I used Douglas Fir (quartersawn) for the carved top of my semi-acoustic 6 string:
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The Douglas Fir thread!
- Thread starter speyer
- Start date
D
Here’s a guy who makes archtop guitars from Douglas fir, including the soundboard:
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https://jscarchtops.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/DSC_3408.jpg
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I'm in Vancouver, not far from you Speyer. They just demolished an old elementary school near me recently and saved these really long roof fir rafters that would have been drying for 109 years. I wonder what they plan to do with them? They are still piled in the corner of the lot under tarps.
Ken Parker builds his archtop guitars with a neck core of straight grained Douglas-Fir with CF reinforcements.
I'm also in the PNW and have used DF on lots of projects. Doing restoration on my house requires a lot of it, because the whole thing is made out of it. Framing, siding, flooring, trim, you name it. Built in 1906 and DF was the stuff. When it's aged, definitely drill pilot holes for everything. It's less like a hardwood and more like concrete
When I worked as an industrial carpenter many moons ago, we used DF for carefully engineered structures that had to withstand being submerged or under constant water spray for decades. Treated DF was the only wood that gave a similar longevity to redwood in those conditions. Redwood was also much less stiff and was softer, so did not weather as well.
As I'm sure most have seen, it's not actually a true "fir", but is more closely related to pines, and when you get down to it, really belongs in a category all it's own with it's unique biology. Well-dried old growth lumber performs more like a hardwood than a softwood. The floors in my house are 115 years old at least and have worn well over that time. The grain is all perfectly straight and compact, with about 50 rings per inch.
I've got a really nice chunk with nearly perfect vertical grain that I'm saving to cut into several sets of acoustic tops, but that curly piece @speyer has is really nice
I'm also in the PNW and have used DF on lots of projects. Doing restoration on my house requires a lot of it, because the whole thing is made out of it. Framing, siding, flooring, trim, you name it. Built in 1906 and DF was the stuff. When it's aged, definitely drill pilot holes for everything. It's less like a hardwood and more like concrete
When I worked as an industrial carpenter many moons ago, we used DF for carefully engineered structures that had to withstand being submerged or under constant water spray for decades. Treated DF was the only wood that gave a similar longevity to redwood in those conditions. Redwood was also much less stiff and was softer, so did not weather as well.
As I'm sure most have seen, it's not actually a true "fir", but is more closely related to pines, and when you get down to it, really belongs in a category all it's own with it's unique biology. Well-dried old growth lumber performs more like a hardwood than a softwood. The floors in my house are 115 years old at least and have worn well over that time. The grain is all perfectly straight and compact, with about 50 rings per inch.
I've got a really nice chunk with nearly perfect vertical grain that I'm saving to cut into several sets of acoustic tops, but that curly piece @speyer has is really nice
I’ve been waiting on the community center woodshop to open back so I can build a Telebass body. I was thinking to just use pine, but now I’m really liking the idea of Doug Fir, being in Oregon it’s on hand most places.
Dubious, I'm a forester by profession and that looks like paradise !
Love the flame. Here's a build I did with a Doug Fir body core, glued up from a 2x4. It can be very hard, dense stuff. Looking forward to what you come up with!
D
We pacific NW people have to deal with some rain but its worth it!
I won’t ever move away(again, vegas was a BIG mistake but thats way behind me now)
Ken Parker builds his archtop guitars with a neck core of straight grained Douglas-Fir with CF reinforcements.
I'm also in the PNW and have used DF on lots of projects. Doing restoration on my house requires a lot of it, because the whole thing is made out of it. Framing, siding, flooring, trim, you name it. Built in 1906 and DF was the stuff. When it's aged, definitely drill pilot holes for everything. It's less like a hardwood and more like concrete
When I worked as an industrial carpenter many moons ago, we used DF for carefully engineered structures that had to withstand being submerged or under constant water spray for decades. Treated DF was the only wood that gave a similar longevity to redwood in those conditions. Redwood was also much less stiff and was softer, so did not weather as well.
