Drak Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 Cool piece of Maple. And cheap. I dig it. Can we say 'TELECASTER'? Bwahahahahaa! I am -really- on the natural wood kick this year. Maple Piece Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 Very nice piece for 12 bucks... Darn, I will love to buy wood now, but it won't get used until a year from now, so I will wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted May 19, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 You're going overseas aren't you? Look at it this way: Remember that 'Mother Maple' thread a long time ago, that huge fatback slab of stellar 5A Maple quilt that was fresh then, and has just been sitting here quietly... She's ready. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 I am -really- on the natural wood kick this year. Maple Piece ← THIS year? Impeccable taste in wood, if I do say so. Good pick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted May 20, 2005 Report Share Posted May 20, 2005 You're going overseas aren't you? Look at it this way: Remember that 'Mother Maple' thread a long time ago, that huge fatback slab of stellar 5A Maple quilt that was fresh then, and has just been sitting here quietly... She's ready. ← I have been thinking about this too! What I got planned to do is buy some and have it sent to my house while I'm away, then get busy as soon as I get back. I will be moving out of MD too, so you think that if I send the wood ina a trailer from MD to TX in July I will have any problem with it? I hope not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluespresence Posted May 20, 2005 Report Share Posted May 20, 2005 Nice wood...... I got some wood this week too........REDwood Redwood Looks like it will be sitting a while until it's dry but I have time to get my maple used up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorecki Posted May 20, 2005 Report Share Posted May 20, 2005 That puppy's almost 3" thick, you gonna plane that down? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
!!METAL MATT!! Posted May 20, 2005 Report Share Posted May 20, 2005 Nice wood...... I got some wood this week too........REDwood Redwood Looks like it will be sitting a while until it's dry but I have time to get my maple used up. Well I liked that redwood so much man Im going for some!! !!METAL MATT!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted May 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2005 That puppy's almost 3" thick, you gonna plane that down? Yeah, I'll cut it into 1/4" pieces, and want at least 4 bookmatched pairs out of it for the top and bottom plates of 2 Teles, and if I get more than that, cool. __________________________________ You DO know that buying Redwood is like buying Spruce, right? Same basic properties more or less. Soft as butter, and will dent just by looking at it sideways. Pretty stuff tho. And it's not really that pretty bright orange-brown that his pics depict, it's more a regular brown color in real life. He uses watered wood and a flash to get that effect I believe. So 'technically' it's not misleading, but it doesn't really look like his pics either. And just in case you have a need, he will resaw the piece as many times as you want in any thickness you ask for a nominal fee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluespresence Posted May 21, 2005 Report Share Posted May 21, 2005 ^^^ Thanks for that info Drak. I have always lusted after a Cirrus bass with the flamed redwood top. Since I already have the walnut Cirrus my chances of having the redwood also are slim so I thought I'd do the next best thing and use this for a home brew bass. I'll be tapping the knowledge base here when it's dry enough to use....I want that flame to POP!! I didn't realize it was so soft. I guess I never paid attention to redwood on decks and figured since they used it for decks it must be fairly hard. My deck is composite because I'm lazy and don't want to treat it every year or two Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted May 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2005 With woods like that, in my case the Buckeye Burls and spalts I use, I just keep the top real thin (1/8-3/16, somewhere in there), which allows the underlying solid body wood to keep it's tonal signature intact more or less. Truly spalted wood and that Buckeye Burl (which is also spalted wood) is, tonally speaking, completely dead and lifeless, so keeping it thin allows the body wood to maintain control over the tone, and the top wood is really just for show. The thinner it is the less impact it has over the tone and for tonally dead wood, the thinner the better, AFAIC Although the Redwood is NOT tonally dead, folks make acoustic tops from it (like Spruce), but gluing it to a solidbody I would think would render it rather lifeless tonally-speaking...IMO anyway...(which is completely worthless BTW) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluespresence Posted May 22, 2005 Report Share Posted May 22, 2005 Makes sense to me! One thing I have wondered about on my Cirrus is they used walnut for the body and then a thin walnut top..... Walnut is walnut isn't it? It's not like there is a ton of figure in the top but it does have a bit more "flavor" than the back. Or is the figured walnut just more expensive so they get the most out of it by using the figure only on top - that would make sense to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted May 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2005 Figured Walnut (the high end Claro anyway) is very expensive, the primary market being custom gunstocks, just like we build custom guitars, but those guys are stone cold fools for highly figured Walnut, and that market drives the price up accordingly. As an 'inside tip', I will actually look for gunstock wood on eBay if I'm building a V, because a lot of times you can split and bookmatch a piece of wood cut and sized for a gunstock and it will fit a Flying V body where a lot of times wood that has been bookmatched for guitar bodies isn't long enough or wide enough to suit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluespresence Posted May 27, 2005 Report Share Posted May 27, 2005 That redwood showed up and was actually still wet!! I took it out of the box and let it dry out and it is purdy! Smells good too....it's like having a cedar chest in my kitchen. Question: Is it better to let it dry as a solid block or should I get it bookmatched and let it dry as thinner pieces? I'm not looking to use it for at least another year and I want to make sure it is dried correctly. I also don't want it to check or split on me. It is one Beautiful hunk of wood and I'd hate to screw it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay5 Posted May 27, 2005 Report Share Posted May 27, 2005 I would think that cutting it would allow it to dry faster but Im not sure if that is always the best idea. If you bookmatch it and let it dry I imagine that the chances of it warping would be greater. This is just a guess though so I'll let Drak correct me if Im wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted May 27, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 27, 2005 Go inquire at the MIMF. Someone else here bought some of that wet Redwood a short while back, and they asked over at the MIMF and got a lot of interesting answers. The one thing I will stress is: IF you have it resawn, you need to THEN sand BOTH sides with the same grit before you leave it to dry. If you have 1 side resawn (rough) and the other side smooth (from his sander), you will -definitely- warp the wood, -no- doubt about it. You MUST treat -both- sides of the piece equally for it to dry equally and straight. Then sticker and stack most likely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluespresence Posted May 28, 2005 Report Share Posted May 28, 2005 Thanks for the info. I'll go over there and poke around through the search function to see what I come up with. I had a chunk of quilt maple that I let dry as one piece before I had it resawn and it seems to be fine. I realize maple and redwood are two different animals and I have plenty of time and patience to let it dry as one piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metallion Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 ^^^ Thanks for that info Drak. I have always lusted after a Cirrus bass with the flamed redwood top. Since I already have the walnut Cirrus my chances of having the redwood also are slim so I thought I'd do the next best thing and use this for a home brew bass. I'll be tapping the knowledge base here when it's dry enough to use....I want that flame to POP!! If you still got The CIRRUS, I would need the Dimensions of the Neck. Thickness, Headstock angle, etc. Dim's of the Body would be useful too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 If you still got The CIRRUS, I would need the Dimensions of the Neck. Thickness, Headstock angle, etc. Dim's of the Body would be useful too. I'd hate to say, but bluespresence passed away early last year. Good luck with finding those dimensions though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.