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I have observed that some woods are being offered more often non-quartersawn B/S, ie BR rosewood, Madgascar Rosewood, Macassar ebony. What effect on sound. If you like what to look for-flatsawn?

I think the chase for quartersawn is more about stability than sound.

Some woods are flatsawn by nature... Birdseye maple, quilted figure, etc.

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

Thanks Brock,
What would you advise for the woods I posted? Have you used non-quarter?

I wouldn't hesitate in using a commonly flatsawn set such as quilted maple, quilted mahogany, etc. I don't like the sound or the look of birdseye b/s sets, but that is just me.

Regarding Madrose, Macassar, etc. I would look for quarter sawn. It is out there in abundance so there is no need to go to flat sawn unless there is a special reason.

As far as BRW goes, you are very luck to find nice quartersawn sets. That is a tougher call. I have a hard time justifying the price of that wood. I have a few sets, but I am not activly hunting for more.

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

    Non Quarted BRW is not stable enough for luthiery. it will crack eventually. The only woods that are stable enough flatsawn are Maple quilted wood as that is where that grain needs to be cut for the visual effect.
    Flamed , quilted and waterfall grains are so interlocked that the grain will be strong enough. Stability is often as issue with highly figured woods but often that will fail during the drying process. Once the wood is dried it is usually stable and usable for guitars
john hall

Thanks Guys,been hotter than **** here in Denver-now 98

Bob:
I have built 4 guitars out of flatsawn wood (Cherry, Walnut & Quilted Maple) and they all are 12+ years old. No cracks in them but they move around A LOT with RH changes. Action set ups will drive you nuts. Don't have any experience with flatsawn BR.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

[QUOTE=Tim McKnight] Bob:
I have built 4 guitars out of flatsawn wood (Cherry, Walnut & Quilted Maple) and they all are 12+ years old. No cracks in them but they move around A LOT with RH changes. Action set ups will drive you nuts. Don't have any experience with flatsawn BR.[/QUOTE]

The stability of flatsawn wood is really apparent during milling as well. When you saw the boards off of a log they often bow and cup instantly. Stickering and drying them under the weight of thousands of board feet of wood often hides that but it is there.

You can soak a well quartered/no runout piece of maple in a bucket of water, throw it on a table and let it dry and it stays relatively flat.. IF you do it with quilt you end up with a giant potato chip that will have to be re-soaked and dried under a bunch of weight.

If you look around you'll find most manufacturers goto a cheaper species of quartered wood rather than taking unquartered stuff. The only company I know of that really uses a lot of flatsawn stuff is Garrison Guitars and I don't think quarter is very critical after you've cooked your wood and epoxied it into carbon fiber skeleton.

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CVT Inc.
A tour of our shop (Somewhat outdated)
My Personal eBay profile. BCWoodBug

Last I checked, Garrison's guitars ain't nothin' as fancy as Carbon Fibre, but 'merely' fibreglass or similar.

[QUOTE=Brock Poling]
I don't like the sound........ of birdseye b/s sets
[/QUOTE]

Interesting. I've never heard or played a birdseye maple guitar. How would you differenciate it's sound with a flamed maple guitar?

Well... most of the maple I use is big leaf. So that is kind of like comparing apples and crab apples.   

I think birdseye maple is very harsh sounding. I presumed it we because it is coming from harder maples.

I like it for necks on fender type electrics though.   

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

[QUOTE=bob J] I have observed that some woods are being offered more often non-quartersawn B/S, ie BR rosewood, Madgascar Rosewood, Macassar ebony. What effect on sound. If you like what to look for-flatsawn?[/QUOTE]
Bob,
As for Brazilian, the short supply is what has created the compromise, Madagascar Rosewood....not so simple; It comes from a small tree and because of this it is extremely rare to impossible that you will find the backs fully quartered, or in two peice backs (usually four peice but due to the cut it is nearly impossible to tell). As for Macassar Ebony; My experience has been that a change in RH freaks it out when it is Quartered so I would definately advise against building with it flatsawn. Just my 2 cents

Brock, we have a limited amount of guitar stores here with a limited supply of guitars, add that to my limited experience and that leaves me with a lot to learn yet. Thanks for the insight.