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Maybe I'm old fashioned; At almost 66 I wouldn't say that I'm old; but I'd like to actually look through some tone wood sometime. The only place I actually saw tonewod was in Ohio at Keim Lumber. I bought a sitka/mahogany set that I haven't done anything with yet. But they only had a couple tops, and only one back and sides. I've bought stock for instruments from Woodcraft (lucky find) and L.L. Johnson in Charlotte, MI. It's only a 2 hour drive from my house, hop on I69 and you're there. I have a 2 X 6.5 X 43" piece of quartered, uniform red Padauk from them; but it's just sitting on the shelf; I need to have it sawn; unless it could be a 3 piece arch-top somehow. I don't have anything to cut it; I'd waste half of it with my handsaw!

I guess that is another question, who processes wood like that? Violin backs are one thing to find, cutting up wood for guitars is a lot of work. I did it on the Padauk guitar, but it isn't easy with a handsaw.

Are there places around that you can actually walk in and look through tonewood stock?

Anything in or near Michigan?

I just saw that Bruce at Orcas Island retired. Bummer. I hesitated on a small spruce arch-top belly that he had in the specials. But looking on line just isn't the same. I like touching, felling, tapping, comparing. I thought "experiences" was the new thing?

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Why be normal?

StewMac is in Ohio, don't know if they allow any in person browsing.

These guys custom resaw -- http://borsonresaw.com/

I do my own but I bookmarked Borson a few years back in case I had something too valuable or too tight of tolerance for my shop.

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Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

The Padauk was not expensive at all. Maybe $40-50? But if you could get two or three? Violins and Archtops have a lot of waste. It would probably work for an arch-top; it is pretty wide for violins; maybe necks too. Blasphemy! But maybe two 3 piece, or more little guitars. I'd be hesitant to buy an expensive board to slice up, unless that was part of the deal.

Again, seeing in person would be great.

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Why be normal?

I was lucky enough to live near a good hardwood dealer outside of Washington DC. It was only a 15 minute drive for me. They were not a tonewood dealer per se but they did have spruce tops and fretbaord and bridge blanks occasionally. But they had a great selection of Honduran mahogany, sometimes even Brazilian Rosewoood. All the walnut, maple you could ever want and then stuff like Zebra wood, Bubinga, Padauk and so on. I could buy mahogany blanks to make necks for a fraction of what tonewood suppliers sold for.

The shop is still there and I make a point of it to go every time I am in the DC area but I miss having a place like that close by. There's nothing like spending an hour or two flipping through beautiful exotic lumber.

A few thoughts to share:

1. I have not had a lot of luck finding good guitar wood any place other than from a specialty supplier, and none of those are anywhere physically near me. Even great lumber suppliers that stock some tropical hardwoods usually do not stock wood that was cut with musical instruments in mind (i.e., it is not quartersawn, not long or wide enough, etc.). So, I think it is not realistic to expect to find instrument wood at lumber suppliers, even the great ones. There will be exceptions, but in general, I have given up hope of finding appropriate wood any place other than from a luthier supplier.

2. The best in-person browsing I have ever done for guitar wood was at ASIA conventions. Once those get back to happening in person, perhaps you can attend and find some wood. I figure GAL conventions are similar, but those happen out west, and I have not attended any. ASIA conventions in recent years have been held in Pennsylvania, which is a drive, but feasible.

3. The old Martin factory in Nazareth, Pennsylvania (a few miles from the current factory) used to have wood you could browse through, but that is not operating right now.

4. I think there are some places in St. Louis (Hibdon Hardwood, Old Standard, Exotic Wood Zone), Allied Lutherie in Vermont, and LMI in California, all of which might let you browse. I am pretty sure StewMac in Ohio does not. All of these places are a long drive away.

5. Some suppliers (including eBay stores like A.Hix and Exotic Wood Zone) have gotten really good at posting actual photos of the specific pieces of wood they have for sale. I have resigned myself to relying on these photos as the best way to know what I am buying. Imperfect, but what can you do?

