Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi every one ,i'm new here, has anyone worked with purple heart wood before, do you recommend it, pros and cons? I'd like to use it with a combination of maple bindings for my second guitar. Your views on this would be appreciated.

Thanks

Serge Poirier

Are you building an acoustic or electric ? I would think a solid bodied electric from Purple heart would be very heavy. Tobias built many neck through bass guitars with purple heart. I've never seen an acoustic built from it though.

i'll try to go acoustic, it's heavier than maple so i thought that the soundbox would sound loud and clear, it's a big piece of wood that's been sitting in my shop for the last 7 months, bought it kiln dried at Adams & Kennedy near Ottawa. Should i use it for acoustics?

[QUOTE=Brazilwood]I would think a solid bodied electric from Purple heart would be very heavy. [/QUOTE]

It is. But, I have done it. You just have to chamber it severely to bring the weight down. I don't enjoy working with this wood much, but it does build a beautiful electric.

Especially if you give it a nice "tan" before finishing.

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

Hi broc, do you think that it's feasible to thin purple heart enough to get good sound for an acoustic soundbox

Serge..I'm sure you can use purple heart to build an acoustic guitar. It can be thinnied as any other hard wood. Is your piece quartersawn ? I've never seen an acoustic made from purple heart but, that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. It just means others, for one reason or another, don't use it that much. Unless it is a really nice (cosmetically) piece of wood, I think you would be happier with the results using more commonly used, with proven results, tonewood. Purple heart is mostly used as an accent wood. It's very nice for center laminate strips on two piece necks and adds a lot of stability to the neck. But, if you have the wood on hand and want to use it for an acoustic..I'd say go for it. That's the beauty of this type of work...you are free to experiment and break new ground.

And don't forget to post pix!

Serge take a look here.
http://www.rctonewoods.rcefaluguitars.com/built_by_pg2.htm One of my customers has built two so far and likes it very much.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

[QUOTE=Serge Poirier] Hi broc, do you think that it's feasible to thin purple heart enough to get good sound for an acoustic soundbox[/QUOTE]

Sure. I haven't personally done it, but I am sure you could do it.

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

Hi Serge,

I've seen it used in just your combination. At a recent GAL convention, a student from one of the lutherie schools brought his first (I think) guitar to exhibit. It was a purpleheart dread, trimmed in curly maple bindings. I thought it was beautiful. I don't remember much about the sound, though it was probably fine for a first guitar. I think it should work admirably, and the idea about thinning it a bit more is probably right.

Welcome to the OLF!

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

It is a very dense wood, but it finishes really well. I've done some turning with it and really like working with it. It's a tough nut to crack, though.

Purpleheart, Peltogyne venosa, should make a fine acoustic, one of the tonewood suppliers here in the UK carries it as one of his standard lines. It has a specific gravity of 0.86 compared to BRW 0.85, Cocobolo 1.10 and African blackwood at 1.2 so it can't really be classed as one of the heavyweights. It is supposed to work and finish well. It should make a great guitar.

Colin

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

Personally I think the negatives are it his heavy, it is brittle, it splinters if you look at it wrong and it tends to have large pores....

None of this is terrible, but those are the down sides.

On the upside.... it is pretty cheap, and it is really beautiful with finish on it. Leave it in direct sun light for a few days - a couple of weeks and it will tan very nice. Some of it will go do a dark plum purple that is just the best color IMHO....

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

Brock, it's lighter than Cocobolo, African blackwood, Ziricote, Macassar ebony. Less brittle than Ziricote, and the fancier versions of bubinga, mahogany, etc. Less open pored than a lot of the mahoganies, walnuts and rosewoods, but they still get used.

Colin

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

[QUOTE=Colin S] Brock, it's lighter than Cocobolo, African blackwood, Ziricote, Macassar ebony. Less brittle than Ziricote, and the fancier versions of bubinga, mahogany, etc. Less open pored than a lot of the mahoganies, walnuts and rosewoods, but they still get used.

Colin[/QUOTE]

What about the splinters... huh, what about that?   

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

I have built one guitar from Purpleheart...it was about a 00 size fingerstyle and it came out well. It sounded really good but the real reason why I built with it is that I have a teenage daughter that loves the color so I built it for her and used pink ivory bindings and an englemann top.

The purple will mellow out with time but the main reason I think that most people havent built with it is the color is so strong...you either love purple or not.

Purpleheart is somewhat abrasive on blades and can be splintery but other than that is a nice wood...not too unstable even when thinned.

[QUOTE=Brock Poling] [QUOTE=Colin S] Brock, it's lighter than Cocobolo, African blackwood, Ziricote, Macassar ebony. Less brittle than Ziricote, and the fancier versions of bubinga, mahogany, etc. Less open pored than a lot of the mahoganies, walnuts and rosewoods, but they still get used.

Colin[/QUOTE]

What about the splinters... huh, what about that?   

[/QUOTE]

Don't look at it wrong!

Colin

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

hey guys, thank you all for sharing the wealth of info on building with purple heart wood, gives me the encouragements i needed to go for it and try. Especially after seeing those 2 guitars with that link that Bobc provided, they are very beautiful, i was just in awe. I gues i love purple. You can all be sure that i will post apic. as soon as i'm done working on my no.2 guitar!!

Thanks again everyone!

A happy canuck