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Anyone have experience using thuya burl for an acoustic bridge or fretboard? I’ve got a couple of really nice, appropriately sized chunks that I’m contemplating combining with quilted mahogany and engelmann spruce. I think it’d look fab!

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Andy
www.bounsallguitarworks.com

I've never even heard of it, but it sure looks nice.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Must admit I'd be cautious about using any burl for a bridge. Grain all over the place/voids and quite highly stressed.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I agree with Colin, I would hesitate to use burl for a bridge- much of the gluing surface would be end grain and the wood itself doesn't hold together that well in many cases.
For a fretboard it might work O.K., but you may have to glue in the frets and you may get uneven wear on the playing surface. I have never used it for these applications, so it is only speculation on my part.

I bought some out of curiosity to use as tool handles/knife scales/grips, etc. After working some, it just didn't seem to have the integrity and toughness I was looking for. I think it is beautiful wood, smells great and would be good for ornamental purposes but I'd be hesitant to use it where strength and durability is important.

Brian

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Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

Colin, Clay, Brian...Thanks for your feedback. All these are the kinds of things that I was thinking about as well. It’s such a pretty wood. Guess I was hoping people would respond, “Oh yeah, I use it for that all the time with no issues at all”. Alas, that’s not happening. I’ll look for opportunities to use it in a decorative manner. Inlays, fretboard binding, rosette, etc.

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Andy
www.bounsallguitarworks.com

You could try hardening the surface with CA. That might make it work for a fingerboard

I presume you mean burl-figured wood from “Thuja”, either western redcedar or eastern white cedar. Pretty low density and will probably move like crazy. I’d happily stabilize with CA and use for decorative purposes, e.g., rosettes, tie blocks, head plates, but I wouldn’t dream of using it for fingerboard or bridges.


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Don't think so -

https://www.wood-database.com/thuya/

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Yes Colin. That’s it.

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Andy
www.bounsallguitarworks.com

Yep, I had both feet “in the potato” on the species, but I still wouldn’t use Thuya, or any other burl, for bridges or fingerboards, where dimensional stability is important.


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