Thread: Australian Timbers Suitable as Tone Woods

My experience here is electrics. Acoustics will have different properties shine through.

Blackwood. A great all over dynamic sound. Lighter non-figured stuff tends to sound better.

Qld maple. pleasing woody sound and is more punchy than mahogany but less dynamic than Blackwood.

Tassie oak. I don't mind it for topcaps to add a slightly brighter element to the mix.

Myrtle. nice highs as above but also great for bodies and top caps.



I'll add more later..............who's next ?

Well its me back again Stu, its interesting what you say about lighter none figured blackwood tends to sound better, this was Rick Turners same words but everyone wants high figured blackwood and this is as rare as Hens Teeth, so for Electric's plain blackwood body, drop dead drop top on front in fiddleback blackwood or one of the other high quality figured or burl drop tops available.
Now I would like to hear from my mate Martin and some of the other Acoustic builders out there why this would not work.
Plain blackwood back and sides sand down a little extra and high quality fiddleback blackwood veneer laminated on top this would make better use of the resource. I don't see why this would not work as allot of luthiers are laminating Veneers together to build acoustic guitars 3 or 4 layers I reckon my idea would work better, but I could be wrong, do you want to try it first Martin, I do have some beautiful fiddleback Veneer available.
Lets see what feedback comes from this.
Cheers Bob

Originally Posted by oz tradie

My experience here is electrics. Acoustics will have different properties shine through.

Blackwood. A great all over dynamic sound. Lighter non-figured stuff tends to sound better.

Qld maple. pleasing woody sound and is more punchy than mahogany but less dynamic than Blackwood.

Tassie oak. I don't mind it for topcaps to add a slightly brighter element to the mix.

Myrtle. nice highs as above but also great for bodies and top caps.



I'll add more later..............who's next ?

^^^ I always thought that laminated timber in accoustic guitars they loose tone/resonance ^^^
& generally dont have the crisp highs etc etc etc

Hi Bob,

Laminated backs and sides are highly regarded in some circles of acoustic building and I think personally anything that would extend the useful life of the resource needs to be explored.

Gee Stu,
Now you tell me.

By the way, where does one buy plain light non-figured blackwood from, suitable
for a one-piece solid body electric? (one piece body, I mean)

BBM

Many of the old school luthiers would use laminate when building classical guitars, particularly for the sides. I’ve been given a couple of reasons for this, one being that it helps prevent splitting or cracking when using timbers like Brazilian rosewood. The other is that by laminating a soft wood like spruce to the inside of the sides it mellows the guitar and improves the sound by making it cleaner… a bit like putting soft coverings on hard surfaces in recording booths. There is a school of thought amongst some classical builders that the back and sides adds little to the sound of the guitar and that the important part of the sound comes from the top. I spoke to a luthier in Sevilla who laminated spruce to the insides of all his guitars except those made with Spanish cedar and he said he did it because he didn’t like the sound without and that by doing it this way he could get more sound consistency between instruments. Antonio Torres tried to demonstrate much the same thing with his spruce topped paper-mache guitar.

However if you are building guitars to sell, you could hit some problems with market acceptability by using laminates. While not as prevalent with classical players, there is a general view that solid timber guitars are better… many would question spending big bucks on a laminated guitar. I personally think that this stems from cheap laminated top guitars, which tend to sound bad, biasing guitarists against any use of laminates on a guitar. The upper end of the guitar market wants hand made guitars, and it is easier for a small luthier to build with solid timbers rather than stuff around laminating them.

Well them’s my thoughts

Cheers
James

Hi Sebastiaan,
I know a few builders here in tasmanian who laminate back and sides but what I am trying to ask is would plain blackwood solid body back and sides work with a high figured fiddleback veneer on top as there is no shortage of plain blackwood.
Cheers Bob

Originally Posted by Sebastiaan56

Hi Bob,

Laminated backs and sides are highly regarded in some circles of acoustic building and I think personally anything that would extend the useful life of the resource needs to be explored.

