Wood question!

[rob_707]

hey everyone i know that this has probably been asked a lot of times before hand.
My question is why is most of today's guitars made from bass wood and maple, (which in my industry is considered a soft wood) and the better woods like ebony and mahogany but no one makes them out of oak or honey locust? Are the woods tone bad or something? i feel that we have a wide variety of great woods at our disposal and we still choose to get forin woods.

i am an arbourist and have the ability to take home any wood i deem fit, not to mention access to a lumber mill. I want to try and start creating my own guitars in time but i dont want to buy wood from a company and have my money sent over seas. id like to keep it in the US, and Canada which is where I'm located.

i like the idea of having a story for every guitar i want to build weather it was a storm that blew the tree down on a house or it was dangerous to the public. i dont want to buy a guitar and know that it was cut down because someone needed a guitar. get what i'm saying?
you're instrument helps tell you're story why not make something that has a story on its own

 

[DredFul]

Many guitars are made from the same woods because those woods have become a standard and companies can get them cheaply because they are the standard so they are cheap.. The circle goes on and on.. And for example basswood grows quite fast so they can make lot of guitars out of it. You can't have a production model with 2000 year old super rare burl redwood top, can you?

Anyway I think your idea is amazing. The trick is just to experiment with different wood combinations and find out what sounds good. I've never heard of honey locust to be honest but it does sound tasty!

 

[Navid]

You can pretty much use any wood you want as long as the one you use for the neck is strong enough.

I made a few guitars out of (white) Oak. There are reasons why no one uses it:
F&n heavyweight - Could cause neck dive issues when used in the neck, sore backs to lightweight players when used as body wood.
It is quite soft compared to other woods that cost just as much - it isn't suitable as a fretboard
It bends easily - You don't want that in a neck.
It is easily teared out from the router bit when routing the shapes
It is also quite hard to work with in general. Rasps and planers/spokeshave easily tear chunks out

Oak isn't more expensive than maple, buy proper woods even to build the first guitars. Learning will be easier and more enjoyable.

You can build a guitar with oak of course, just take into consideration the above issues.
To have a stable neck you'd need to make a fatter profile or add more truss rods, and the guitar will be heavy. A thin guitar body with lots of carving would be great. With the router, cut just a few wood every pass and keep the bit spinning slowly.

I'm building a 6 string bass with an oak body right now, I had some wood from an old oak tree that fell in my grandmother's territory. I already had made enough chairs and a nice slab was there with no purpose. And I go to the gym regularly so I don't mind a 4.5cm thick single cut bass body. (I also enjoy mocking weak people who say my instruments are too heavy for them).
Trust me though, after working with Sapele and other great woods, routing and rasping oak has been such a nightmare...

P.S. Buy an equalizer and any guitar will sound alike.

 

[rob_707]

You can pretty much use any wood you want as long as the one you use for the neck is strong enough.

I made a few guitars out of (white) Oak. There are reasons why no one uses it:
F&n heavyweight - Could cause neck dive issues when used in the neck, sore backs to lightweight players when used as body wood.
It is quite soft compared to other woods that cost just as much - it isn't suitable as a fretboard
It bends easily - You don't want that in a neck.
It is easily teared out from the router bit when routing the shapes
It is also quite hard to work with in general. Rasps and planers/spokeshave easily tear chunks out

Oak isn't more expensive than maple, buy proper woods even to build the first guitars. Learning will be easier and more enjoyable.

You can build a guitar with oak of course, just take into consideration the above issues.
To have a stable neck you'd need to make a fatter profile or add more truss rods, and the guitar will be heavy. A thin guitar body with lots of carving would be great. With the router, cut just a few wood every pass and keep the bit spinning slowly.

I'm building a 6 string bass with an oak body right now, I had some wood from an old oak tree that fell in my grandmother's territory. I already had made enough chairs and a nice slab was there with no purpose. And I go to the gym regularly so I don't mind a 4.5cm thick single cut bass body. (I also enjoy mocking weak people who say my instruments are too heavy for them).
Trust me though, after working with Sapele and other great woods, routing and rasping oak has been such a nightmare...

P.S. Buy an equalizer and any guitar will sound alike.

ok thanks for all this information, as for white oak it is a straight grain wood, u can literally take a short branch and blow threw the wood and feel it out the other end, i was thinking more along the lines of black oak or red seeing as they both grow twisted just like sugar maple.
and for honey locust it is probably the hardest wood i work with, it dulls saws so fast, and is extremely strong. i think this would be prime for necks on guitars.
as for weight issues, if i find a strong enough local wood i would probably make thin body guitars, but for projects sake they will start think then make there way thin. and too bad for the weaklings!

 

[canuck brian]

Basswood is easy to work, easy to finish, easy to route, cheap to obtain and doesn't splinter like crazy on a CNC machine. It doesn't have an extremely porous grain so it's not going to take a lot of filler to make nice and smooth before sealing and finish.

Maple - easy to obtain, looks good, works well.

If it isn't broke, don't fix it.

 

[rob_707]

Basswood is easy to work, easy to finish, easy to route, cheap to obtain and doesn't splinter like crazy on a CNC machine. It doesn't have an extremely porous grain so it's not going to take a lot of filler to make nice and smooth before sealing and finish.

Maple - easy to obtain, looks good, works well.

If it isn't broke, don't fix it.

ah i see, i wounder if red oak will do the same, wont know until i try i guess!
thanks brian

 

[VanDewart Guitars]

I've built from oak, and it takes a LOT of time hand sanding; router tearout was prevalent. It was a super thin, so the weight didn't bother me. If you want a gloss, pore filling will be very time-consuming. I went with an oil finish, and it looked fine. No worse than ash, but heavier.

If you are building one yourself, go for whatever woods you want. All of these "production" concerns don't apply if you are making just one.

 

[skeels]

Im an arborist too. I've built some guitars using wood that I've cut. It can be very rewarding, although fresh cut trees need to season before they are stable enough to use.

 

[rob_707]

Im an arborist too. I've built some guitars using wood that I've cut. It can be very rewarding, although fresh cut trees need to season before they are stable enough to use.

awesome duder!! glad to hear. i do however have some wood that has been seasoning for 5 years i just havent had time to build with it, its honey locust.
im aware so far i need to let it dry for a while, so i think this stuff is good to go. id really like to have this wood sent out and made into a guitar as a project to see if it will be a good wood to work with. seeing as i do not have the tools just yet to make my own.

that being said any takers??