Official Luthiers Forum!

I purchased an Alder Black from a guy on eBay about 6 months ago and when I received it I realized it had not been dried. I need to dry it and don't know where to start. I was told that air drying would take 2 years! Any suggestions? I'm in Houston, but I'm willing to send it elsewhere if I have to. I'd really like to start carving it into something usefull so any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

That's a tough one.  You really need it completely dry.  Why put a bunch of work into something that's going to crack.  My guess is this is a solid body electric?  About the only thing that would speed up the process is kiln drying.  There are ways to do it yourself and you can find that on the internet under kiln drying wood.

Why not put it away, forget you have it for a couple of years, and get some kiln dried wood.  Then, you can start tomorrow on the guitar you want to build.

Two years from now, you can build or sell that blank you now have.

Good luck, BD

I hate it when people use that logical stuff on me. You're probably right... that would be the easiest thing to do. Thanks for the input.

Here is one that Larry Davis is offering for $55 on his site.  Alder too.

Logic, yeah, I learned that in sales training, when folks object on emotional grounds, use logic.  When they object on logical grounds, use emotion..... 

You can solar KD that wood yourself very easily using a black garbage
bag.

Put the wood inside of the bag and stick it in the sun.
Important! Seal the bag, and make sure the ends of the wood are sealed...

Let it sit for a few hours, then turn it inside out to evacuate the moisture
that will collect.

The small volume of the bag will insure that the wood will not dry too
quickly and crack, or case harden...

Keep doing this until no more moisture appears in the bag....

Luck!

You probably should seal the ends of it with something to prevent it from cracking in the meantime. I use old latex paint I have laying around or you can buy wax specially made for this.

I also saw plans for a solar wood dryer in one of my woodworking magazines (I think American Woodworker). It's probably bigger than you want, but you could scale it down easily enough.

I can get you more info on it if you want, just pm me.

Kirt

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Horton, MI

By the way the black bag trick sounds like a good idea. I haven't heard of that. Like Spruce said, you don't want to forget and leave it in there because it will probably mold.

_________________
Horton, MI

I'll try that as soon as I see the sun again. It seems like it's been raining down here for about a month.

The ends are already sealed with wax; it came like that when I bought it.

I'll let you all know how it goes.

Thanks for the advice!