Since I spent time with references on Butternut in another thread, it only seemed right to do a little research on my favorite wood for bolt-on body blanks ... Alder (Alnus rubra.) Here is part two in a series of wood specific threads I’ll be posting over the coming weeks
Here's a few references I found interesting:
http://www.iswonline.com/wwp/wom/redalder.cfm http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publication...d%20biology%22 http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ALRU2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Alder http://www.forestlearn.org/mills/valu_add/val_faq.htm http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_bas..._and_Cons.html
I found it a little sad that this wood species so critical to the electric guitar/bass industry has so little reference information available, even with its significant longstanding use. It was clear from reading many lumber industry articles that recent rises in Alder pricing are just a taste of what is still to come, as many industries have discovered Alder as the vogue wood for upscale clients – no longer is Alder referred to as the poor man’s Cherry substitute. This trend is true for both the US and Japanese cabinet industry, with the US peak the Southwest coming in a distant second to the Japanese market which has turned to Alder as their wood of choice.
It was encouraging to see that there are numerous reports on forest management of Alder, and that it cycles best in a 35 – 40 year harvest rotation. Also impressive was to see that it is more profitable to grow Alder in the PacNW than any other wood species when the cycle time is accounted for. On the discouraging front is the heavy demand from the Japanese market for Superior grade lumber, as this will sure continue to drive the domestic pricing up while reducing the quantity of quality lumber available.
Most of us tend to believe that Alder does not exist in highly figured form, but I have seen references to highly figured Alder such as this bookmatched set being available on rare occasion
My personal experiences with Alder have been that it is a wood that is
• easy to plane, join, saw, sand, carve, route, glue, and finish
• lighter in weight than many (not all) of the common body woods used in bass building
• resonant in a manner that is well suited for bass guitars, and responds well when building a chambered body
• has an aroma produced when sanding/sawing that I have eventually found a fondness for
Feel welcome to post your own personal experiences with Alder and noteworthy references you find.
all the best,
R
note: edited to fix two small typos
