel.

Dave buddy some idiot named "Guests" asked the same question a couple of years ago.......

It turns our that Teak is oily, waxy, and tough to glue and therefore unsuitable for guitar use.

You can read about it here:  http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7516& amp;KW=teak#forumTop

Dave,
Teak is a really oily wood. Be sure to wipe it down with a thinner before any gluing or finishing. As for a teak guitar... make the whole thing out of it and call it an outdoor model! Patio furniture is another good idea. It really is great for outdoor products. I don't think I have every heard of one made of teak except for a solid body. Go for it and let us know how it turns out.
good luck.

_________________
Chris Oliver
Infinity Luthiers
...in the shop.

live every minute...

Build a nice deck out back to sit and play your guitar on!

_________________
http://www.presnallguitars.com

I once broke in half a nice Danish-design "teak" bed.

_________________
"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Okay Steve you left yourself wide open.I can`t resist asking what you were doing in the bed?
                    James

_________________
James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Man, I wish I could tell you!

I can say it cost me about a year in the shop making a new bed and two sidetables.

_________________
"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Ok that's what I love about all of you here - even though it's a really silly question by the looks of it if you know about wood, you've still made me laugh out loud instead of be embarressed with your replies!

Ok to repond to each of you (bear with me could be a long post).


[QUOTE=Sam Price] Might be good for bridge blanks..[/QUOTE]

Well, it would certianly be attractive enough for a bridge, and as I say it works beautifully so long as you're careful about 'wild' bits of grain. The issue about bond strength, however, would concern me for an early guitar. Perhaps when I've managed a few bridges which only flew off because I did something wrong, then I'll move up to some which fly off due to my choice of materials

[QUOTE=joelThompson] Its ok wood but the teak you can get thease days is plantation teak and
very very inferior.

If you find some old stock burma teak use with gusto it very nice stuff but
very hard to find.

Teak grows very fast and the forced growth wood you get these days is
unstable and full of compresion wood.

It also depends on the peice you have like any wood it varies in quality
from peice to peice.

It may however be suitable for a bridge blank or two just make sure its
quarter sawn,

Joel.[/QUOTE]

Hi Joel, yes this is old growth burmese teak. As I understand it, that's why he spent such a fortune buying a lot more than he actually needed at the time, as he knew it was difficult to get hold of so wanted a stock from which to be able to get his carpenter to make repairs. To be honest I think he knows how much money it's worth but not it's value if you catch my meaning.

Unforuately I think it's all slab sawn from the way he describes it. I may accept his invitation to his boatshed and have a look for myself, but to be quite honest, if it's only good for a potentially troublesome bridge blank or two, it's hardly worth the guided tour up his nostrils for me.

[QUOTE=Hesh] Dave buddy some idiot named "Guests" asked the same question a couple of years ago.......It turns our that Teak is oily, waxy, and tough to glue and therefore unsuitable for guitar use.You can read about it here:  http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7516& amp;KW=teak#forumTop
[/QUOTE]

Thanks Hesh bud Would that be the same "Guests" who always appears friendly, helpful and a constant source of inspiration for ham-fisted klutzes like me who would also otherwise be nowhere near shamed enough into actually picking up a hoover in their workshop?

[QUOTE=Chris Oliver] Dave,Teak is a really oily wood. Be sure to wipe it down with a thinner before any gluing or finishing. As for a teak guitar... make the whole thing out of it and call it an outdoor model! Patio furniture is another good idea. It really is great for outdoor products. I don't think I have every heard of one made of teak except for a solid body. Go for it and let us know how it turns out.good luck.
[/QUOTE]

Hi Chris, thanks for the tip. Funnily enough, just before I glued the trophy base I gave the teak a good wipe with Naptha to see where the best area was for figure under finish. If I were a lesser man I'd claim to have done so due to some kind of foresight, but I'll admit it, sounds like just blind beginner's luck...

[QUOTE=L. Presnall] Build a nice deck out back to sit and play your guitar on! [/QUOTE]

Now that's a nice idea, but I might wait until it's above zero during the days to do that Being an unfeasibly cold winter so far down here on the south coast of the UK...

[QUOTE=SteveCourtright] I once broke in half a nice Danish-design "teak" bed.[/QUOTE]

Perhaps you should have stopped when you heard the teak squeak become a shriek?