Thread: Aussie wood for electric guitars

Sassafras is magic Martin, I receive nothing but good raves about it, plus if it is a nice looking back & side set it looks beautiful, Tiger Myrtle yes it is nice, but I love the look of quilted and fiddleback Myrtle have you used that yet.?

Originally Posted by kiwigeo

Pick the prettiest looking of the bunch and build with it!! Sassafras and Tiger Myrtle are my favourites.

Good quote.

For the believers, credit where credits due, solid wood in its natural form looks beautiful and shows the craftsmanship and eye of the builder[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the apology Bob.

Jim

Someone please turn up the Tele!

Originally Posted by woodturner777

Well thats how little you know us in this forum, believe me we are not having a slanging match, If I was to have a slanging match people would know about it.
Just out of curiosity have you read Andrew Morrows report on Australian woods suitable as tonewoods.? have you spoke with many luthiers.? have you made many phone calls overseas talking with custom guitar builders.? there is a lot more Australian woods suitable for musical instruments than just Queensland maple and Tasmanian Blackwood most states have species that are suitable as tonewoods, I dont have to ask forum members what is suitable as I already know.
Cheers, Bob

yes Bob,i have spoken to many luthiers over the years,many phonecalls etc.I am well aware that there are numerous timbers suitable for musical instruments,aside from Qld Maple and Blackwood(as i said ,quote'Qld Maple and Tassie Blackwood are a good start' unquote) and yes,there are plenty of suitable species on the mainland. But it would seem you don't need tonewood to make a solid body electric guitar! We are not all clueless Bob

Tonewood is any timber to which the retailer has applied a minimum of 100% markup

Originally Posted by jeffhigh

Tonewood is any timber to which the retailer has applied a minimum of 100% markup

Tonewood is a narcotic....highly addictive and you've never quite got enough to be satisfied.

Ha Jeff, maybe so or a little more than 100% in some cases, but lets not forget the recovery process

Originally Posted by Nobus

The sort of thing I'm after is what Aussie woods can be used to emulate the tones/sustain qualities of the likes of Gibson and Fender guitars. Eg. Gibson use Mahogany for the body which gives a warm tone and Fender use Alder which provides a bright tone. What are the Australian wood equivalents?

Cheers

This is a harder part of the the question to answer. As you would have gatthered from the answers to your thread, trying to emulate the traditional woods for tone in a electric guitar will be open to much debate. As for sustain though I think your best bet is to try to match the traditional woods by weight. For a neck if you are trying to match a Maple Fender you could try some Blackwood on the heavier end of the scale or Aussie white ash (E.fraxinoides) if you want to match colour a bit closer (some may argue that to emulate a old fender neck you also need to put the same style truss rod in that compresses the neck) . For a Alder body or Mahogany you could look at Qld Maple on the heavier end of its scale or Qld silver ash would be closer in colour and weight to alder. You could try anything you can find that is well sawn,stable and around the 550Kg/m3 mark. Good luck with the build and try not to get too caught up in the debate about which is better or best.

Jim

If I drop a tree in the bush and nobody hears it, did I really fell the tree.

Originally Posted by toejam

Martin said it Greg but try thinking of it like this. A magnetic pickup can not hear sound. The sound the strings make are not picked up by the pickups. All the pickup can read is the movement of the magnetic field that is induced into the string via the pickup magnet.

Jim

Here's a question for the pickup gurus. If the pickup can only receive signal from the vibrating strings, how does it feedback?

Originally Posted by peterbrown

Here's a question for the pickup gurus. If the pickup can only receive signal from the vibrating strings, how does it feedback?

I'm not a pickup guru but I'll answer your question with another (relevant) question. Will a guitar feedback with the strings off the instrument?

No problems Jim,
And don't disappear once A.N.Z.L.F. comes back online its good to have you here.
Cheers, Bob

Originally Posted by toejam

Thanks for the apology Bob.

Jim

Someone please turn up the Tele!

G'Day Jeff, As Jim said below lets not forget the recovery process, to get good quality musical instrument wood these days is not easy, you have to pay lots of money for good logs, and you are lucky to recover 1 cubic meter in 3, then the wood has to be milled wait years for it to dry then resaw it into sets. I bet you are paying more than 100% markup for your food you eat by time it gets from the farmer to you.
And I bet you are paying more than 100% market for the cloths you are wearing.
Cheers, Bob

Originally Posted by jeffhigh

Tonewood is any timber to which the retailer has applied a minimum of 100% markup

I actually meant !00% markup over what the same timber would retail for as furniture timber.
And I said retailer not cutter miller or resawer.

Jeff,
There is a huge difference between timber I sell for musical instruments than timber I sell for furniture it all depends on the grade my customer requires.
In fact my highly figured Tasmanian blackwood that customers require for high end furniture, they pay the same price that I sell it to luthiers, I do not negotiate.
1 in a thousand blackwood trees are highly figured, my running costs of my business are high. Timber is going to get dearer not cheaper.

Originally Posted by toejam

. A magnetic pickup can not hear sound. The sound the strings make are not picked up by the pickups. All the pickup can read is the movement of the magnetic field that is induced into the string via the pickup magnet.

Jim

Originally Posted by peterbrown

Here's a question for the pickup gurus. If the pickup can only receive signal from the vibrating strings, how does it feedback?

Firstly I have to correct what I said. "The sound the strings make is not picked up by the pickups" is correct as a magnetic pickup can not read sound waves but I have unintensionally been a bit misleading in my attempt to simplify things with my quote "All the pickup can read is the movement of the magnetic field that is induced into the string via the pickup magnet."

Before I go trying to assume what you know Peter and try to answer your question,that is if you are referring to me as a "pickup guru" and want me answer, I have to ask if you know how a pickup works in regards to Faraday's law?

Jim

Someone please turn up the Tele!