Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi.
has anyone had experience of using purple heart for
back/sides?
How did the guitar turn out and what about it's "Tone
Signature" ??

Raj, Purpleheart is... well purple, as you know. It makes a great accent as in neck lams or binding / purfling schemes. It's not a really exciting wood otherwise, kind of bland other than the color. I'm not sure you'll find many bodies made of the stuff, there may be a few.

I put it in some bass necks a guy ordered but it's special order. I will use it again, just because I have it and it fits that purpose well.

From my wood booklet: Principal uses have been inlay and cabinet work, park benches and butts of pool cues.

Another thing it says in the short article is that the purple heart wood of this tree can eventually turn brown. My guess is oxidation and UV reaction, because I've heard others say it's staying purple under finish. A sealed wood kept out of direct sunlight would impede that color change most likely.

Hopefully someone who's tried it as back and side wood will share their experience. Purple is such a noble color.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Apparently purpleheart tends to be a lot "dryer" and prone to cracking than other tonewoods.. S'ok, I did loads of research on it, for I was seriously thinking of using it myself. Not fun to carve with either; I have a chunk of the stuff at home.

Raj (and Bruce too) I've seen, and I have some here at my shop, some really exciting Purpleheart. It has a broad rolling curl running at a 45 deg angle to the grain. Sort of a bees wing appearance, but more regular.
Those boards are available, but may be like 1 in 20 or so.
At a GAL convention a while back, a student from Red Wing (I think) brought his first guitar which he had made of Purpleheart. It was stunning. It had the same figure I described above, and lacked nothing in the "zoot" category. Sounded just great, too.
Of course, all this hinges on the color. Some like it, others don't. I appreciate your comment, Bruce, that it is "noble". One could also say "regal". I'll use that terminology from now on!

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Today I am cutting some purpleheart for fretboard, bridge and bindings and noticed it is brown where sanded. There was an intense purple where the tablesaw had left some burn marks.

Intrigued, I flamed a piece with the propane torch and got the same result although with several scorch marks.

I then baked a bridge for a while. There was no color change until the temp was up to 350. The smell of scorched wood made me remove it from the oven. The thin ends are a really dark purple and the center a bit lighter. It buffed up nicely with an oven mitt.

Will the sanded areas change color with time? I'm imagining torching the bindings after they're installed and burning down the house!

Kurt
San Anselmo, CA

Kurt, That was quite humorous, you get the "I'll try anything award."

Oh, post pics, we want to see your Regal Purple Bridge.

If this works, everyone will be flaming their bindings purple from now on.....

Steve, I've looked at purpleheart on numerous occasions and it usually is just fairly boring plank, except for the color of course, you can't miss it. I'd like to see some of this PurtyPurple stuff you have. Whenever you get around to playing with it, of course.

_________________
http://www.dickeyguitars.com

I have built just one guitar with Purpleheart, a parlor guitar for someone in love with the color purple.

It is a heavy wood but very stable. While it can look very purple, as it ages and oxides over time, it will turn more brownish but with a undersheen that is still purple, just more subtle.

Even plain figured it still loks great when new so it is a real eyecatcher for someone that likes color.

Speaking of the use for park benches, at one point over 25 years ago I had a business importing exotic hardwoods and bid and won a contract for New York City for wood to be used for park benches. The order was over 750,000 board feet of 8/4 of which I supplied 400,000 purpleheart and over 350,000 of greenheart.

The wood needed to be weather resistant and as impervious to carved graffiti and other abuse that would degrade the park benches. Because Greenheart and Purpleheart are very dense, highly resinous and tough, it was the perfect choice.

The wood was all painted so the species wasnt the issue it was the able to take abuse as up till then the pressure treated wood they had been using had a average lifespan of less than 4 years. At one time the wood for the benches had been heart pine but it had become much more costly and harder to supply.

By the way, the wood was stabilized before painting by dipping it in vats of Nelsonite.

Bruce, I know what you mean. It was always that outrageous color that grabbed my eye, not the grain or figure...until I saw some with a "BobC" sort of look to it. It's all the more eye-catching when you can find that interesting zoot to go along with the color.

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Shawn, that's a lot of wood! Any left-overs?
(At least that aren't painted or graffiti-ed?)

SK

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Bruce and Steve
Here's one for you that one of my customers built.

_________________
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

Nice figure to the wood. I have a purple heart fretboard and bridge I'm planning to use on an EIR Dread or OM. I'm liking the color you got.

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Greg
http://garibaldiinstruments.com/

Shawn..
what did your purple parlour guitar sound like?

Bob and Steve,
Yeah, heck yeah, I'd go for some like this. Beautiful wood and guitar. That would even be pretty if it did eventually turn brown. Bob, you got any more like that? This appears to be "The Tree". Wow.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purpleheart

Nice article.

_________________
http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Bob--ZootMan--that's a really pretty set.
I like everything about that.

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com