Thread: New member needs timber advice.

I should probably add that I am located in Adelaide SA

I can't answer your import questions but there was a specialty wood supplier near where I used to live. You could contact then and see what their prices are like compared to what you've seen and see what kind of wholesale prices they charge for a container load.

Bow River Specialty Woods | Quality Curly, Quilted, Spalted Maple Guitar Tonewood

Excellent, ill suss them out! Thanks mate.

You can by ash through Brittons timber. Not sure about alder.

Figured timber and its grading system is fairly skewed in my opinion, so it might be worth while going to the states/canada to hand pick figured tops. However, Figured timber runs quiet expensive so maybe find something local might be worth the while as well. Tasmania seems to hold a lot of nice stuff.
Perry Ormsby of Ormsby guitars used top notch local figured timber for tops on his electrics. Maybe get in touch with him.

That's my 2c worth. Would love to see the CNC set up

Welcome to the forum.

Thanks for your input.

Yes I've come across Brittons and Australian timbers as far as I know they dont stock ash/alder wide enough to make 1 piece bodies.

I agree the grading system is not the greatest and is driven by personal opinion.
Which is why I am excited by the idea of spending time hand picking my own timber.

Im always keen to see other peoples work so Ill definitely look Mr Ormsby up.

Its a pretty basic set up at the moment just a 1200x1200 cnc, Using aspire for the programing. Im in the process of designing and building some jigs in the hope we can do all our jointing, bodies and necks on the cnc.
As Im new to this I don't know how to post pictures.

Looking forward to when you do work out how to post pics Frisco, especially doing guitar parts on CNC, cool.

Be sure to read the instructions carefully. there are two ways to post pics. the short way sucks as it switches the viewer out of the current page. the second way in the instructions opens the pics up in new tabs, far better.

I've just looked at QC Inspector's link and offer the following

were I to to purchase an Electric Guitar Tonewood Kit Professional Grade - cost CAD $250 http://www.bowriverwoods.com/tonewoods/electric-guitar-tonewoods/electric-guitar-kits/item/electric_guitar_tonewood_kit_professional_grade/
on your behalf and post it to you,
the cost would be CAD $250 + tax, which is 12% in BC
and postage would be
Surface parcel CAD $146.00 + tax -- 2 to 3 months
Basic air mail (called Express Post International) CAD $267 + tax -- 9 Business days (not sure I'd believe that, but it's supposedly "guaranteed"
Fast air mail (called Priority Worldwide) CAD $429 + tax -- 2 to 3 days

With exchange rates, etc the all up cost to you for a body you could be working on before the end of June would be around AUD $650 to $700 -- though I'm sure there must be less expensive options than Canada Post.


Maybe local AUS prices are not that outrageous?

Originally Posted by Bendigo Bob

Looking forward to when you do work out how to post pics Frisco, especially doing guitar parts on CNC, cool.

Be sure to read the instructions carefully. there are two ways to post pics. the short way sucks as it switches the viewer out of the current page. the second way in the instructions opens the pics up in new tabs, far better.

Ill look into it tonight and take some shot next time I run something =)

Originally Posted by ian

I've just looked at QC Inspector's link and offer the following

were I to to purchase an Electric Guitar Tonewood Kit Professional Grade - cost CAD $250 http://www.bowriverwoods.com/tonewoods/electric-guitar-tonewoods/electric-guitar-kits/item/electric_guitar_tonewood_kit_professional_grade/
on your behalf and post it to you,
the cost would be CAD $250 + tax, which is 12% in BC
and postage would be
Surface parcel CAD $146.00 + tax -- 2 to 3 months
Basic air mail (called Express Post International) CAD $267 + tax -- 9 Business days (not sure I'd believe that, but it's supposedly "guaranteed"
Fast air mail (called Priority Worldwide) CAD $429 + tax -- 2 to 3 days

With exchange rates, etc the all up cost to you for a body you could be working on before the end of June would be around AUD $650 to $700 -- though I'm sure there must be less expensive options than Canada Post.


Maybe local AUS prices are not that outrageous?

Yeah those excessive postage prices are pretty well what I am getting at.

Ill just clarify when I talk about lack of local supply and excessive prices I mean more with the figured maple.
There are Australian websites that I can buy single piece alder/ash bodies/kits from around $100-200 which is much cheaper in comparison to ordering from over seas.
I have a mate that led me to believe he can source flamed maple from $7.00US per foot and Ash from $15 Per foot from the states. (How accurate or true this is I'm unsure)
As mentioned in the above posts I believe flame maple is excessively over priced due to peoples opinion of the look/grade and I'm yet to find a large supplier with reasonable prices.
I have the dollary doos and there is the local demand I'm just inexperienced and am hoping someone that has prior experience or has done something similar can share their experiences.
Plus an excuse for a holiday is always good =)

The reason you will struggle to find a large volume supplier of figured tonewood at reasonable prices is because theres no such thing.
Thats because theres no such thing as a large supply of figured tonewood... wood that makes the grade due to having the correct acoustical properties is quite easy to find... and there are a whole heap of domestic species that are recognised as world class tonewoods.... but figured timber is the exception not the rule.

Only a small percentage of the volume of a tree will ever be anything other then average or plain - thats what makes it special, its more then just chop a tree down and hack it into the right size pieces. From there you need to compete with the fact that large established shops - either actual manufacturers or companies like Warmoth - have already got feelers out throughout the industry world wide so that wood suitable for the market gets fed towards them. There are also top tier custom shops that guys like me know will pay more then the bigger guys for the truely exceptional pieces that come along every few years. All this means that you are going in against established competition with effective supply chain systems in place competing for raw material. Its not going to be easy to fill a container load, just sayin'.

Yeah I suppose I didn't put much thought into the availability of figured timber and the competition of obtaining it.
Having said that the idea of filling a container is not completely based around finding only figured timber as it is also about trying to save costs.
As you stated there are already well established companies importing the timber. I guess I need to cost it all up and see if its financially viable or whether I would be wasting my time and wouldn't actually save all that much if I were to order through said companies.
However going by your reasoning I do believe there would be more chance in finding a few nice pieces if I were to pick it myself, as apposed to trusting the larger companies to pass it on should they see something an established/higher paying customer may like.
Thanks for your input! Although a bit disheartening it definitely got me thinking.

Just out of curiosity when you say "guys like me" what do you do? I noticed your in Qld. Do you sell timber?

I suggest that you contact "Tasmanian Tone Woods" before you go to the hassle of importing timber into Australia. Australia has some great tone wood species that are well worth investigating.

TASMANIAN TONE WOODS | Musical Instrument Timber Supplier & Exporter | Tasmania, Australia

Talk to them about your needs. They may be able to help you, or alternatively they may be able to point you to a supplier of Australian species Tone Woods available in the quantities that you may need.

Regards,

RoyG

John G has pretty well mailed it. There is only a limited supply of suitable figured timber. In Victoria there is one miller that makes trips to the outback several times a year to harvest specialised / figured wood for a handful of luthiers and they pretty take all that the miller can harvest. Breaking into that supply chain is not a cheap exercise.