Thread: Celery Top Soundboard?

Kevin, I now have feed back from one of my customers Gary Rizzolo of Rizzolo guitars, he has just finished building a couple of instruments using Celery top as the soundboard.
And his words not mine.
Celery top the spruce of Tasmania.

Originally Posted by highfieldtonewerks

Ta Bob - Have you heard any comments back from your customers on Celery vs Spruce vs King Billy?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Riggsy

This is exactly where Somogyi's stuff will help. The way he standardises things so that he determines a suitable top thickness depending on his deflection data, is exactly what we need to do to determine how to work a soundboard from Australian timbers that haven't been tried - or haven't been tried enough.

Yes, Cellery top seems way too dense when compared with sitka, but many great guitars have Mahogany or Koa tops which are denser still. It's all in the details.

Paul,
I sat down next to Gary Rizzolo last week while he played on the guitar he had just built a few months ago, using celery top as the sound board, the sound to me was beautiful.
Gary said he treats celery top no different than using Spruce as the top.
Regards,Bob

Actually celery top at 650kg/m3 is significantly heavier than honduras mahogany at 500kg/m3
It really only LOOKS like spruce

Jeff, I am not a luthier and I do do claim to be one.
I supply tonewoods for luthiers and supply what my customer's ask for, and I also listen to what they have to say.
Now in your mind Celery top only looks like spruce and is denser that we do know.
But in the words of Gary Rizzolo it is the Spruce of Tasmania and he works it no different to spruce. now Gary is know as the Wizard and also as one of the best luthiers in Australia, he is the only Australian luthier who was in the book that came out last year Hand Made Hand Played by Robert Shaw.
And if he say's it is a good soundboard and wants to use it more I will take his word for it.

Originally Posted by jeffhigh

Actually celery top at 650kg/m3 is significantly heavier than honduras mahogany at 500kg/m3
It really only LOOKS like spruce

Bob, If Gary can make a decent Guitar out of it then good luck to him.

But the physical properties of it include a wopping 51% increase in density(650 versus 430 for Sitka) with only a 9% increase in stiffness (12 vs 11 for sitka modulus of elasticity)
With most luthiers aiming to minimize soundboard mass, this is not beneficial.

I repeat, it only LOOKS like spruce

Jeff, believe me it is far better than a decent guitar, the sound is just magic.
Out of curiousity have you ever built a guitar using celery top as the soundboard.

Originally Posted by jeffhigh

Bob, If Gary can make a decent Guitar out of it then good luck to him.

But the physical properties of it include a wopping 51% increase in density(650 versus 430 for Sitka) with only a 9% increase in stiffness (12 vs 11 for sitka modulus of elasticity)
With most luthiers aiming to minimize soundboard mass, this is not beneficial.

I repeat, it only LOOKS like spruce

Bob, I have built instruments with soundboards of Tazmanian Blackwood,King Billy Pine, Lutz and sitka spruce, Honduras Mahogany,Californian redwood, and western red cedar.

I have used celery top for the neck of one instrument and would gladly use it for back and sides, but have no interest in committing the time and effort to using it for a soundboard when it does not have the physical characteristics I look for.

Have you ever even played guitar?

Originally Posted by jeffhigh

Bob, I have built instruments with soundboards of Tazmanian Blackwood,King Billy Pine, Lutz and sitka spruce, Honduras Mahogany,Californian redwood, and western red cedar.

I have used celery top for the neck of one instrument and would gladly use it for back and sides, but have no interest in committing the time and effort to using it for a soundboard when it does not have the physical characteristics I look for.

Have you ever even played guitar?

If you have never used celery top as a sound board, then how is it that you are so sure that it only looks like spruce?

Cheers,

Peter

Originally Posted by woodturner777

Kevin, I now have feed back from one of my customers Gary Rizzolo of Rizzolo guitars, he has just finished building a couple of instruments using Celery top as the soundboard.
And his words not mine.
Celery top the spruce of Tasmania.

Thanks for the info Bob. I appreciate you passing the info you get regarding tassie timbers. Keep it coming.

Cheers,

Peter

Jeff, Tasmania. Tas not Taz.
Have I every played a guitar many a time, was I good I dont think so, but when I partied I enjoyed myself and that is what it was all about.
So you have never tried celery top as a sound board and have no interest in committing the time and effort to trying it.
No worries it does not bother me.
I started the thread again because some one asked the question had I had any feed back on celery top as a sound board and the answer is yes Gary Rizzolo words were. it is the spruce of Tasmania.
Cheers,Bob.

Originally Posted by jeffhigh

Bob, I have built instruments with soundboards of Tazmanian Blackwood, Lutz and sitka spruce, Honduras Mahogany,Californian redwood, and western red cedar.

I have used celery top for the neck of one instrument and would gladly use it for back and sides, but have no interest in committing the time and effort to using it for a soundboard when it does not have the physical characteristics I look for.

Have you ever even played guitar?

Peter, Thank you for the kind words.
As I stated many a time I am not a luthier, but if I get feed back from a customer who in my eyes is a craftsman luthier and makes comments like he did, then I listen to the sound of the instrument I think well there you go, he has proved a point. Celery top makes a good soundboard.
Cheers Bob.

Peter, I have not built a soundboard with celery top it is too heavy and weight is the enemy with acoustic soundboards. To put it into perspective, It is actually heavier than Indian rosewood.

Bob, you and Gary Rizzola may like it as a soundboard but that does not make it anything like spruce, it has very different properties.

Jeff, Celery Top is the spruce of Tasmania.
Ok different properties we agree on that, but Celery top makes a good soundboard.
Now I note Ervin Somogyi in the A.N.Z.L.F forum calls him self, master craftsman that is what Gary Rizzolo is a master craftsman, I remember the first time I met Rick Turner he said to me that Gary was a master and that he admired his work, now that was a compliment to come from Ricks Turners mouth who Gary admired.
Cheers,Bob

Bob, you and Gary Rizzola may like it as a soundboard but that does not make it anything like spruce, it has very different properties.[/QUOTE]