6. Brick and mortar stores were already getting hard to justify for specialty items like this before the pandemic. They border on insanity now. Who in their right mind would try to sell esoteric things like expensive pieces of wood for guitar making from a physical retail location? Your customers are strewn all over the world. The only good way to connect with them is via the internet. My point is that, for specialty items like this, we are only going to be moving in one direction as time goes by: More online, less in person. I bought shoes online today. SHOES!!! Why? Because I'm picky, and nobody local sells what I want to buy. Guitar wood is that situation, times 1,000.

Lots of weed at the Bearsville NY show, just outside of Woodstock. Hearn Hardwood between Philly and Baltimore has a very nice selection - they cut for the big boys. They have some pretty great Koa

Ed M

Weed at Woodstock? Well, I guess that does make sense......

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jw ( o)===:::

Back in the 70's, I could frequent my local Star Lumber (now a big box chain) here in Wichita to peruse large pieces of walnut, mahogany, maple, etc. No spruce. Not talking about 3/4" lumber - I mean 2" thick, perfect for solid body guitars. I made my first solid body in 1983 from part of that 6 foot long walnut board. I think I still have some of that walnut. Nowadays - they carry plywood or thin alder, basswood, and pecan for crafters and modelers.

The best lumber store in town only existed about 12 years - Brush and Board. I could roam the warehouse picking out exotics and domestic woods - ebony, purpleheart, paduak, wenge - the works. They also had tools and supplies galore. And then one day it was gone... What a loss.

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

I think when you buy at Johnsons Workbench you should consider having them saw the wood for you. They have a fee, but it is probably less than the cost of blades when sawing tropical woods yourself. They can also thickness sand it close to what you need before gluing up.

I've not had luck buying guitar wood in person. The only time I ever did that was visiting this guitar wood processing facility somewhere in South Taiwan, and they had pallets of coffee estate indian rosewood.

As for lumber yard, be prepared to make compromises, as in use riftsawn wood for musical instrument, which for back and side, if it is cosmetically good looking, is not that bad.

I do not know anyone in Taiwan I can outsource resawing to...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I hadn't thought about that. There is another store I've gone to in Highland, less than an hour away, but I don't go that way often. They have a barn full of hardwoods. It can be quite a deal to pull the wood, and climb ladders and things. The barn is only open on Saturday mornings.

They are Armstrong Millworks.Millworks? DAH! I thought they just did moldings! I just checked and they do EVERYTHING. They could crosscut the 8, 10, 12 footers. Their resew is 34" X 12.5" $18 minimum, and $90/hr. 24" planing and joining at a $10 minimum. I have no idea about their prices, but I'm sure that I saw people lined up on time that I went there.

I guess I solved that problem.

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Why be normal?

Ken

Have you checked these guys out? Lower MI, they do custom resawing. Have what looks like a decent collection of domestics and exotics. (Internet search)

https://www.armstrongmillworks.com/woodtypes.aspx

Bell Forest Products is w/in 100 miles of me and I stop there regularly. I rarely buy wood elsewhere unless it's top woods. But it always includes a bit of luck. Sometimes they have a plank that's perfect for backs and sides. Sometimes you find a billet for backs and a year later you find one for sides that is a match.

I do all my own resawing and I think the bandsaw has paid for itself faster than any other machine in the shop.

But I agree, there is nothing better than shopping for wood in person. I've been disappointed a number of times buying billets on line and finding flaws or problems that didn't show in pictures.

Good wood is a pretty good investment, at least that's what I justify my buying with.

Just think if you bought a lumber yard bundle of 2x4's a year ago! You could have doubled or tripled your investment.

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Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

By the way one thing I find buying any kiln dried wood in Taiwan is that they are almost, always case hardened. I read it's because kiln operators in Taiwan have no skill and so they dry them too fast. But in any case everything I buy in Taiwan the show face is always warped and cupped beyond recovery.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Your welcome to visit Alaska Specialty Woods Inc. We have had numerous customers from all over the world come and select tops from our "Costco for Guitar tops" warehouse. maybe a few members in this forum can chime in and tell of their experiences here. Folks from Spain, Italy, Netherlands, UK, Australia, South Korea, China, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Montana, Tenn. Colorado, probably others too that I'm not remembering right now.

