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Anyone out there ever use Black Locust as a tone wood? Someone offered me a large tree that is being cut down.


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I have handled the wood and can report it is very resonant. I'm sure it would make a fine guitar.
If you are thinking about selling locust guitars I believe you are in for some tough sledding. The wood is very plain looking. Kind of a grayish tan with no figure to speak of. If you can get past this and you have access to good sawmilling facilities it might be worth it.

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Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

I have several large QS black locust boards/slabs that have been air drying for a couple of years. They are next up on my resawing list.
They will be my first guitars from BL. The reputation as a tone wood is what caused me to seek it out.
And I build for myself, no worries about marketing.

I’ve made a 000 size guitar with Black Locust and several travel size guitars. It makes a fine sounding guitar, but as said above, it’s distinctive in looks only because it is different. I also like it for wooden tone rings on banjos. It’s hard for me to find a piece large enough for a two piece back. I wish I had more of it.

I have noticed that flat sawn and thin, it can be cracky. When I’ve made guitars with it, I find the right back thickness seems to end up pretty thin. Even when quartersawn, the grain toward the outside edges can tend toward flat because the tree is small. Be careful handling those edges.

I was planing up some black locust today for the guitar I am currently working on. I’m going to be using it for the headstock veneer and the fretboard. I wanted to make a guitar entirely of local woods. Top, back and sides are catalpa and quartered black locust for the rest. The problem in using it for a fretboard though, is the open pores. I’m planning on using epoxy dyed black to fill the pores then using vinegar and steel wool to blacken the rest of it. I’ll do a test and see how it works out.

I have not used any, but there are some who say 'it's a drop-in replacement'. for Brazilian Rosewood. I've heard some very good sounding guitars made from it. BRZ RW could also be on the cracky side. There's a place up in British Columbia that sells it from time to time. Bow River Woods I think. Considering the $ exchange rate, the price should be pretty good.

Brent

Not to steal the thread but the successor to the guitar side of Old World Tonewood, namely American Tonewoods has some very nice black locust sets.

_________________
Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

It's not as dense as BRW. The stuff I've tested has had lower damping than Indian, but not quite as low as Brazilian, so it's more like an 'improved' IRW. I've made one guitar from it so far. The stuff I had looked a lot like cypress, so it was sort of a 'Classica Blanca' since it looked like a Flamenco but sounded like a classical.

After making that one I found that locust darkens a lot if you fume it with ammonia. It gets about as dark as mahogany, or a bit darker, but not the same color; less red. You take the instrument up through the fill stage, just before putting on the finish, and put it into a plastic bag or large trash can with an open container of plain ammonia. Seal it up for a day or even two. I'm told that if you leave it too long it could turn greenish. You wipe down fumed oak with vinegar to prevent that, but I have not tried it on locust. As with any finishing/staining stuff try it out first on scrap.

@ Allen. I was thinking about trying ebonizing it with vinegar and steel wool to darken it up. I’ll try both methods. Thanks for the ammonia process...didn’t know that one


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Good for bridge plates, too.

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.

Yepp, works quite well in our fuming process....

https://www.mehling-wiesmann.de/produkte/akazie/

I was under the impression that ammonia is not something you'd want to work with as an amateur. Mr Dalbergia's firm is no doubt using it in a controlled, industrial environment. And in Germany, no less, where industrial processes are tightly regulated. The "Smoked Acacia" is quite attractive, however.

_________________
Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

I soak tuners in household grade ammonia to clean the brass plates. It works quite well for that. It's not something you want to put your nose in, but working with it in a well ventilated area is not deadly.

I French polish to avoid chemical fumes as I have asthma. So might skip the ammonia method.


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I tried to get some 'blue printer's ammonia', but the chemical supply place would not sell in to me. They 'determined from my address that it was residential, and I would not have the necessary facilities". They were right, of course, but how they knew that from a Google search is beyond me.

A neighbor of mine when I was in high school almost died when she dropped a glass gallon jug of blue printer's ammonia she was getting from the store room at work. The door had an automatic closer on it, and she nearly passed out before she could get it open. Nasty stuff.

I used regular non-detergent household cleaning ammonia. I was concerned that the water would make the humidity too high, but a hygrometer in with the guitar registered only about 60% R.H, iirc.; higher then you'd like, but not too bad. I'm told you can get 'janitorial strength' ammonia at some office supply stores, but I have not looked.

I have built two black locust guitars, and IMHO the sound is as good as any I have made. I stained the locust with walnut aniline dye, water soluble.
I have also used locust for bracing, bridgeplates and neck reinforcement. In stiffness/density ratio, it outperforms most every domestic wood. Osage orange is comparable, but denser.

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John