Official Luthiers Forum!

I placed 7 Back and side sets, and 14 soundboards(Lutz, Redwood, WRC, Sitka-various grades). I will post up more as soon as I get time. A few others are posting up goodies. Go have a look

Rich

Rich, tell me about the madrone. What is it like to work with? How does it bend?

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Aoibeann

bump

(nice sets, Rich!)

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Madrone. It is not too bad to work with. It reminds me a lot of hard maple in many respects, but is not as dense. It bends pretty well. It is very light colored, and staining precautions are a must when bending. One thing you really want to avoid in Madrone is flat sawn or cuts that are much off quarter. It has a high shrinkage rate on the tangential, radial is pretty mild. It is a very tricky wood to initially dry, but as soon as it is dry it does well when quartered. Hope that helps. The coloration is quite striking, and it has flecking much like you would see in hard maple, coloration is more of a creamy white/ mild hues of pink as opposed to hard maples more tan/white.

Thanks.

I had never heard of madrone until we moved up here. When I asked a couple of the guys I work with about it, I was told that it had to be worked green. It was too hard to work dry. And don't throw a big log into the woodstove.

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Aoibeann

Where abouts are you located? If your close to Portland, and your planning on attending the Handmade Instrument Show at Marylhurst University this year. I would be happy to bring you a set to check out (if you like it, you can consider it a gift).

Rich

Wow Rich. That is very gracious of you. I can't commit to the show just yet, but I have a tentative yes from Sweetie. We're close enough, between Tacoma and Seattle. And we'd really like to sneak away, but Sweetie works Saturdays. I've made my pitch. We'll just have to wait and see.
Even if we don't get down there, thank you for the offer.

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Aoibeann

I forgot to mention this in the auctions, but if you need bracewood with soundboards, I will be happy to through in some split stock in the package(no charge).

If anyone who is just getting ready to start their first or second project, and would like a package put together (maybe a couple soundboards(I will make them sequentially cut so the act in a fairly consistent fashion), bracewood, maybe limba(very good starter wood) back and sides(possibly extra sides if you think that would help), some pre-cut binding(w/ extras in case you want practice bits), a couple EIR bridge blanks, maple or mahogany bridge plate stock, some rosette stock and such. I would be happy to put a VERY reasonable price on a buy it now auction for you. Just let me know. This would be a "beginner" offer, please don't ask if you are just wanting to stock up.

Peace,Rich