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Has anyone here ever built a guitar with a douglas fir back and sides? One of the wood advertisers on this site at one time had a back and side set for sale. I can't recall what one. The Pic wasn't that clear for me to really see what it looked like. I would like to see a guitar built with this to see what it looks like. Growing up the only fir I seen was the type used in studs and home building. I remember it having a large standout grain with a very rustic look. Does anyone have any pics or a websit they can point me to of someone who has built with this. I have checked the archive but only found mentioned in passing....Thanks

The All Spruce guitar which is the only one that I can recall that used what typically is a soft wood or top wood all over is on display I believe on BobC RC Tonewoods site, and I believe he purchased this from the builder

Hope this helps

Mike
White Oak, Texas

I recentlty talked to a retired guy Klaas, who is dabbling in tonewood sales - he has sourced some nice spruce and maple, and yellow cedar, etc, and is auctioning on ebay.
He contacted me because we live close together - after a talk on the phone - he told me that he had put up some douglas fir on the auction block as a potential top wood??!! He asked me whether I knew of anyone that used it or had tried it, I said heck no.
Well someone bought it alright, I wonder how it will come out?
Anyhow at the end of our conversation he told me that he would send me a bearclaw sitka spruce top for free to evaluate, if I sent him the postage for it!!
Thanks Klaas!
What a nice fellow. I told him about the OLF - so mabye we will see him here someday.
Cheers
Charliewood

Michael,
I wish I could comment further on Dug Fir, but I am in the process of building my first from it, and only as a top wood. I can say that it is very stiff along the grain, and has a nice ring, also the color (beige/tan) looks real nice. I'm pairing it with a set of Sycamore with a walnut neck and Tx ebony bridge/fretboard and overlay. So this will be my first all domestic wood guitar.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

    I saw an archtop made with all doug! It turns kind of a dark orange or amber, in time. I like it! The builder didn't say much about how it sounded, but I liked how it looked!

    He'd used flatsawn for a good portion of the build, which I didn't like much. I'll see if I have the pix somewhere!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

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

I have a set of the extremely fine grained Doug fir that BobC had some time ago. I haven't built with it yet but will someday. The grain is so fine that I can only estimate 30 to 40 lines per inch. Pretty stiff but maybe a bit brittle like some redwood can be.
Lance, I'm sure you know this having built with redwood many times, it might be a good idea to give ita good coat of schellac or two before doing any routing on this stuff to help keep the chipping down.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.