Official Luthiers Forum!

I received this from someone a while back and not sure what the heck it is but it looks awesome and had a nice ring to it when dropped on a marble slab. It was pretty easy to sand and shape so not rock hard - sanded like bone. It almost looks lik petrified wood or bone. Is a nice light brown with streaks of other colors and polished up really nice.

Any idea what this material might be??





A shot of the peg head and body to this point





BTW - the bridge is not glued up yet, just laid it on the body to take a pic in case it doesnt look like it is positioned correctly.

Oh yes, one problem. when I started sanding the neck I discovered to my surprise that the neck had a crack, probably happened when gluing up the fretboard or the truss rod. Made me sick to my stomach.

I sanded it and the Mahogany dust filled the slight crack at which point I wicked some ca into the crack. Now I have a line showing the repair. Not sure what to do to hide this. Thinking of a burst on the neck or simply using a stain to match the body - or perhaps an inlay of some spalted maple to match the head plate and rosette. Any ideas would be appreciated.

What if I dug out the CA and mixed up some white glue with Mahogany dust??

rich altieri38875.320474537

could be fossilized Mamoth bone or possibly fossilized Walrus ivory the picture is a bit reddish so hard to tell. but what you described in sanding and texture that would be my guess

I don't know what the material is.

As for the crack, I had one like that and I never could fix it. In my case, the back of the neck was too close to the truss rod. Every time I tried to adjust the rod, the crack would widen. I ended up building a new neck.

Guitar looks beautiful! The nut/saddle looks like it might be African Watussi Cattle bone. Comes in Dark, Medium, and Light. The medium looks very similar to yours. Other than that... who knows?
As far as "hidding the crack"...
Either stain the whole neck dark and see if that hides it sufficiently, or get a graining pen and make the whole neck look like it's all that way...????

_________________
Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

[QUOTE=Hesh1956] Rich the guy you got that material from did not live near a cemetary did they.............. [/QUOTE]


Geez - never crossed my mind!!!!   

I like the idea of making it look like grain by extending with a graining pen. Dont like the idea that it might crack again when adjusting the truss rod. Thinks I will put it to the test by adding some tork to the rod prior to gluing it up to the body.   Thanks all for your advise

stain or actually color the neck.
Tony did this for me and it looked great.

_________________
Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Looks Like revers burst time

[QUOTE=Dave-SKG] Guitar looks beautiful! The nut/saddle looks like it might be African Watussi Cattle bone. Comes in Dark, Medium, and Light. The medium looks very similar to yours. [/QUOTE]

Dave, where do you get something like African Watussi nut and saddle material? That's some nice looking stuff and I wouldn't mind trying some out.

_________________
Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Rich,

I'd be a little worried about what the crack in the neck will do under string tension and truss rod adjustment and over time. If the guitar isn't finished yet, if it were my guitar, I'd be sorely tempted to do a new neck -salvaging the fingerboard and headstock veneers etc.

Others more experienced here will probably have a better idea whether the crack is just cosmetic or a structural problem.

_________________
Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Off the top of my head, to hide the crack - coat the rest of the neck with CA so the colors all blend in. Have no idea if that would actually work; I'd test it on scrap first.

[QUOTE]Rich the guy you got that material from did not live near a cemetary did they.............. [/QUOTE]

Oh Man! That's creepy! At least its given me a great place to find tonewood!

_________________
Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

   Hi Rich
looks great. You came a long way. I think I would opt to make a new neck. The truss rod will stress that and though you may have it sealed with the ca there must be stress area.
    Call me sometime
570-682-8046

[QUOTE=Dave Rector] [QUOTE=Dave-SKG] Guitar looks beautiful! The nut/saddle looks like it might be African Watussi Cattle bone. Comes in Dark, Medium, and Light. The medium looks very similar to yours. [/QUOTE]

Dave, where do you get something like African Watussi nut and saddle material? That's some nice looking stuff and I wouldn't mind trying some out.[/QUOTE]

Dave,
First you book a flight...hotel...guide...no just kidding...the hard part is getting the Wattusi to cut enough bone off one of his cattle...but after...no just kidding. Actually it is for sale from Dick musical supply. www.music.dick.biz They are a German company. So everything is in Euro dollars. Order their catalogue. The Watussi bone nut is on page 76, part #831036 $8.5 euro. little expensive but very nice. They also have genuine lsinglass glue. toughest glue out there. good company.

_________________
Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

Rich, this will probably be controversial, but I'd say just leave it.
I'm speaking of the appearance. If it's structurally sound, I wouldn't worry too much about that line. I've got some mahog that looks like that naturally.
(Well, unless someone dumped a lot of cracked/glued mahog on the market.) But from East Texas, that neck looks fine. It has interest. Character. A story to tell.
If it still bothers you, I bet that some staining of the neck would minimize the look.

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com