Uncommon Guitar Woods

[AndrewG716]

I've never seen somebody use hardwoods like oak, elm, or cherry in a guitar build.

Does anybody know why these (or any other wood for that matter ) are so underutilized?

It's probably because they don't sound as good as staple woods like mahogany and ash, but I still wonder. I've seen stone guitars and other crazy things, so why not oak elm or cherry? IMO these woods look good, so why not?

Any examples would be very informative.

 

[Demiurge]

Conklin offers cherry as a body wood option.

Brian May's Red Special has oak in the body (the fretboard is apparently oak, too, per wikipedia.

Elm- can't name a manufacturer off the top of my head, but I swear I've seen a few guys on projectguitar.com use it.

 

[AndrewG716]

Thanks for the insight

 

[Curt]

The acoustic my uncle made himself a few years back has a cherry wood fretboard.

 

[AndrewG716]

I've seen a few pretty random guitars with oak, elm, and cherry, but I still have no idea how their sounds compare with other woods.

I would appreciate sound examples, although I'm not sure there are many. Otherwise I may just have to build a few guitar bodies to see for myself.

 

[darren]

OLP made some StingRay basses with Elm bodies.

There was a discussion here on Oak a couple of years ago:

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/extended-range-guitars/74832-how-dense-oak-8-string-neck.html

 

[idunno]

I currently making a guitar with a four piece white oak neck. Its a neck-through and will have a lot of oak in the tone. Ill let you know how it goes. I think the main reason its not used so much is because its a HUGE pain in the ass to work with. Its very solid and so far very stable.

Im a firm believer that you can make an instrument out of pretty much anything. There was a vid posted here of a kid who put a pickup on a crapwood plank with a warmoth neck and it sounded great. I cant find the video right now though...

 

[idunno]

Heres the thread! http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/lu...ood-characteristic-actually-affects-tone.html

 

[AndrewG716]

Wow. So I just have to make one body out of every material on the planet and see what I like the best.

 

[idunno]

Wow. So I just have to make one body out of every material on the planet and see what I like the best.

basically...

 

[Dead Undead]

Brian May and his father made a guitar out of and oak mantelpiece IIRC. I believe it's called the Red Special. Warmoth also offers Oak laminate tops.

I have never seen a guitar made of elm...

 

[Erick Kroenen]

check this out!

http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Bodies/Options/BodyWoodOptions.aspx

there are luthiers that say each piece of wood is different in tone and density so the final product is a result of how old, dense, and etc..

also mahogany, maple etc.. is because of price and easier to work...

ask pros like mike sherman

 

[Superwoodle]

I made my bass out of cherry!
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/luthiery-modifications-customizations/138150-5-string-bass.html
I think cherry is an awesome wood for guitars.

 

[sk3ks1s]

I have never seen a guitar made of elm...

......... made one out of elm last year sometime... Too far back to scour through the threads to find it.... But it's there. He used that zig-zag book matched joint. I think it had a different top though. Looked very nice.

Edit: What the fuck? Why does " H u f s c h m i d " turn to .........???

 

[sk3ks1s]

Jatoba also looks to be quite a nice wood for a neck. It kinda looks/feels like a super dense oak. Maybe in the same family? A distant cousin maybe? Related by marriage at least.
Also, I'd really like to try basswood as a RG shaped body. I'd be really curious as to what that would sound like.

 

[scherzo1928]

Jatoba also looks to be quite a nice wood for a neck. It kinda looks/feels like a super dense oak. Maybe in the same family? A distant cousin maybe? Related by marriage at least.
Also, I'd really like to try basswood as a RG shaped body. I'd be really curious as to what that would sound like.

I remember that one, spalted maple top is I'm not mistaken. Also, I'd say it had a ziricote board.

 

[AndrewG716]

Jatoba also looks to be quite a nice wood for a neck. It kinda looks/feels like a super dense oak. Maybe in the same family? A distant cousin maybe? Related by marriage at least.
Also, I'd really like to try basswood as a RG shaped body. I'd be really curious as to what that would sound like.

Aren't a ton of RG's made of basswood?

 

[ryantheyetti]

i was under the impression that like 90% of the none prestige models were

 

[sk3ks1s]

Aren't a ton of RG's made of basswood?

i was under the impression that like 90% of the none prestige models were

... rough crowd tonight.

 

[Jarmake]

And I was under the impression that 90% of the prestige line guitars are also basswood..