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core woods Suggestions?

#41
bassksun said:
I don't know about Pinus Silvestris. But pine probably is like working with poplar as a core wood.
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Not at all! poplar is a hardwood and pine is a softwood. Poplar is much denser and heavier than pine. I got some poplar from Larry Davis (I don't know where the heck he finds this stuff) for a double bass project I've been trying to get off the ground for some time. That stuff is heavy and hard. It feels heavier than soft maple ...closer to walnut, but with nice tight grain. I'm building a couple of electrics with some left over wood from the double bass back.

That said, many builders have used pine as a body wood with great success. I tend to like what hard and heavy woods do for a bass.
 
#43
wilser said:
Not at all! poplar is a hardwood and pine is a softwood. Poplar is much denser and heavier than pine. I got some poplar from Larry Davis (I don't know where the heck he finds this stuff) for a double bass project I've been trying to get off the ground for some time. That stuff is heavy and hard. It feels heavier than soft maple ...closer to walnut, but with nice tight grain. I'm building a couple of electrics with some left over wood from the double bass back.

That said, many builders have used pine as a body wood with great success. I tend to like what hard and heavy woods do for a bass.
Click to expand...

So its NOT too soft for bass building...then.

The poplar I have is anything but hard. It is really soft and light. I get it from HD. Whats up with that?:confused:
 
#44
wilser said:
Not at all! poplar is a hardwood and pine is a softwood. Poplar is much denser and heavier than pine. I got some poplar from Larry Davis (I don't know where the heck he finds this stuff) for a double bass project I've been trying to get off the ground for some time. That stuff is heavy and hard. It feels heavier than soft maple ...closer to walnut, but with nice tight grain. I'm building a couple of electrics with some left over wood from the double bass back.

That said, many builders have used pine as a body wood with great success. I tend to like what hard and heavy woods do for a bass.
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Ehm...heavy and hard poplar? That's cool. I never heard of any species of poplar that wasn't light, soft and thready. Could you inform on the speices?

Eleonn: very few woods are too soft for cores. If the top and back are protecting the edge, that is - if not, there is a limit. Pine is about the hardness of alder, so it works well.

tjclem: rowan, or Sorbus Acuparia, is a subarctic tree or bush. Its leaves are fairly similar to ash leaves, and is carries lots of red, discusting berries. The wood has a brown core and yellow sapwood. It's very brittle and prone to cracking during drying. Since it's very likely to go bushy instead of tree, there is not at all a lot of sawable stock. Trunks stop at less than 20 cm (8"), normal is like half of that. More is very rare.
 
#46
The poplar I get from HD, which I assume to be Liriodendron (tulip/yellow poplar) rather than true (Populus) poplar because of the green and purple streaks sometimes present, is what I would call between a softwood and a hardwood in hardness and weight. Softer and lighter than any maple, but still not nearly as bendy as pine, hem fir, etc.
 
#47
pilotjones said:
The poplar I get from HD, which I assume to be Liriodendron (tulip/yellow poplar) rather than true (Populus) poplar because of the green and purple streaks sometimes present, is what I would call between a softwood and a hardwood in hardness and weight. Softer and lighter than any maple, but still not nearly as bendy as pine, hem fir, etc.
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Same stuff I get.

Anybody ever heard of Goldwood?
 
#48
The problem with poplar is not the tone. It has a nice tone to it. None of my customers want it because they don't seeit as being a "custom" wood. So they want Ash, Mahogany etc.etc. I have several nice pieces of poplar but it just sits there..t
 
#50
Suburban said:
Ehm...heavy and hard poplar? That's cool. I never heard of any species of poplar that wasn't light, soft and thready. Could you inform on the speices?
...
Click to expand...

umm, species ...it's a very 'poplary' poplar :D It looks like it and you would never mistake it for anything else, until you pick it up. It's heavier than even some honduran mahogany and alder body blanks I have around (and the alder is 1/4" thicker and longer!). I don't know the specific species, Larry may know since he's the one that sourced it for me. It looks just like poplar, greener rather than yellow if I had to make a distinction. It should make a great instrument, but I'm gonna spray it with tinted material to hide it's uglyness a bit.
 
#51
tjclem said:
The problem with poplar is not the tone. It has a nice tone to it. None of my customers want it because they don't seeit as being a "custom" wood. So they want Ash, Mahogany etc.etc. I have several nice pieces of poplar but it just sits there..t
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OK, now where was that bookmark? :( I recently read on the site of some respected builder, I think it was a high-end archtop maker, that in the beginning he made guitars using common woods - cherry, several other "cheapies" that I don't recall well enough to quote, but standard lumber yard stuff - and they made outstanding guitars. He regrets that he can no longer use them, because no one wants their great guitar built out of average, normal wood.

Wish I had bookmarked that.

Who was the high-end guy who built one out of knotty pine? Might have been him.
 
#52
Bob Benedetto built one. There's a pic of it on his book. So did Taylor and other builders. There's the story of one builder that when he immigrated to the US he didn't have money to buy tools so he built his first few guitars out of wood that was used in shipping crates to get money for tools and more 'expensive' woods. Can't remember who that was.

When Mike Tobias starts saying that poplar is the best 'tonewood' outthere, then most customers will start asking for it. :D

pilotjones said:
OK, now where was that bookmark? :( I recently read on the site of some respected builder, I think it was a high-end archtop maker, that in the beginning he made guitars using common woods - cherry, several other "cheapies" that I don't recall well enough to quote, but standard lumber yard stuff - and they made outstanding guitars. He regrets that he can no longer use them, because no one wants their great guitar built out of average, normal wood.

Wish I had bookmarked that.

Who was the high-end guy who built one out of knotty pine? Might have been him.
Click to expand...
 
#54
tjclem said:
You cant find it out there?:confused:
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j/k

On a serious note: It seems economically feasible to use poplar as a core wood and as an occasional top wood (on the back only at this point). Especially because all of my work HAS to be light. And the savings can go into the electronics.

tjclem: Maybe if you only gave the customer the latin species name for poplar they might go for it???
 
#60
GOLDWOOD (Monotoca glauca)

From Southern forests of Australia. Uncommon.
Golden yellow color, some with red brown streaks and very fine ray (lacey) figure, very fine texture.
Pretty hard and medium density, cuts and finishes very well.
Weighs 45-50 lbs per cubic foot.
Goldenwood

My next fretboard is out of this.
 

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