Padouk For Body And/or Neck

[Haggard Cky]

i was wondering what are the tonal properties of Padouk? I personaly think it would look great with an ebony fret board. how would that sound?

also how would a Padouk body sound and would it look good?

[Scrappy_Squirrel]

i was wondering what are the tonal properties of Padouk? I personaly think it would look great with an ebony fret board. how would that sound?

also how would a Padouk body sound and would it look good?

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I used to have a Peavey Padauk guitar and it was a very bright but nice sounding guitar. Although it had a maple neck and fretboard and a brass nut... I really liked the guitar anyway. I sold it because I needed the money. I think padauk makes a very fine guitar IMHO. It's just like any other wood in that it depends on what else you're attaching to it and the quality of the work that determines the sound. It's a hard and dense wood so the sound is probably similar to maple or bubinga.

Padauk is a very waxy wood and can be irritating to the eyes and respiratory tract. It can also be difficult to glue and finish so keep that in mind. When glueing it be sure to soak/wipe the joints with acetone first to avoid glue joint failure. Padauk varies in color from orange to dark brown. As far as how it would look it all depends on what you're looking for. It's not a very exciting grain but if you don't care about figured woods then it would probably suit you fine. I personally like some of the very orange pieces of Padauk I have seen. Your mileage may vary.

[TenderSurrender]

Just backing up scrappy's post,

Padouk can cause a reaction on the skin, in the eyes and cause respitory problems

Padouk is a sensitizer so each time you use it, your reaction will be worse REGARDLESS if you dont touch it for 10 years...

Make sure you use all the proper gear to protect yourself when working with this stuff

~~ Slain Angel ~~

[Setch]

As noted, padauk is a nasal irritant, though I'm not aware of it being particularly prone to allergic reactions. It can have quite 'squirely' interlocked grain, which makes it tough to plane, and it will take the edge off tools quite quickly. It scrapes nicely. It also has massive (huuuge) pores, which you will need to fill if you want a smooth finish. It can also have a fantastic ribben striped grain, which will display a beautiful chatoyance, particularly if used with a penetrating finish.

In regard to guitars, it will tend towards brightness, and it's worth noting that it's pretty heavy, so you may want to reduce thickness a little for design which normally use chunky mahogany bodies.

My first guitar was a padauk SG, with a KA Motherbucker. The KA was unpleasantly muddy in the Epi SG I used it in originally, but in the very bright padauk guitar it worked nicely. I also tried a KA Rocker, which is based on the JB pickup, and this was unpleasantly bright.

Note the ribbon grain - pretty!

[erikbojerik]

Padauk reminds me a lot of mahogany as far as the grain and workability are concerned, just a bit more dense and oily. When you sand it, it will appear very bright orange or red, which will darken quite a bit in the space of a couple of weeks (oxidation). So when you pick out a piece, make sure it hasn't been freshly surfaced, make sure its been sitting around for a month or so.

Nice SG Setch, I hadn't seen that one before. Is that a natural finish on the Padauk? Or did you have to stain it a little?

[mpeg2]

I've built a few guitars out of Padauk - really like the appearance and sound. I've had no problems with working or gluing the wood. I didn't take any special precautions before gluing with TiteBond & have had no problems.

A few points about finishing:

1) Padauk produces a very fine, reddish orange dust when sanded. If there's a laminate happening, especially with a lighter colored wood, the dust will "bleed" through.

2) Padauk takes an oil finish beautifully.

3) The color changes with Padauk are not due to oxidation - rather due to UV (sun exposure). I've looked at pieces that were cut off the blank that have been sitting in the basement for 6 months - the fresh surfaces are still pretty much the same color as when they were cut. One guitar I built has been sitting in a stand where one side gets a little indirect sun exposure - it has darkened considerably compared to the other side, which is more shielded. I've been experimenting with different finishes that claim UV resistance (partially coated piece of wood sitting in the back window of my car for 2 weeks). Teak oil (which does claim UV resistance) seems to do very little to keep the wood from darkening (from orange-red to a rather dull brown). Part way through the cycle, Spar varnish seems to be resisting the color change.

