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hi all im a newbie, i made my first electric guitar and im delighted with my first attempt.I recieved the wood for the body at a farm as i was on the look out for a nice peice of wood. fortunatley a lady said she had some but was not sure what wood it was and neither did i. i took the wood as it was one piece and had a glorious grain, stunning infact so i took a chance on it regardless of what it would sound like. had nothing to loose except time right?
i have asked around and nobody can give me an answer to what wood it is, they have opinions but most say maple. i dont think its maple as the guitar does not sound bright enough for it to be maple as i have an all maple patrick eggle. the body is heavy also,7lb.the sound is rich and warm. i delighted with my guitar and going to do another.anyway id like to ask you lot because your more than probable to tell me what it is. thanks in advance jason

here is the link for the guitar

http://aimphotos.aol.co.uk/photos/edb42 ... e/16155062

a larger picture would certainly help....but my guess is hickory, though it certainly could be maple...if you can find a view that gives a quartersawn aspect look for little flecks in the grain as that is typical of maple...

pickups and strings greatly determine the overall sound of an electric (though I argue the woods do make a major contribution)

More pics, please!

From here it looks like Poplar.

i can take more pics, how do u want them? i mean what am i looking for in particular? thanks jason

here is the grain that runs on the side of guitar

http://aimphotos.aol.co.uk/photos/edb42 ... e/16157896

I don't know but if you found this washed up on shore perhaps it is Natalie Wood.......

thanks all for having a look, im pretty sure now the wood is as what MIKE P said, after searching further i think 99% it is indeed hickory wood..

Can i ask where you the farm was that you got the wood from as this might help determin the type of wood.

looking at the side of the guitar the pigment figure or black lines do not run with grain.
this is typicle of light spalting or ambrosia figure.
allthough pigment figure of all kinds does not allways run with the grain.

looks like it could be lightly spalted maple to me but its hard to tell after the wood has been finished.

a loction of where the wood came from may help a bit also as some woods dont in certain areas.

Joel.

if it was from the uk i would say olive ash looking further but its really hard with light coulerd woods to tell from a pic,
I dont know if you get olive ash in the states?

Joel.

it was from the uk (wales) came from a farm with nothing but hills for miles lol. the closest sample ive seen to the wood i have is from what mike p said (hickory). i do have off cuts of the wood (unfinished) if you would like me to post them. ill do so in a while....thanks all

It looks like birch or butternut... I don't know if those are common in your environs though.

long

_________________
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” -Heraclitus of Ephesus

here is a sample of the wood unfinished .

http://aimphotos.aol.co.uk/photos/edb42 ... e/16303958

Hickory is not native to the uk so i doubt very much that you would have found a piece on a farm wales unless it had been imported.

I am allmost 100% sure its ash.
our native ash often has streaking like that and its refered to as olive ash allthough this is a mild case if this is the case.
real olive ash can take on a yelowish hue much like its name sake.
i dont think its maple becouse the grain is to wide.
it could be beech with some light spalting or steaking but cant see any ray flecks in pics.

its pretty much 100% one of the native woods and i think ash fits the bill.
are there quite large pores in the wood?
also whats the weight like is it heavy or light.

I mill quite a lot of native wood and it can sometimes be hard to tell the species apart but with a photo this makes life even more dificult.

wood identification involves looking at density of the wood the pore structure (including end grain) and the texture of the wood so we are missing some of the vital ingreadieents to make a 100% posative identification.

If i were you i would try to research what are the most common trees that grow in the area and narrow it down from there.

Good luck

Joel.

I guess if I had been a tad more observant I would have noticed by the url that the site that hosted your pictures is in the U.K....

Joel is correct, hickory/pecan (they are both of the same genus and are often intermixed when sold as hardwood flooring) is not native to your area and I have to agree with him that the odds of that actually being a piece of hickory are slim...

not being from the U.K. I have no idea of what that wood could actually be...I did a little googling and it certainly looks like a piece of olive ash as joel mentions...the images I came across have that same glisten in the grain as your guitar does, though I didn't see any with that cool black line/spalting effect...I don't think its beech as it doesn't have the ray flecks that Joel mentions, and it really doesn't look like any beech I've ever seen....

have you tried taking to a wood supplier and seeing what they say?

http://www.finewoodventech.com/images/oliveAsh.jpg

Looking closely at the last photo posted (raw blank) the surface cell (ray) structure is very compatible with Fagus sylvatica...European Beech. Color is in the ranges depending on how it was processed/stored.

oh looky....its a spammer who wants to get a few more revenue hits offa his embedded links...

Noba welcome to the OLF!

ok guys here is a different spin on things, the wood could not be european at all, i contacted the farm and the wood i was given was from an old solid kitchen farmhouse worktop,the woman cut a few up using them for copping boards etc, the wood is not from there farmland. sorry guys i feel like im giving you the run-a-round.so basically the wood could be from anywhere.

thanks joel for advice, the guitar body is heavy (7lb) and its a small body (musicman style) compared to your normal electric guitars such as gibson/epi etc. yes olive ash looks like it. sorry for my ignorance in wood but im new to this and just having a go and wanting to learn.once i get confident enough i will try an acoustic,seems to be the norm here right?.thanks all.cheers jas