Thread: Tasmanian oak

I made one out of a slab of Silky Oak and it sounds fine.
From memory it was not sawn on the quarter.

Regards

A lot of an electric guitar sound/ "tone" comes down the the electronics and the tightness of the neck pocket and pick out route. Timber makes a small difference but half of it in my opinion is marketing.

Don't know about tassie oak but there are other Tassie timbers that are good. Perry Ormsby makes fabulous guitars here in Perth and has an interesting page about tonewoods on his website. Tonewoods - Ormsby Guitars - Custom made electric guitars multiscales and basses - Guitar making courses - Multiscale and fanned fret guitars

Originally Posted by aj_slr

My question may have been asked before but how would a Telle body sound made from Tassie oak ? I am talking old quarter sawn.

The timber of the body in an electric guitar makes has a very minimum effect to the sound.
Tassie oak will sound fine. But it will be a very heavy guitar. Also tas oak can be rather splintery and therefore difficult to work with.

Originally Posted by Emit

A lot of an electric guitar sound/ "tone" comes down the the electronics and the tightness of the neck pocket and pick out route. Timber makes a small difference but half of it in my opinion is marketing.

This is an argument that I disagree with.
IN general, the better an electric insterument sounds when unplugged, the better it will be plugged in.
The best sounding bass I ever owned was one I used to be able to practice with while watching television without plugging it in ,
it had a strong robust tone of its own , that was only improved by electrics.
You should be able to "hear" as you handle the timber (apart from a tap test) that it wants to ring out.
In general, Oak isnt used for electrics, but that doesnt mean you wont find some suitable.
Silky Oak is a better option, if you want Oak.
You might want to consider the weight, as well . . the lighter the better.
But I would definitely not rely on routing or neck pockets for your timber's tone . . IMO
Although lousy examples of both will certainly deteriorate tone transfer
But I agree that Tasmania is Tonewood Nirvana ,
and if you have access to timber from there,
then Myrtle, Blackwood Sassafras and even one of the Eucalypts from the area are superior Guitar tonewoods
But there's only one way to know,
and I'd be interested to hear how one out of Oak would turn out.

Ive built electric guitars out of Vic Ash and they worked exceedingly well. tassie oak, vic ash etc etc are marketing names - its all gum trees below is a clip of KOT with Q, the guitar player on the right in the red shirt slinging one of mine. at around 1:57 he cuts loose on "the Taipan" Vic ash body with Q maple top and neck also vic ash.

Hey thanks to everyone that has posted a reply to this post. It's great to get the advice and thoughts on the matter.
Cheers everyone, AJ

Originally Posted by Slapfest

This is an argument that I disagree with.
IN general, the better an electric insterument sounds when unplugged, the better it will be plugged in.

My ten cents worth - electrics/electronics are a large part of the "sound" of a solid body guitar. A small contribution from wood choices....mainly in the choice of neck and it's affect on sustain. To influence the plugged in sound of a solid body the wood has to in some way directly affect the way the string is vibrating..a magnetic pickup only sees a vibrating metal string it doesnt register sound vibration coming directly from the wood.

I've used tas oak for a body, though I chambered it to reduce some weight. You can get lighter pieces though. Sounds similar to mahogany to me.

You are absolutely correct . . I did not know that Vic Ash (a good choice) and Tas Oak were one and the same , but after a quick book-dive, I stand corrected , thank you . .

It can be confusing, the number of common names given to the same timber in different areas here.
And even if it was a proper Oak,
there was that story of the Taylor factory "pallet" guitar that was an experiment with some Oak from a pallet,
and the story goes that it sounded just like all their other guitars. . . So, who knows?

But I do hold to the idea that certain timbers 'ring' and you can hear it when you're working with it . . others, not so much.
And if the timber doesnt really matter, why dont we just all make 'em out of plywood?
Absolutely, the electronics are the key, but every other aspect that can help the tonal 'package' , is building the best platform for the electrics to expand apon, I reckon.
Randy Fulmer makes some top knotch basses in the US , and he does a nice demo of the differences in sounds of electric woods used at about 4 mins into this video,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28EEm7n7Y3k

but thanks for the info , old picker .

All depends how much you want to fuss about woods. Some people just go with what they have.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qze_SgjO_FY

Regards
John

Originally Posted by orraloon

All depends how much you want to fuss about woods. Some people just go with what they have.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qze_SgjO_FY

Regards
John

For sure . . that link was just an example of some of the commonly used timbers in USA .
The point was, the tone and chime-like quality in the wood.
I dont use any of that timber, except some rock maple at times,
there's an abundant amount of local timber thats probably just as good, maybe better . .
who knows.
Allen Tomkins told me years ago to try Hoop and Kauri Pine for bodies,
and Maton built their JB4 bass bodies (and the next model, and now the re-issues) from Northern Sassafras
obtained in Nth Queensland, which is a vastly different timber to the Tassie variety,
And I've not really heard of anyone else using any of those 3 timbers before

So, I guess whatever the timber is,
if you're prepared to put all the time and effort in,
and it works out, then great.

When Fender started making guitars
he used the most readily available and economically viable timbers available
and pinched the Broadcaster/tele design from someone else.
He was a radio tech, that had made a few lap steel guitars and the amps to suit them . . .
He couldnt play and wasnt interested in that side of it,
So, its a stretch to even say that those timbers were an educated guess by him.
but now those timbers are worshipped by some . . .
there seems little rhyme or reason to that recipe of success.

Here, we're blessed with heaps of timber that works great.
Pretty much any Acacia from a moderate climate in Aust has multiple uses,
and the desert ones make great fingerboards etc.

On the other hand , there are plenty of heavy heavy, dull and lifeless sounding timbers here as well, that I wouldnt touch
And so, yes,
I do fuss about timber a bit.
Because I want the result
to be as good as I can make it
from timber that I think will suit.

Break out the popcorn, here comes the tonewood debate again...
As long as the timber is sturdy enough and workable, then there isn't really a reason it can't/shouldn't be used for an electric guitar (ethical/environmental issues aside of course). As mentioned by kiwigeo, pickups are magnetic coils sensing a metal string - no acoustic sound is being picked up in that instance.

Originally Posted by Slapfest

On the other hand , there are plenty of heavy heavy, dull and lifeless sounding timbers here as well, that I wouldnt touch

Considering some of the highest echelons of boutique guitars and basses that are revered for their sound use "heavy heavy" timbers, it would suggest that these "dull and lifeless" timbers perhaps play very little part in tone shaping, no?

Considering some of the highest echelons of boutique guitars and basses that are revered for their sound use "heavy heavy" timbers, it would suggest that these "dull and lifeless" timbers perhaps play very little part in tone shaping, no?[/QUOTE]

Yes . . . welllll , NO, actually . . . you jumped a bit far in your logic , there.
The heavy dull and lifeless timbers I was referring to, were other species I've worked for other projects.
Timbers that werent normally used for Instruments because (what was it agagin? ) yes, thats it! . . the'yre too heavy and are virtual tone sinks, whwen it comes to sounding notes with acceptable tonal response . . .
You must watch the link I posted a little further up,
where a top US bass luthier demonstrtaes the obvious tonal qualities of the woods mainly used in many boutique basses and some guitars.
The technique he uses, holds true for tonewoods in general.

I'm not interested in that old debate , but I was obviously NOT referring to any tonewoods when I made that comment .
Your interpretation of what I said had completely twisted my meaning , so I'm sorry, I had to clarify.