Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi everyone

I live down the bottom of the earth in New Zealand, We have some stunning native timbers down here, and they look amazing when used in furniture making etc, they are also very treasured.

My question is this, how to know if these timbers are good for guitar making? i have available techincal specs, do these mean anything? Density, Moisure Content, Elasticity, Tensile strength?

Im not sure that id be too happy with a Trial and error scheme, lol

Ancient Kauri comes to mind rather quickly....

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Matt, if you have access to the already cut resource very easily and access to a bandsaw with resaw, bring some samples to thickness and tap tone them, that loud ping should not lie to you, the rest is just a matter of aesthetics.
I know i would want to stay away from oily woods though but even that, some folks around here have their way of working with it!

Hoping this helps

Serge

Matt,

Since you have the tech specs available, I would pay most attention to the wood's expansion characteristics. Some woods move a lot more than others with change in moisture content/relative humidity, so I would suggest as part of your selection process you keep these factors in mind.

Best,

Michael

_________________
Live to Play, Play to Live

oooh that kauri does come up nice.

found this on a new zealand site



wonder what i sounds like

If it sounds half as good as it is pretty....it should sound awesome

Kauri...NZ Zoot. Looks delicious!

_________________
JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

I want to RITZ too, how much for a set of that terrific wood????? $10 000??? $20 000???

Yeah it does look awesome aye. looks like swamp kauri, probably 60000 years old or something, lol

Tis Lovely