Originally Posted by bassbuilderman

Gee Stu,
Now you tell me.

By the way, where does one buy plain light non-figured blackwood from, suitable
for a one-piece solid body electric? (one piece body, I mean)

BBM

There's nothing wrong with Qld maple core, hollowedbody and neck with Qld walnut top and back, BBM.

I've heard her strung up and she's a great blend.
Just under 40 sleeps to go, mate.

Originally Posted by woodturner777

Hi Sebastiaan,
I know a few builders here in tasmanian who laminate back and sides but what I am trying to ask is would plain blackwood solid body back and sides work with a high figured fiddleback veneer on top as there is no shortage of plain blackwood.
Cheers Bob

Yes it would work Bob but it may not be what you want.

Jim

I can't say that I've noticed that choice of timber has much influence over tone for electric guitar bodies. I would love to see a "blind test" between the two, and see if anyone can pick the tone between figured blackwood, and straight grained blackwood. The trouble is that no two pieces of timber are the same density, grain direction, moisture content which is influenced by species, climate, rainfall etc just to name a few. These have a bearing on the tone to an extent ( or the absorption of frequencies at least) however it is very difficult to isolate these other variables to undertake a true unbiassed test. All we have to go off is our own personal experiences, which will vary from one person to the other, largely because of other factors which influence the tone of the instrument.

Cheers,

Peter

Im not opposed to laminates, especially on electric. I was stripping a "Torch brand" 1972 strat copy back, as it had a crappy semi metalalic/metal flake finish that hadnt been prepped or no clear over it & just looked generally lacklustre. & found that the body is laminated but the laminate looked so fantastic I couldnt paint over it , so I oiled it & buffed it & i reckon it looks great.
here is a pic link of what I'm talking about

Hi Richard, I met a guy a few weeks ago who is stripping back some old guitars that looked crappy and he cleans them up then uses top quality figured Veneer on top, Cheers Bob.http://www.tasmaniantonewoods.com

Originally Posted by Dix_Fix

Im not opposed to laminates, especially on electric. I was stripping a "Torch brand" 1972 strat copy back, as it had a crappy semi metalalic/metal flake finish that hadnt been prepped or no clear over it & just looked generally lacklustre. & found that the body is laminated but the laminate looked so fantastic I couldnt paint over it , so I oiled it & buffed it & i reckon it looks great.
here is a pic link of what I'm talking about

Originally Posted by peterbrown

I can't say that I've noticed that choice of timber has much influence over tone for electric guitar bodies. I would love to see a "blind test" between the two, and see if anyone can pick the tone between figured blackwood, and straight grained blackwood. The trouble is that no two pieces of timber are the same density, grain direction, moisture content which is influenced by species, climate, rainfall etc just to name a few. These have a bearing on the tone to an extent ( or the absorption of frequencies at least) however it is very difficult to isolate these other variables to undertake a true unbiassed test. All we have to go off is our own personal experiences, which will vary from one person to the other, largely because of other factors which influence the tone of the instrument.

Cheers,

Peter

Ive got a film crew in the workshop right now, and today we demonstrated the difference between maple cut from the SAME plank. Of course, they arent finished guitars, but rough neck blanks. Regardless, the difference in tone and sustain when tapping them was considerable. Unfortunately, I didnt even think to have them film the same thing PRIOR to us laminating a neck which was the basis of todays film shoot.

Hi Perry
Everyone has different opinions on this subject.
I have customers who say that the wood makes no difference on the tone and others that swear it makes a difference. One thing I do know is that I have woods that I tap and they have a ring to them. Others timbers I tap sound like bricks dead but its each to there own. Cheers Bob.
http://www.tasmaniantonewoods.com

Originally Posted by rhoads56

Ive got a film crew in the workshop right now, and today we demonstrated the difference between maple cut from the SAME plank. Of course, they arent finished guitars, but rough neck blanks. Regardless, the difference in tone and sustain when tapping them was considerable. Unfortunately, I didnt even think to have them film the same thing PRIOR to us laminating a neck which was the basis of todays film shoot.