I am lucky enough to live 30 minutes from an amazing lumber yard -M.L. Condon Boat Lumber in White Plains NY.
They have been in the same location for 104 years
I have been going there for 47 years.
They have ample stocks of Honduran mahogany, maple,walnut cocobolo,padouk,bubinga,spanish cedar,ebony etc.etc
They let you pick through the wood-an amazing place.

I live near RC Tonewoods in Buffalo and can walk in and browse there

Shopping in stores other than tone wood stores, you have to know what you're getting. A guitar set, is a guitar set. A 2X4? A long enough 1 or 1 1/2 X 8 COULD be an arch top back, and you could cut side out; but stacked of arch top sets would be easier!

I took a trip to Woodcraft yesterday to get some finish; I'm going to try that Osmo stuff. Taking the obligatory check in the wood room, I saw a very dark, Wenge 2 X 4 X 36" perfectly quartered. Hum. Calculate the price, (already done at the tone wood store) to about $70, and try to figure out if it really would make at least two, 3 piece backs and sides for the little Stauffer guitar, or some little baroque things, or a use or something with the leftovers.

Then you have to try to figure out the cost to cut it up. If I had someone cut it into 10 pieces, how much would it be? $30? $50? Are two Wenge backs and sides worth $120? I don't know.
You have to be more creative buying stock like that.

Should I have popped on it?

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Why be normal?

I think if you are going to buy lumber then probably best if you can get entire logs. Then at least you could quartersaw them yourself.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

If you get a chance to visit Alaska Specialty Woods, do so. Not only is it amazing to browse among the thousands of guitar tops, but the remote Alaskan experience is amazing as well

Can't wait to go back!

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John Ressler

Good wood is where you find it, and you have to know how to 'read' it. And even then... I have seen some very nice curly maple at Home Despot, but infrequently. Again, knowing what you're looking at is vital. One student was convinced they'd gotten a super piece, but was fooled by the marks of the joiner knives on plain straight grained wood. ;(

I've gotten some really nice stock at larger hardwood places, but it takes time and energy to thumb through a lumber yard. Time your trips carefully: I end up too often going out of necessity when it's either 99 degrees in the metal shed, or -2 and windy, which puts a damper on the search. One of the 'local' places (about 2 hours away) will cut off the end of a board for you (within reason), so if you find a long one that's great on one end and not so much on the other you can get the good part. They also have a discounted 'shorts' bin, and often cut stuff that's been around for a long time and put it there to move it faster. It's the first place I go when I'm there. It really helps to be 'up' on the etiquette of these places: re-stack everything neatly after you've dug out that 'perfect' piece from the bottom, for example. Selling onesies to guys like us is a favor, and we don't want to abuse it. Most such places see a pretty steady turnover, so it's really helpful to make fairly regular trips to catch the good stuff.

In some places there are specialty sawyers that can be worthwhile. Goose Bay Lumber here in New Hampshire specializes in re-sawing figured maple, and gets some spectacular logs in sometimes. They cater to the local furniture makers, particularly those working in the 'Shaker' style, and a really good curly maple log can evaporate in a week or so, so, again, frequent trips can help.

I've processed out enough logs to know that it's a lot more work, and risk, than it seems. When it pays off it's great. These days I'm happy to farm that out to the pros for the most part: as expensive as tone wood is, those guys are not making easy fortunes. OTOH, if a really nice log of curly maple or a big spruce or pine tree happens to show up, or something oddball like hornbeam, willow, or a really big oak log that is easy to split into wedges, I'll give it a shot.

I order from Alaska Specialty Wood before, they have very nice wood at a decent price. Unfortunately this last time I had to end up getting wood from Stewmac because I needed things from Stewmac that ASW does not sell, and I don't like paying 90 dollars for shipping twice.

Is there any way to ship heavier things internationally that isn't over 20 dollars per pound that UPS often charges?

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com