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I found this on McPherson Guitars Flamed Black Redwood. Has anyone built with this wood? Can you tell me about the sound? What makes it black?

Thanks!
-Rich

Dye ?

Man, that is kewl! Almost looks like some mutant strain of burl walnut or something.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

hmmmmm.....

I would really be careful of stuff like this. Just cause it is pretty doesn't mean it will sound good, or hold up well.

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

Yeah, I had a guitar made and it was going to have curly redwood on the top, but it had runs and it cracked. I ended up with sinker redwood instead. This is the first time I've seen that stuff and it is beautiful, but you are right, I would want be very careful if building with it.

That top has to have been dyed to that color with a translucent dye. It looks cool but figure in wood is just localized runout so I wouldnt want that top on my guitars.

Just my opinion.

Blake

Could be double topped like thinned right down and laminated onto some other spruce.

Cheers

Kim

It's not going to fail... it is a double top, with a third added for brace
positioning (mostly gets routed away by the CNC).

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

It's not dyed, It's pond cured, that's what happens to redwood that's been in the water too long!
I saw this stuff 3 years ago PNC had it, I passed too much runout! The only redwood tops I had fail came from them. Nice guys , but....
Lance

John, is that double top as in nomex core with a solid core in certain areas (bridge to neck, typically)? Or is it double top as in two-layer laminate? What does the third layer do? When you say it's for brace positioning, I imagine that the third layer is first routed away by the cnc where the braces go, and after the braces get glued with those routed away slots for alignment, the third layer is routed away everywhere else, except a few inside corners that the cnc router can't reach. That right?

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Here is a photo of a REALLY flamed redwood top...not darkened...so you can see just what you might be dealing with if you ever build with this type wood. The owner take meticulous care of the instrument (always cased, humidified and lovingly cared for) and it has held up well. It is NOT a top for road use or playing out at the local bars, etc.
I still have a dozen or so sets of this wood and it would make a really nice top overlay on an electric solid body where none of the runout, etc would be an issue.


ARRGH...forgot the photo posting feature is AWOL!

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Hank Mauel

[QUOTE=Hank Mauel] Here is a photo of a REALLY flamed redwood top...not darkened...so you can see just what you might be dealing with if you ever build with this type wood. The owner take meticulous care of the instrument (always cased, humidified and lovingly cared for) and it has held up well. It is NOT a top for road use or playing out at the local bars, etc.
I still have a dozen or so sets of this wood and it would make a really nice top overlay on an electric solid body where none of the runout, etc would be an issue.



ARRGH...forgot the photo posting feature is AWOL! [/QUOTE]

OK...try this:


http://www.mauelguitars.com/Steves_flamed_redwood.jpg

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Hank Mauel

Whoa...I got the photo to link through from my website.

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Hank Mauel

Wow!!!, not dyed huh? I never would have thought that. I was sure it had some dye job. Really cool piece of wood and I guess since its a double top, the runout wont matter at all. Thanks for the info guys.

Blake

That high figure redwood sound like a great contestant for a double top....

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Holy Moly....what a LOVELY guitar top...stained or not, it is STUNNING!!

Howard. It is a double top in terms that it is a laminate, not Nomex. Let
me explain how they normally do a top as that will be easier than this
redwood (which is just the same but with two pieces laminated to equal
the thickness of the two I'm about to explain)

This is an educated guess as I did not actually see them do it, but I got to
see the finished braced top up close and personal so I'm pretty confident
of this. The take a normal top and then glue a B grade top to the
underside of it. they then put this in a CNC machine and mill away the
brace placement, then they go further and remove a lot of extra leaving
some for design purposes (you can see a pic of it on their website, and
with this horrible description it might make some sense) This way the
braces are assured of a perfect fit. the even recess the bridge plate,
which is pretty nifty...hope this makes some sorta sense. It is much
different than anything I've ever seen and I think it has some potential to
be very good. It's not the tone I shoot for but it is unique...

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com