Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey folks. I know that pine and spruce are used occasionally on guitars. But I'm curious... why do i never hear of Fir, Oak and Birch? Birch is quite hard, and Fir is quite similar to pine, is it not? And what about Oak?

Any thoughts? Are there reasons I never hear of these woods being used? Are they silly, superfluous reasons like lots of the ridiculousness you hear come out of people's mouths about wood (Sipo vs Mahogany... wait a sec...)?

Thanks folks

oops... thanks!

Here is an oak Martin, "Arts and Crafts" guitar.

http://www.elderly.com/new_instruments/items/ARTS2.htm

Geez Filippo now I'm hesitant to say "I like it"

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(716) 874-1498

Funny. But I agree that a lot of Martin's offerings, for a while now, have been pretty much stretching it to call them new models. Especially a lot of the "signature" or "artist" series. A lot of them have a lot of "cosmetic touches", but they are by a long shot not anything very different from their standard offerings(with some exceptions, of course).
However, having said that, Martin still is, and will be for the forseeable future, at the top of the massed produced acoustic guitar ladder. It's ingrained in a large majority of players that Martin is the essence of what a good acoustic should be. True or not, fair or not, there's no denying that(unless you live in another reality).

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Although it will be a long time before I can produce a superior guitar with any certainty, it's definitely true that the vast majority of guitar players will probably never venture past companies like Martin, Gibson, or Taylor for their instrument needs. But there are more discerning players, and that's where the independent luthier comes in.
And i think that the numbers of players that are seeking more than what the big name companies like Martin are offering is steadily growing. I'm hoping there'll come a day when the builder can actually make a decent living from that. At least I'm keeping my fingers crossed, lol.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.