Rich

[Setch]

Erik, the SG is finished with danish oil, wiped on with a rag. No colours or stains, just the padauk doing it's thing.

Rich, I agree completely with your points, and meant to raise them myself. The dust is a PITA, and sticks to any surface it settles on. 3 years down the line I'm still removing dust which was created by building that first guitar! The oil finish worked nicely on mine, though it stayed tacky for quite a long time. It really trandformed the colour and depth of the padauk, and made the ribbons 'dance' like crazy.

I've also not found any special steps are required to glue padauk with titebond.

[Haggard Cky]

based off what your saying i dont think ill be using it since it is my first build. but wut would be a good wood that has a tone simular to mahogany and easy to work with. i have nothing against (sp?) mahogany but i want to see if i can find a something that has an intresting or different grain.

not sure if this helps but i play mainly rock and metal.

thanks for all the help so far

Edited July 29, 2005 by Haggard Cky

[Scrappy_Squirrel]

based off what your saying i dont think ill be using it since it is my first build. but wut would be a good wood that has a tone simular to mahogany and easy to work with. i have nothing against (sp?) mahogany but i want to see if i can find a something that has an intresting or different grain.

not sure if this helps but i play mainly rock and metal.

thanks for all the help so far

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White or Black Limba, or Korina as it is sometimes called. White Limba is pretty boring really; in my opinion anyway. Black Limba can have some interesting dark grain patterns. My current build is Black Limba so I am momentarily biased. However, Limba is known for it's mahogany like qualities in many ways.

[Drak]

Alder.

Cheap, plentiful, most always sounds good, easy on tools, easy to work.

Alder, the fried chicken of guitar woods.

If not Alder, than I would say Walnut, Myrtle, Spanish Cedar, hell, there's tons of woods out there you can use.

But, why do you want a tone similar to Mahogony and not Mahogony itself? Mahogony is pretty easily available.

[Haggard Cky]

i like mahogany but i was just curious on wut other woods are out there that sound simular. ill prolly use mahogany in the end but i want to know all of my options because i dont want to regret my purchase later. but thatks for the help

[erikbojerik]

Look for what the wood guys call "ribbon striped" mahogany. Sapele is an African mahogany that can get that kind of figure going, its nice stuff.

Mpeg, you're right about the UV, thanks. When I read that, I remembered that I had a piece of padauk sitting in my basement (dark) for the past few months. Its as orange as the day it was born!

[fryovanni]

Take a look around. You will find quarter sawn Sapele and Khaya have a very pronounced figure (Ribbon) as mentioned. You can also get interesting quarter sawn grain in Genuine Mahogany(although a little harder to find). Sapele is also available with strong quilted figure and what is called Pomelle (much smaller marble sized figure). Highly figured just as in all woods can get a bit spendy. Take a look here-Gilmer. Lots of figured Sapele.

Peace, Rich

[SoundAt11]

Quartersawn/Riftsawn Khaya (African Mahogany) can definitely have some beautiful ribbon striped pieces. Some of them so prominate that they've got the "candy stripe" look without any finish/enhancement.

Setch, that Padouk SG looks phenominal. I've always loved the early Cherry SG Juniors (listening to The Who at this very moment) and that's amazing that it nails the visual look of cherry stained ribbon striped mahogany without any staining or coloring. I'm definitely interested in using it as a top wood now, although the dust concerns me.

[!!METAL MATT!!]

Alder.

Cheap, plentiful, most always sounds good, easy on tools, easy to work.

Alder, the fried chicken of guitar woods.

YEP!! its all I use for guitars that will be painted, Drak is dead on man

!!METAL MATT!!

[fryovanni]

Wow, I saw my respoce and was thinking I don't remember that. Then I saw this was a year old thread.

[custom22]

It is certainly feasible for a body-I dont know about a neck.

For finishing, you will need to wipe it down with acetone to leach all the oils out if you plan on doing a hard finish.

[Desopolis]

Im using it as a neck wood and am wondering what to do about the huge pores.

and what would be the best finish(oil im assuming) to keep it from turning very brown. Right now its a very rich red.

[Odin]

Try black limba. Soundwise its close to mahogany..and it looks great.

Edited October 12, 2006 by Odin