Thread: Acoustic Guitar Wood Query for Newbie

Its all well and good to say I am going to use aussie timbers, but mahogany is well documented and spruce is too.
If you wanted to build an aussie accoustic with, say Blackwood sides and back and a King Billy pine, or bunya pine top, what will you have to base your comparison on?
I am in the same boat in that I am getting ready to make my first accoustic and its difficult to decide whether to go "all out" or stick with the tried and true materials so that if there are any problems, you can at least say, "I made it out of the right stuff..."

Cole Clark are making acoustic guitars with aussie timbers, mostly blackwood, bunya pine and Qld.maple necks.

I'm not saying that the materials arent excellent, hell if tommy emmanuel can make a career using aussie timbered guitars there is obviously something good about them. It is less the sound than the bending and shaping that I am referring to. Blackwood is lots harder on tools than mahogany and I would think that it would be a bit tricky to bend. I would personally like to have a bit of experience under my belt before tackling it. By the same token, it could be that I am making a mountain out of a mole hill and you could bend up perfect sides without any problems.
Just food for thought...

Hi Max,

Im a big fan of aussie timbers, there are plenty of instruments being made locally from aussie timbers, there is no need to import exotics from overseas.

King William pins, Bunya Pine and Celery Top Pine have all been successfully used for soundboards, Tasmanian Blackwood is a timber of choice for bodies and sides. Desert timbers like Mulga are commonly used for fingerboards. On this list there are several vendors (Tigermyrtle comes to mind)

A couple of websites to check out www.australiantonewoods.com , http://www.luthierssupplies.com.au/i...hp?cPath=30_31 , for starters, I can personally recommend both. For instruments check out http://www.petercoombe.com/ , http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com/ , www.mcguitars.com.au , etc.

As for the sound, the timber user is a less important variable than the shape, bracing, strings, etc. IMHO there is no "correct" sound, just the best sound for the music being played. If you want to replicate a famous instrument then it is best to use the same timbers, bracing etc. Plans are availible from GAL and OLF,

Sebastiaan

These sites may give you some help, my son has used it for reference material.
http://www.guitarwoods.com.au/catalog/index.php
http://www.guitaraust.com.au/shop/

Maye a help
John

Mongrel,

Mahogany is a gold standard for workability including bending, but Myrtle is much better! Ive bent some test pieces of Blackwood with no hassles. I bend by hand, I havent bothered with a fox style bender,

Thanks for the info guys.

I would pretty much agree with the things Mongrel has said. While its not the sound that matters to me, I am of the belief that if I build it properly then it will produce a decent enough sound for a first guitar.

The question I have more relates to workability of the timber. I don't want to shell out say $100 or something for some back and sides and find that the timber is hard to work and that I am not experienced enough to use it and end up damaging and ruining the wood.

Where as if it is just a case of being slightly more careful than that is a risk that I am prepared to take.

Thanks for the help guys

Blackwood is an excellent sounding timber for back and sides...and I imagine would be great for necks also...

The more figure in the timber the harder it is to bend....I also think the plain straight grain blackwood sounds better than highly figured wood ..but most people want the visual aspect....but I've heard great examples of highly figured blackwood so its not so cut and dry as far as sound goes.

Indian Rosewood is probably one of the easier bending timbers and also sounds great.

For tops its hard to go past the tried and true timbers like spruce and cedar.

Are you "hot piping" or making a fox style bender.

My plan is to make a fox bender and touch up on the pipe (sounds like: "how, me smokum peace pipe...") but - apparently - good timber bends easily on the pipe. But this is my point, without some kind of reference to what is easy and what is not, its difficult to get your bearings on the method.
I know I will be making more than one, and my heart wants to leap in and make something exotic and excessive and full on first time round, but my head (and my wallet) say "hold on there buddy, lets get the technique down pat first..."
(does anyone elses wallet talk to them??)

Main thing is, have fun and don't let us rain on your parade.

In the words of sheryl crow "if it makes you happy, it can't be that bad..."

I figured that for the price of back and sides material, I would go for the method that had the least possible chance of breaking sides...
so I opted for a silicone heat blanket and built a jig for maybe $20 worth of ply...seems to work fine. Its a no brainer for someone like me that has no experience on a pipe...although I can see the advantages to doing it on a pipe

Interesting the difference in approaches. I chose the pipe method as I was told that I would, with practise, develop more of a "feel" for the wood. Of course I dont only do things that are good for me, I also seriously doubt I will make 2 instruments the same so the wallet had something to say as well.

That said, I ended up with a blanket I doubt I will use so PM me if anyone wants it, $100 plus postage,

Sebastiaan

PS, this was highly figured Blackwood, I just go slow and use a bit of old printing plate to hold it flat if I have to.

Do you just use one blanket without stainless or anything???

i had a reply that somehow didnt appear from yesterday. was saying try to get something that bends well as your first criteria for a first time acoustic.

Originally Posted by mongrel

Do you just use one blanket without stainless or anything???

I sprayed the sides lightly, wrapped them in alfoil and then sandwiched between 2 bits of flashing with the blanket on top....worked great.
I was bending rosewood so I had no issues but if I was bending blackwood I would probably get some spring steel and not wrap in alfoil because I've heard aluminium/water/heat/blackwood combination can turn blackwood green which would probably sand out but not the desired effect you'd want.