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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    stanthorpe
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    2

    Default Lighting Struck Luthiery ( a slightly diferent angle on the old lightning topic)

    Firstly Hello everyone... this is my first post here. I only joined because of a couple of other old threads about lightning struck wood.
    I know there are a load of old wives tales about lightning struck wood, some of which may, in some cases have, a grain of fact depending on soil conditions, tree variety altitude, pockets of randomness etc etc. The fact is ... there are NO FACTS about this that i can find.. i have spent days looking for actual information from credible sources there appears to be....none....
    There are however many anecdotal claims about the density, molecular/chrystaline structure and hardness of this timber. I want to throw a new angle at you all. ..Luthiery ..hard, chrystaline, dense = resonant... sounds like tonewoods to me!
    Then, add to this equasion the only real "fact" i can find, being that two seperate world cultures, the Native Americans and Japanese both have determined that lightning struck timber makes the best flutes. The Japanese taking it one step further insisting that the best tree will be grown on a rock in a kind of natural bonsai situation for maximum density before being struck. ( a search of lightning struck flutes will show how common this still is) flutes... lots of them... why no guitars, banjos, violins?
    While im on the topic of hardness i also read somewhere in this forum that trees killed by drought suck up so much silica as to make them unworkable... this also sounds like tonewood to me, however hard it is to work.
    Much ado is made recently about submurged timbers from American lakes for its tonal qualities due to the microbial action hollowing out the pithy interior of the celulose fibres, thus creating a more resonant wood (Stradivarius knew this althought he only aged his timbers for a few years in water aparently)
    Is it posible that somthing similar happens in the fibres as a result of lightning strike?

    So Id like to hear from people who have actualy milled struck wood and especialy from anyone who has, or is capable of or has an interest in the tonal qualities and making an instrument from struck wood, your opinions, anecdotes ...but no old wives tales, stories of hard to light wood or dangerously unstable trees. there is enough of that already.
    lets find a way to use this rare and unusual commodity

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    stanthorpe
    Posts
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    Default

    i posted a similar thread on BanjoHangout.com.(lots of crafters there, banjos are very DIY) many howls of derisive laughter from the US population ..people just dont read before they reply with some story about thier exploded tree and how there was nothing left to build with and how it would be useless/unworkable...

    then this...

    I built a really nice Banjo ( pot and neck) from a lightning struck Mulberry tree . Never have used any other Mulberry tho so theres nothing in my book to compare it to.Made alot of nice furniture out of that tree as well, biggest Mulberry I've ever seen around here.
    have asked for pictures and more detail.

    where are the adventurous millers???

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    yarra valley
    Posts
    683

    Default

    i've only milled one big messmate that was struck but it didn't mill any different to any other tree that i have milled. i could see where it was hit and ( i guess ) the charge ran down the bark but no noticable diference in milling .The timber as far as i know is still under the owners house

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Adelaide Hills
    Age
    66
    Posts
    3,803

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by bentnik View Post
    There are however many anecdotal claims about the density, molecular/chrystaline structure and hardness of this timber. I want to throw a new angle at you all. ..Luthiery ..hard, chrystaline, dense = resonant... sounds like tonewoods to me!
    When I build my guitars the main criteria for chosing the top wood I use is "light and stiff".

    Silica creates asthetical issues in tonewoods such ass rosewood....not a huge issue for me as I pore fill with pumice and this tends to darken up the silica deposits. As for silica enhancing the tonal qualities of tonewood.....I cant see a logical reason for this.
    Whatever note you blow youre never more than a semitone away from the correct one....(Miles Davis)

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Sydney
    Age
    74
    Posts
    1,389

    Default red cedar

    processed a red cedar, it had been split and water had made its way down the splits, even with the solid timber, there were brown discolourations and instead of good 1 metre wide boards, it will have to be split into small flitches and re=processed into 2" boards of various lengths and sizes. One brank, dead, with 10-15 years re-growth aroun th dead branch, was a total wate of cutting, around 1 cube of timber not able to be cut into even small sqares. Water can do gret damage...
    greg

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