Official Luthiers Forum!

So I'm wondering if highly figured woods dampen tone resonance as compared to a clear piece of wood? It would seem to me that the variance of density in a figured piece would change the way a resonance wave rolls through the wood, partially damping the wave in the softer sections. A clear piece would let a sound wave roll through it unimpeded. Of course the figured wood is prettier, but does a clear hard wood make a better sounding guitar?

I'm gonna say that is splitting hairs pretty fine.... how many folks could tell the diff?

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Are you assuming the clear wood has no softer sections?

Some types of figuring ENHANCE hardness and density.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Nope, I'm not assuming anything. Each piece of wood has a different resonance for sure, even from the same board. I'm just asking what your take is on this. I don't claim to know anything, I'm still building my first guitar......

People do acoustic guitar with bearclaw spruce, curly redwood and more, and they don't seem to worry about it.
So, for an electric, I wouldn't worry at all. People even use spalted wood, that have practically no structure in it.

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

The way questions are phrased can often reveal the underlying assumptions being made by the questioner, even if the questioner is not consciously aware of those assumptions. The reference to variance of density changing the way the resonance wave rolls through the wood damping the wave in softer sections, followed by the statement that a clear piece would let it roll through unimpeded reveals the underlying assumption that clear pieces have little to no damping properties as compared to figured wood, which is what I believe the real question is.

Do figured woods have higher damping properties than non-figured woods?

I think it depends on the individual wood piece regardless of figure, although some generalities can me made.

That's why some luthiers test their woods in various ways to determine specific properties of individual pieces of wood, regardless of figure, before working.

There's no doubt in my mind that clear straight grain is easier to work, and on average more predictable to cut and shape than figured woods.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

"So I'm wondering if...... ?" is really what I meant. I'm a metal guy that is learning about the tonality part of wood as I go. I do realize that wood has properties that I'm not used to dealing with so forgive me if I ask questions that may be obvious to people that have more experience then I.

This question came to my mind when dealing with a piece of thin flamed maple and watching how it took stain much deeper in the softer part then the hard. I actually took a chisel and poked it for a couple of inches in the dark, then light, then dark etc. to see if the hardness was different. Yes there is definitely a difference in hardness between the 2. What stains darker is quite a bit softer. I sort of applied it as if you made a bell out of solid brass as compared to layering it with brass, rubber, brass, rubber etc..

Another reason this comes to mind is that I have played several of an exactly-the-same model of guitar (done this many times), brand new side by side off the rack, and they all have differences. Sometime it's very little, sometimes it's dramatic. The same shape, size, string, type of wood, hardware etc.. Take 3 identical Strats off of the wall at a music store, set each one wide open on the controls, plug them into the same amp without changing the settings; they will all sound a bit different from each other. Here I am assuming the difference is in the wood? (there is a question mark there). So I guess I'm trying to figure out before I build a guitar weather it might be a "good one" or just OK, or at least get closer to that.....