Thread: Camphor Laural as a solid body timber?

Acc. to Bootle CL is fine for gluing.

And I'd say that providing it's well seasoned you should find it stable.

I've done one! It was well dried, but a single solid piece - some slight end checking epoxied up fine. Picture shows sealed, but un-tinted. I glossed it with amber-hued nitro for a look more like blackwood or Koa.

Regards, Adam.

Looks good Adam.

Have you found the timber hard enough?

Bootle rates it pretty low; only about 20% harder than Red Cedar.

Interesting thread. I bought some wickedly figured Camphor Laurel 15mm thick stock at the recent T&WW Show in Melbourne. I have read on another forum that this timber is CORROSIVE to metal and therefore one must use stainless steel on anything that has contact with it.....can anyone verify this? I'd love to use it for a carve top on a solid body....

Addo, how does it sound? What would you liken camphor laurel to tonally?

Re corrosion, Bootle makes no mention of it, and he normally would if it were an issue.

It's yet to make a note, that guitar - not found a suitable spare lump of maple for a neck. But, two important details:

1. The case will NEVER have bugs in it.
2. It's the only guitar which'll "soothe the throat and clear the nose" while you rip it up onstage.

I can't remember how it routed - did it on the big Italian overhead at GG's workshop, years ago. Certainly no harder than alder to wrestle around. The slight splittiness means that a Floyd or similar would need a maple block epoxying in for its pivot studs.

As to the stainless requirement - I don't know; it hasn't done the typical things that "aggressive" timbers do to lacquer, and has been painted some years.

Tonally I think it may be a little dead. At least, compared to mahogany or good alder. Maybe something like that late '60s heavy brown junk Fender used.

Regards, Adam.

I re-sawed some camphor that came from Pasadena, California, and boy, it was fragrant in the workshop! Cleared sinuses all around...

I'm going to try it for a tenor ukulele, and I'll report in on how it is. I'll do most gluing with hot hide glue.