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Hi John

Yew is usually very difficult to dry in boards wide enough for guitar making (assuming it is the same species we have in the UK) It has been used throughout history for making instruments.

I am told it can be posinous to the touch so needs to be handled carefully and finished with a protective finish,eg Lacquer, French Polish.

While I was in Maine we built a drednaught out of Yew that came from a
dismantled dam. It was a nice sounding guitar. Very much sitk-like in
tone. Punchy and straightforward.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

[QUOTE=RussellR] Hi John

I am told it can be posinous to the touch so needs to be handled carefully and finished with a protective finish,eg Lacquer, French Polish.[/QUOTE]

Russell,

That's interesting, I thought it was the berries that were the poison. I carried a nice straight cut log back from the woods the other week that may be promising for some binding material and I haven't died yet - at least not the last time I looked

Also interestingly the leaves are used in modern medicine (taxus baccata that is) and there was an appeal a year or so ago for people to send in their hedge clippings. It makes a fantastic hedge, and like a lot of the hedgerow of my house there are the mystical elements for keeping the witches (and cattle!!) out - so there are a mix of holly and hawthorn as well as yew. Yew also is commonly grown in churchyards and was the prime source of wood for English longbows - although the French stuff was better and probably explains a lot of the "Cross Channel" excursions in the middle ages. Irony is that at Agincourt it was probably largely French grown yew that "powered" the English bows. Mind you the French moved with technology and gave us a good whomping back with cross-bows in later years.

In long bows it has a good attack and great projection so this might extend to guitars too.

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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

Hi Dave

The outer flesh of the berries are the only non posinous bit (The seeds are very posinous)

The rest of it is extremely posinous, I am not clear if this is only if you eat it ! or if breathing dust or coming in to contact with cuts etc, could do major harm also. I do know it kills horses and cows that graze on the saplings sometimes, but for some strange reason Deer can eat it.

It is used in medicine you are quite right, but so is Rat Poison, guess it depends on the dose.

I forgot to add that the posinous to the touch bit, is it causes skin irritation, I'm trying to remeber the guys name, but there is a guy in the UK who makes solid bodies, and he advises that you seal it as it can cause skin irritation.

I've built a couple of lutes using yew (Taxus baccata) wood for the back staves. There are pictures of them both on the forum. I got the wood from a 1000+ year old tree that came down in the 1987 hurricane we had in England, I have been gradually cutting it and drying it and have yet to be get pieces big enough that haven't cracked for a two piece back and for sides. When I get some stable enough for side sets I'll make a four or six piece back and build a guitar. Great lute staves though! Younger trees may be less of a problem. As Russell says every part is poisonous apart from the outside of the berries, I had no problem with skin contact, but made sure to wear a mask when sanding.

I can't comment on guitars, but on lutes when allied to a responsive top can give a rich sound to the tone.

Colin Colin S38740.225150463

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I've cut and harvested Yew for about 12 years. It is dear to me having spent so much great time "prospecting" the woods for it.   This would be Taxus brevefolia or Pacific Yew. The largest tree I've seen has been about 40" diameter...huge for a Yew. Most are in the 8-10" diameter. I purchased standing Yews and harvested them for the bark which was sold to Bristle Myers Squibb who extracted the taxanes for use as a life extender in certain cancer conditions. I sold truckoads of yew logs to the veneer business and we cut many logs on the sawmill.

Colin, when you say "stable" do you mean pieces without ring or heart shake? The yew (Pacific I'm only familiar with)is notorius for defects most predominate after 10" diameter, but certainly smaller and certainly in some of those old church yews you folks have.

Interesting fact is the Yew has a male and female tree that requires polination. The juniper is the only other evergreen I'm aware of that needs this (but I haven't looked it up). Because of this we always find groves of Yews or a single tree off by itself.

Colin, I've heard that using sapwood and heartwood on lute staves generates a extra half tone range. Have you heard of this?

Here's a quick grab of some stuff in the shop. True yew burl is rare. The long quartersawn piece has the widest sap ring I've ever seen in Yew and I'll cut this piece for lute ribs eventually.

Yew and toxic nature

Folklore makes Yew the tree of life AND the tree of death. I've cut and hadled Yew for years and am still in good health. I wouldn't panic over wood being capable of causing skin irritation...think coco bolo and it's wood working career ending capabilities. Yew is no worse than any other wood to a specific person with allergies to a specific chemical. All wood dust should be considered carcinogenic and respected accordingly. don't chew a tree and you'll be fine..or at least don't swallow.

This is copied from the 'net:

Mythology and Folklore of the Yew

At the approximate centre of Scotland, at the eastern end of one of its longest glens, grows what is Scotland's, and possibly Europe's, oldest tree. The Fortingall yew in Glen Lyon has been estimated to be anything from over two thousand to nine thousand years old. A popular legend associated with this yew relates how Pontius Pilate was variously born under this tree or played as a child in its branches, suggesting that the tree was already a landmark over two thousand years ago. Though the Romans did not invade Britain until 43 AD, several expeditions had visited from 55 BC onwards. Various interpretations suggest that Pontius Pilate's father was on a diplomatic mission to a Pictish King when news reached him at Fortingall of the birth of his son, or that his wife had been travelling with him and gave birth at Fortingall.

The yew tree is another of our native trees which was held sacred by the Druids in pre-Christian times. They no doubt observed the tree's qualities of longevity and regeneration (drooping branches of old yew trees can root and form new trunks where they touch the ground), and the yew came to symbolise death and resurrection in Celtic culture. They will also have been familiar with the toxicity of the tree's needles in particular, which can prove fatal, and which may have further contributed to its connections with death. Shakespeare too was familiar with these qualities when he had Macbeth concoct a poisonous brew which included "slips of yew, silvered in the moon's eclipse".