As I'm sure most have seen, it's not actually a true "fir", but is more closely related to pines, and when you get down to it, really belongs in a category all it's own with it's unique biology. Well-dried old growth lumber performs more like a hardwood than a softwood. The floors in my house are 115 years old at least and have worn well over that time. The grain is all perfectly straight and compact, with about 50 rings per inch.
I've got a really nice chunk with nearly perfect vertical grain that I'm saving to cut into several sets of acoustic tops, but that curly piece @speyer has is really nice
Beej, just imagine the forest that came from. It would have been a sight to behold.
Anyway. I was at Lake Quinault on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State -2014. We hiked past a Doug fir purported to be one of the largest in the U.S. It's 92m tall, and 4m in diameter at breast height.
See below:
And another further on up the trail. I was really taken by the crown silhouette. A magnificent stick ever so slightly smaller than the one above.
My main 4-string has a douglas fir body.
And my hollowbodies (which have since been moved to other TB members) had douglas fir tops.
And my hollowbodies (which have since been moved to other TB members) had douglas fir tops.
Last summer, I was plotting out a 5-string build with Nino Valenti. I considered this Douglas fir top but ended up buying a bass on the used market. It would've made for a unique bass... I just love this cut of wood!
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WOW! I've never seen Doug Fir like that. Are you sure it's DF, or did another species get mixed in at the mill?
I'd be concerned about stability though, with all that figure. I'd probably be inclined to slice it into shop made veneer.
I'd be concerned about stability though, with all that figure. I'd probably be inclined to slice it into shop made veneer.
Being a woodworker born and raised here on the West Coast… You’d think I’d have a stash of Douglas fir in my wood collection dedicated to instrument building. Instead, I have handled and gone through hundreds of pieces of Doug fir... whether be reclaimed or fresh off the mill or stock shelves at the local Lumberyard. Many of which were of a very high-quality… Very tight, straight grained, heavy beautiful stuff.
Up until yesterday, I have assumed Doug Fir wasn’t really a suitable Tonewood for instrument making. Thus, its use has been relegated to largely finishing Millwork and or fine furniture pieces IME.
Yesterday, I was at the lumberyard grabbing some jamb material for my own home renovation… And across from me in the VG Fir section (not hem-fir) was this big ol’ banana’d s4s 2x10 (1.5x9.25) that looked to have been there quite a while. Being the wood snob that I am... I immediately noticed the figure popping out of this board along its entire 10 foot length. Upon closer inspection… I realize the whole thing is curly, right through to the other side and is heavy as hell. Well as you can imagine… I excitedly bought the thing for a measly $7.50 per board foot. After loading it up in my van, I Google search “Douglas Fir guitar” thinking; someone must be using this stuff in guitar builds!?
Well, I find out that I have been sadly misinformed about this useful species of wood. After seeing several dozen fantastic images of solid body and acoustic guitars with curly Douglas for tops... I go down the rabbit hole only to discover that Doug Fir can and is being used today for everything from acoustic tops & bracing as an alternative to spruce, to solid body tops and even bass/guitar necks instead of maple! Too cool. I’m so excited to build on my specialty Doug fir stash and incorporating the species into future builds!
For the sake of inspiration... Show me your Douglas Fir!
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I’m all fir it! Please post pics of your future products. Best wishes.
Depends on exactly "where" in the PNW I guess. I'm in Tacoma, a bit south of Seattle but not quite Olympia. The bulk of the Redwood is southern Oregon / northern California and the Myrtle is more an Oregon thing. As for the fruit stuff, that's the other side of the hills. So yeah, we can get it, but it has to be brought here like everything else, it's just a matter of how far they trucked it.
But yeah, there's Doug Fir literally everywhere.
And I just pulled out several fir steps from a house reno. This is one I'm going to plane a little to see how it looks. This one has wider grain but 4 have 60 grain per inch and are quartered.
