Official Luthiers Forum!

I just remembered today that my brother had a cherry(Prunus avium) tree that we cut down a year ago, at that time i had planned on using to build some sort furniture, so we sealed the ends and forgot about until today...

I hurried down to my brother's to cut it into suitable pieces ,he was about to cut it into firewood . Well now i have split the logs into quarters and left them to dry. I did take one of the billets and hewed out a rough shape with my carving axe.
i was now wondering would this be a suitable wood for guitarnecks, or have i just ruined a nice cherry tree?even if it useless as guitarnecks, would you mind looking at how i hewed out the shape,is this the correct orientation of the growth rings?

_________________
Frank

Ideally you would have quartered it the other way, with the heel pointing towards the center of the tree...cherry is pretty stable wood though...probably OK>

_________________
http://www.PeakeGuitars.com

prunus cerasus would be the correct term

In my simple mind with the rings perpendicular to the fretboard would be the strongest way to, is this not so?

_________________
Frank

that's more typical...but it seemed like since this piece is from so close to the center it might be otherwise?

_________________
http://www.PeakeGuitars.com

Cherry is good stuff.

No, Prunus avium, is correct, this is the European 'Bird Cherry' and is native to northern Europe. Prunus cerasus is the North American relative.

Cherry is my favourite neck wood for steel string guitars, I also use it fro lute necks. I prefer to use a stacked heel and scarf head, but see no reason not to make a one piece if you can find some suitable wood. I also use it for the neck block when used as a neck. The wood can display some interesting pink and green figure.

Here's a P. avium neck.



Colin

_________________
I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Frank,
I feel you have the grain the correct way, i would expect
your blank to twist as it dries. It looks like it came from a small
diameter tree. It may work but I would let it get good and dry
before you try and true it up.

_________________
http://www.moriciguitar.com

It does appear to be a very small diameter tree and there is a good deal of juvenile wood included in that rought neck blank. Juvenile wood is unstable and should always be discarded.

European cherry is Prunus avium, BUT it is also Cerasus avium a name assigned by Moench.

American cherry is Prunus serotina according to "World Woods in Color".

probably splitting hairs, but we have both the sweet and sour type of cherry here, and this is indeed the sour kind, and from what i can tell, googling this, it is prunus cerasus, with the sweet kind being prunus avium(i might well have been fooled by the internet though).
i had not inteneded this blank for any use, i've got a big pile stacked up for drying, just thought i'd rough something out to se if i had it right.

_________________
Frank

well okay maybe not the biggest pile, but a pile nonetheless.
There were two trunks growing up from the root, the smallest being 10" diameter, the biggest 15-16" in diameter.

_________________
Frank