Official Luthiers Forum!

Does anyone here have experience with pine solid body guitars?

As far as I know, some old Tele's were pine but that's it.

I have some very large 8/4 pine boards that could produce some 1-piece solid bodies.

Just curious about people's opinions regarding pine.

Thanks,
Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

My experience is it gums up your tools pretty fast. With that said I'd definitely try it. I want to make a barn wood tele in the future which would be much less substantial than pine.

I used pine for the body of my last guitar. Worked fine, you just have to be really careful if you're using a router. Does not route very well. I'm pretty sure that's the only reason it's not used more on commercial guitars. My pickup cavities and neck pocket routed just fine, but when I routed the body shape I got some really bad chip out, even going with the grain. I'd consider sanding the shape instead of routing. Also don't use a safety planer to thickness it. You'll see why if you do.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

Pine makes a good tele body. But not all pine is the same. This particular tree was a white pine that I milled and quartered for different uses. It has a resonance that is not as favorable as much of the spruce that I have tested, however the favorable number that I measure is a light and stiff reading and taking into account the speed that sound travels through the wood. Light, stiff and fast is considered idea tonewood. I am not sure that translates into goodness for an electric body. All this is theoretical and I have built an electric guitar with it and found it to be very lively, mid-rangy and good for a tele.

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Ken