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Billets
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Author:  psl53 [ Fri Jul 06, 2007 3:20 pm ]
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Where do most get your guitar billets. Both for tops, braces and backs & sides. I would love to start collecting. I have a Minimax 16" w/ a 3.5 hp motor and have been playing with resawing some wood I have in the shop. I think I'm ready for some real guitar wood.


Thanks


Peter
Author:  Burton LeGeyt [ Sat Jul 07, 2007 2:07 am ]
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I find stuff all over the place. My friend was helping take apart an old house and found some perfectly quartered old spruce stair treads. There are some places around here that deal in recycled old lumber and much of this is from old factories. It is hit or miss, but you can find old old spruce in places like that. Mostly, though, it is from local wood dealers and some online places like Gilmer. It never hurts to put an ad in the local circular either like "looking for old wood". Some people have their grandfathers wood and don't know what it is. They would be happy to get a fair price for it and we would be happy to have it. All the brazilian I have came from woodworker estates and is beautiful stuff. Some places don't advertise well either, there is a place really near my house that doesn't come up in the yellow pages but has some great lumber. Someone mentioned it casually and I checked it out and now I stop by all the time.
Author:  charliewood [ Sat Jul 07, 2007 5:37 am ]
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I have recently come across whole trees(!!!) worth of sitka spruce, that people have said for me to just help myself to, as they are blow downs from winter storms on private property,
These things are HUGE too - one is almost 3/4 as tall as my girlfriends Dodge Dakota across!!(4'or so?)
However,.... sadly being at sea level I dont really know how good they would be for tops???? Ive heard that the wood needs to be from a higher elevation, to be truly good for tops...
Mabye someone could tell me about this????? If not good for tops, would it still be good for bracewood at this rate?
If this stuff turned out to be useable Id be happy to send you some frieght... if you wanted, theres really too much for me to handle myself.
Cheers
Charliewood
Author:  Shawn [ Sat Jul 07, 2007 5:55 am ]
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Charlie...I would contact Shane of High Mountain...he has alot more experience that most here about how to determine if a tree is a good candidate for tonewood while still in log form.

Elevation has to do with the active growth rate as at higher elevations there is usually a much shorter growth period that translates to the width of the rings. In high elevations that get less direct light there can be fewer than 100 active "summer" growth days so that the lighter rings will be much closer together.
Author:  charliewood [ Sat Jul 07, 2007 6:08 am ]
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Thanks Shawn - I thought it had to do with the coldness of winters and of course colder temps due to higher elevations - so I wasnt that far off I guess... it had to do with winters anyway...
I will talk to Shane, there is alot of wood and Id be happy to share with folks if there was any extra -
However, my arms are still sore from cutting sectioning hauling and sealing sealing sealing 5 big ole apple tress tha I just salvaged from a development last Sunday...(I had help thankfully)
so Im not gonna have room for 3 trees worth of sitka spruce too LOL
The apple is B-eau-ti-ful though, burly as hell and nice and old - 40-50 years or so
Nice score indeed. Cant wait to use some, gonna have to though! Gonna make nice trade fodder too!
Sorry no intention to hijack the thread.
Cheers
Charliewood
Author:  Marc [ Sat Jul 07, 2007 7:00 am ]
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I enjoy resawing my own, some lumber yards sell redwood and clear western red cedar for decks and home interiors. If they let you pick through the boards you can find clear 1/4 sawn. For a little over a $100 I have enough for over a dozen tops and bracing. Spanish cedar, honduran mahogany, maple (curly, flame, etc.), honduras rosewood, ebony is relatively easy to find at a hardwood lumber yard in most cities. I haven't found a good source for spruce, and apparently EIR is not sold unmilled in the widths needed for backs. You'll have fun with the minimax, I have a 14se laguna, I wish I would have bought the 16" minimax. Here's some samples of Gabon ebony, Honduras rosewood, span cedar, and Western red I've found.
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