Winter Build Off 2020 - Get Ready

[Jisch]

Or you could

View attachment 3594360

It

That was my 2016 build off.

 

[Scoops]

I think I have finalized my wood selection.

Man, we start in a month and Yikes! I still got stuff to do

 

[Will_White]

I'm finishing up my design, it's going to be interesting.

 

[ctmullins]

Shoot, I’m still trying to pick one design out of the four or five rattling around in my head...

 

[TerribleTim68]

Shoot, I’m still trying to pick one design out of the four or five rattling around in my head...

Send them to me and I'll pick one for you.

 

[Reedt2000]

Shoot, I’m still trying to pick one design out of the four or five rattling around in my head...

Send them to me and I'll pick one for you.

Or just mash em all together into a monstrous, hollow, fenden-bacher-iban-ibson-ha-bird

 

[TerribleTim68]

...fenden-bacher-iban-ibson-ha

I'm tempted to copywrite this new brand name!

 

[Scoops]

Shoot, I’m still trying to pick one design out of the four or five rattling around in my head...

Don't forget to add the mustache

 

[Jisch]

I've got my design just about done, I haven't done any wood selection yet. I have ideas, but I need to look through my wood to decide on specific pieces.

 

[Klondike]

What kind of places do all of you course your wood? I've been checking out flea Bay and it seems like everyone is so expensive. $100 bucks for blank wood just seems way to much, thee has to be better places.

 

[Jon Clegg]

I've gotten Saplele from Midwest Lumber on ebay for reasonable prices, Keim Lumber has reasonable prices depending on what you want.

 

[Scoops]

What kind of places do all of you course your wood? I've been checking out flea Bay and it seems like everyone is so expensive. $100 bucks for blank wood just seems way to much, thee has to be better places.

Yes, the $100 bucks seems to be the mark.

Google "bass body blank", and you'll find people like Jon aludes to. Sometime you have to dig in a little

I have a "Mom and Pop" lumberyard about 20 minutes away that I can get Alder body blanks for @$30, African Mahogany Body blanks for @$35, Northern ash for @$25.
Sometimes he doesn't have full width boards so I have to settle for 2 halves

The stuff is out there if you look for it

 

[TerribleTim68]

What kind of places do all of you course your wood? I've been checking out flea Bay and it seems like everyone is so expensive. $100 bucks for blank wood just seems way to much, thee has to be better places.

So, I asked this same question a while back and got a lot of good suggestions. Locally here in the Pacific Northwest (Tacoma, Washington specifically) I have a specialty wood supplier that focuses on the marine industry and a local "woodworking" store. Both of these places stock just about any specialty wood I could want and the woodworking store even has random sized offcuts for sale as well, so I can just dig through and see what they have, see what strikes my fancy and go from there.

 

[rojo412]

Keim Lumber in Charm, OH is amazingly cool. That's my go-to place, despite the 1.5 hour drive to get there.
The prices are quite reasonable, here's the body blank selection.

However, I'll definitely say it's much cheaper to buy the proper plank, then turn it into a body blank. I've bought swamp ash planks there in the past that cost less than a single blank and it made at least 2 bodies.
FWIW, their swamp ash price has risen quite a bit in recent years, but they still carry a ton of stuff and there are plenty of other woods that I find there to be UNDERpriced by a lot.

 

[Jon Clegg]

Keim Lumber in Charm, OH is amazingly cool. That's my go-to place, despite the 1.5 hour drive to get there.
The prices are quite reasonable, here's the body blank selection.

However, I'll definitely say it's much cheaper to buy the proper plank, then turn it into a body blank. I've bought swamp ash planks there in the past that cost less than a single blank and it made at least 2 bodies.
FWIW, their swamp ash price has risen quite a bit in recent years, but they still carry a ton of stuff and there are plenty of other woods that I find there to be UNDERpriced by a lot.

Yeah, I wish I still lived in Canton, it'd be like a 45 minute drive.

 

[postalflunkie]

There's a sawmill close to me that has Kiln dried regional lumber (maple, walnut, ash, hickory...)
I also frequent woodcraft and woodwerks.
Online, I like Oregon Wild Woods (tonewood.com) and Gilmer Wood.

 

[Reedt2000]

There's an emerald ash borer outbreak in central NJ, the solution to which is apparently cutting the trees down to prevent spread. There are piles of ash just laying around in my local park!

 

[ctmullins]

No local hardwood shops here.

I buy on eBay, but the trick is to not search on "body blank", "guitar blank", etc.

Try searching for "maple lumber".

 

[Klondike]

So, I asked this same question a while back and got a lot of good suggestions. Locally here in the Pacific Northwest (Tacoma, Washington specifically) I have a specialty wood supplier that focuses on the marine industry and a local "woodworking" store. Both of these places stock just about any specialty wood I could want and the woodworking store even has random sized offcuts for sale as well, so I can just dig through and see what they have, see what strikes my fancy and go from there.

I have a rockler not too far away(Chicago burbs), pricing seems pretty high to me. I guess the best thing to do is hit a couple locals that cut trees.

 

[Klondike]

Yes, the $100 bucks seems to be the mark.

Google "bass body blank", and you'll find people like Jon aludes to. Sometime you have to dig in a little

I have a "Mom and Pop" lumberyard about 20 minutes away that I can get Alder body blanks for @$30, African Mahogany Body blanks for @$35, Northern ash for @$25.
Sometimes he doesn't have full width boards so I have to settle for 2 halves

The stuff is out there if you look for it

I haven't done any driving to find the stuff, I guess that's what Im going to have to do. $35 bucks for a Mahogany blank would be awesome!