The themes of death and resurrection continued into the Christian era, with the custom of yew shoots being buried with the deceased, and boughs of yew being used as 'Palms' in church at Easter. Yew trees have in fact established a popular association with old churches in Britain, to the extent that very old specimens of yew trees are now relatively rare outside of church grounds. According to Richard Mabey in his Flora Britannica "… no other type of ancient tree occurs so frequently inside church grounds …" and he goes on to say that he does not know of any similarly exclusive relationship between places of worship and a single tree species existing anywhere else in the Western world. In some cases yew trees have been traditionally planted beside churches. In other cases it seems that very old yew trees may have already been growing on a site before the earliest church building was erected there; some, such as the one beside Fortingall's church may even predate Christianity itself. Several other yews growing by churches have become famous in their own right, such as the Bleeding Yews of Nevern in Pembrokeshire.

The yew's toxicity has somewhat limited its practical uses to humans, though a homoeopathic tincture is made of young shoots and the berry flesh to treat a variety of ailments including cystitis, headache and neuralgia. The very hard, close-grained wood was used in furniture making, but yew wood is probably best known as the material from which the medieval English longbows were made and used to such devastating effect during the Hundred Years War. The Scots too used yew longbows and Robert the Bruce ordered bows to be made from the sacred yews at Ardchattan Priory in Argyll, which were then used during the Scots' victorious battle at Bannockburn in 1314.

In the Highlands the tree seems for a long time to have been rare in the wild, though notwithstanding this Clan Fraser adopted a sprig of yew as their clan badge. Making deductions about its distribution from place names bearing its Gaelic name of iubhair or euair is difficult as these words can also refer to juniper, which was occasionally known as mountain yew. Some places such as Iona (probably derived from Ioua, the Pictish word for yew) and Kilneuair (Church of the Yew), being religious and spiritual places, are almost certainly a reflection of such places' affinity with yew trees. Tomnahurich in Inverness would also be a likely candidate for an association with yews rather than junipers, as this small steep hill was reputed to be the place where Thomas the Rhymer, the Scottish mystic, disappeared into the Underworld or Faery realms; today a large cemetery remains at the foot of this hill.

Paul Kendall
Larry Davis38740.2765393518

Larry, thanks for that info. As a displaced Scot, and lover of Yew wood, I found it most interesting. We drove by Lock Iubhair not long ago, and wondered at the name...

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I'd go for a set or two for back and sides, if you find it. I bugged Larry about
it a few months ago, but he couldn't find a clear board big enough.

The berries taste a bit like watermelon. I spit out the seeds, though.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Realistically start thinking 3 or 4 piece back if you need dead quartered pristine stuff, Howard. This is much easier to obtain.

Larry, I've got pieces big enough for three or four piece backs and I have no problem with using multiple piece backs. Good enough for Torres etc.... My problem is still getting pieces long enough for sides that don't have shakes. This tree was from very old growth primary yew woodland and was more than 8 feet in diameter and hollow, well over 1000 years old.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I heard a yew parlor guitar made by Rob Girdis at last summers HB festival. It was very nice.John How38744.5631134259

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

It was Rob's guitar that got me thinking about yew. I've enjoyed turning it.
I'm thinking small guitar, maybe OO size. If you find a board that will yield
clear quartersawn sides 4-1/4 x 32", the backset can be four piece from the
same board.Howard Klepper38744.6059143519

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Hi,
I have recently upgraded my computer, and it will now allow me to participate in the forum.
I am posting a photo of the Yew Parlor that I had at Healdsburg last summer, and has been mentioned in this discussion. This is wood from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, cut by some furniture making friends of mine 25 years ago. I got a piece of it from them back then and finally made something from it a few years back. I made a parlor out of it because that was as big as I could go in a two piece back. I choose a cedar top to go with it purely for the color match.
It is, I have read, the hardest softwood. It can be a dream or nightmare to hand plane, depending on which way you are planing/ the grain is running, tempermental to bend, and a dream to finish because of it lack of large open pores.
The guitar has a very round sound, almost like a nylon string guitar.
I reccommend trying this wood out if you can find it. Good luck, I have been looking ever since I got this set and have not seen anything that I would use yet.

Rob, how quartered is the yew? I see some classic "pips" and pins in the wood. Hard to get away from that. I'm surpised at the bending comment as the stuff usually bends in a circle without breaking. The Shaker box in my photo is flatsawn yew and I bent that with no problem. I suspect it might have been that particular yew tree/board/board portion and is not a species wide problem. Yew wood fibers are entwined and splitting straight lines by hand is a very difficult proposition.

I have also used it for Lute and mandolin (bowlback) staves and it does bend easily as Larry mentioned (if quartersawn) but the bigger problem has always been getting good stock for anything much wider.

For the Lute I used it on I really liked it and if it were easier to get I would use it.

Rob...Really nice parlor...good choice of woods. I am sure that the bending issues had to do with the grain of the sides.

Hey Rob. Clear your browser cache, delete your files, and clear your history.

That should fix your problems with the forum. Let me know if it does not.

Some of us have experienced the same issue. That has been the fix for us.

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

Oh, man. I've been looking for a way to clear my history.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

A button like that would be a way to make zillions of bucks, huh...    Brock Poling38747.8609606481

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

Yep, but as easy as the first was to create, I'm sure I'd have no problem creating another.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA