Official Luthiers Forum!

Wandoo as a tonewood!

Well i just spent ten minutes typing up an introduction for Wandoo and then forgot to post it.

Wandoo is a credible tonewood alternative, particuarly when you can find a piece with good figure. Tonally it has very good sound reflective qualities making for a loud guitar when coupled with the right top.
It will bend well but has a high tanin content so overheating the material during the bending process needs to be done cautiously so that you don't cause any staining deeper than the surface. Being a fine grained wood it should be a joy to finish but I would use a non-yellowing finish to counter any oxidation that might occur over time (darkening of the surface).

Density 70lbs per cubic foot/ 1100kg per cubic metre
Hardness 15 compared with EIRosewood @ 12 and Walnut @ 6

Defects to be noted: Small gum pockets and borer holes. Sometimes the grain will present with some separation which might cause a side set to fracture. Mind you if you were using a fox type bender then that would not be a problem.

I will be processing some Wandoo in the next month. So I will let you all know when some high quality sets are available.

regards

Tim





Australian Tonewoods

Interesting Tim.

Tell us more.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Tim,

I have built just one guitar with Wandoo but it is a very nice Eucalyptus species. I have a friend who is with a multinational company who was working near Perth that brought me a timber which I resawed.

The things you noted all true but I think that it has alot of potential as a tonewood. I had some of the gum pockets but they were contained to the back so I was able to fill them.

There are so many great Aussie woods that can be as nice as Australian Blackwood and almost as flashy. As prices and scarcity of blackwood gets higher, some of these other eucalyptus and acacia species are great alternatives. Silver Wattle (acacia) is another that I have used that is also nice.

Scott Wise a local West Aussie builder has used Wandoo on a number of builds, he states that it makes a very loud guitar. I like the density of that stuff, it is very glassy and as Tim suggest would be a dream to finish.

Cheers

Kim

THIS link will take you direct to one of Scott's Wandoo creations which is the first one in the fingernail from the link above. Scott calls this his Blackwood Vintage OO but the name "Blackwood" in this instance is in reference to the Blackwood River which runs through Bridgetown the home of one WA's best blues festivals.

Cheers

Kim