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I'm gallavanting round the county later on this week in search for tonewoods. (got a couple of "leads" I need to follow up, it may amount to a hill of beans, though!!!) I'll be inspecting, tapping, and even smelling to see if anything is suitable for tone woods....I'll end up having to order anyway, but no harm in a little hunter-gathering...

It got me thinking again about you lot...with all your guitar build expertise, what was the BEST wood you have worked with, with regards to aesthetics and production, that gave you a real sense of a job well done?Sam Price38986.4931712963

Loaded question

Top 3 Domestic,
Walnut! beautiful tone nice grain variety of figure and color. It bends easy as butter.

Myrtle! for the same reasons.

Mahogany! tone and color, bending is not quite as easy but still no problem.

soon to try Mesquite I have played a OOO spruce and really liked it. Real hard to find in tonewood size.

Top 3 imports
Narra!!! stunning color and figure. Tone much like Koa but brighter treble. bends well and smells nice.

Sapele!! The most awesome quilting available very well rounded tone works well.

Tasmanian Blackwood! nice color Great tone works well

No particular order:

Brazilian Rosewood
Mahogany
Black Acacia aka Tasmanian Blackwood
Koa
Ziricote
Cocobolo (Nicaraguan)
S.E. Asian Rosewood

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"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."

Euro spruce/Cuban mahogany (lutz/Cuban is a very close second)

Western red Cedar/European maple

I also like a lot African Blackwood, Brazilian Rosewood and Indian Rosewood.

Michael - where does Mahogany grow in America (North that is)or are you also including South America as "Domestic"?

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

For top woods, I like lutz spruce, Western redcedar, and redwood (in no particular order -- I like them all).

For back/sides woods, I like best good ol' EIR, pau ferro (aka Bolivian rosewood), cocobolo, and padauk, more or less in that order. I don't care much for mahogany, walnut, or maple for classicals, which is primarily what I build, although these woods do work well for steel strings.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

You'll never believe how much I am googling the exotic woods metioned here.

Actually the mahogany we use is imported I refered to it as native because it is native to Central America as well as South America I guess this is a miss nomer to call it domestic in a US since only.

[QUOTE=Don Williams] No particular order:

Brazilian Rosewood
Mahogany
Black Acacia aka Tasmanian Blackwood
Koa
Ziricote
Cocobolo (Nicaraguan)
S.E. Asian Rosewood
[/QUOTE]

Don has very good taste in tonewood so I'll just use his list but throw in African Blackwood right up near the top instead of Ziricote which I have in my stash but haven't tried yet.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Sam, I just love maple.
I've only built two guitars with it so far, but I do love how it bends, how it looks, and how it sounds. It hasn't disappointed yet.
Also quite fond of Koa. See above comments...they all apply.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Top's
Lutz, Red Spruce, Sitka
Back and sides
Maple, Coccobolo, EI Rosewood

[QUOTE=John How] [QUOTE=Don Williams] No particular order:

Brazilian Rosewood
Mahogany
Black Acacia aka Tasmanian Blackwood
Koa
Ziricote
Cocobolo (Nicaraguan)
S.E. Asian Rosewood
[/QUOTE]

Don has very good taste in tonewood so I'll just use his list but throw in African Blackwood right up near the top instead of Ziricote which I have in my stash but haven't tried yet.[/QUOTE]

I'll add Honduran Rosewood to the above as well as Macassar Ebony

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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

Ya, John and Bob have added others I like as well. African Blackwood is supposed to be fantastic, but I've never used it to say for sure.

I think Honduran Rosewood is the most under-appreciated rosewood there is. It's fantastic, but perhaps the color doesn't appeal to some folks.

_________________
"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."

In my limited experience, I'm partial to walnut.

Loved working with EIR and Lutz on no 2, i love the tap tone on red cedar and redwood tops i recently been given!

Hesh ;that back is beautiful!!
Sure you do not want to trade me for one of mine?

The top is the most important piece of the guitar as far as tone is concerned-then it's thickness and then the braces ability to work well with the string tension on the top!-then body size & depth !
Along with string height off the top and bridge weight.

But I love Maple -Maple is used for violins ;"rosewood is used for paneling"Jimmy D'Aquisto"
Mahogany is great especially the stiff but lite in weight pieces.
Any wood can be used for B & Sides-look at the Cypress
Flamencos they sound great even for most other types of music!
The guitar must be built thinking of the end result!
Not just of that set of expensive wood used for the body!

So go for it!- buy great woods that are not the NORM and use your skills to bring out there best!
Mike Collins
www.collinsguitars.com

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Mike Collins

Dave,
Actually West Indies Mahogany AKA Cuban Mahogany grows in south Florida I have seen some four foot diameter trees in the Florida Keys.

[QUOTE=Michael McBroom] For top woods, I like lutz spruce, Western redcedar, and redwood (in no particular order -- I like them all).

For back/sides woods, I like best good ol' EIR, pau ferro (aka Bolivian rosewood), cocobolo, and padauk, more or less in that order. I don't care much for mahogany, walnut, or maple for classicals, which is primarily what I build, although these woods do work well for steel strings.

Best,

Michael
[/QUOTE]

Michael
Here's something differant for a Classical.

Black limba with a cedar top.
More info here on this guitar:
http://www.rctonewoods.rcefaluguitars.com/blk_limba.htmBobc38987.1006134259

_________________
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=Hesh1956] I didn't see your post Bob - Great addition!! [/QUOTE]

Hesh that's a beautiful HRW example.

_________________
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

I'll add one more to the above list. Another under appreciated Rosewood "like" wood
Osage Orange. Guitar built by Bob Gramann.


More info on this guitar here:
http://www.rctonewoods.rcefaluguitars.com/osage%20orange.htm

_________________
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

Walnut & EIR

Both bend easily, bot SMELL wonderful as you work them,

Being a Girly, you can save the shavings of EIR for a popery












sorry....

Pot Pourri

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My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick

One of life's little disappointments is when I heard my first Brazilian rosewood guitar. I had hoped that BRW wouldn't be worth the huge mark up. But, alas, it was. I'm disappointed that I missed Al's Osage Orange guitar.

[QUOTE=Keith M] Dave,
Actually West Indies Mahogany AKA Cuban Mahogany grows in south Florida I have seen some four foot diameter trees in the Florida Keys.[/QUOTE]

"Cuban Mahogany" is farmed in Palau which may be where much of the stuff on the market today is coming from.Roy O38987.4786689815