Age Of The Wood

[loudandproud]

Does it really matter if the mahogany you use is 200 years old or 10.

Id imagine if it is dried properly it should make a difference. What do you think.

[rhoads56]

all things being equal, it probably doesnt....

but....

all things arent equal. Old growth forrests grew slower than new plantations. Acid rain/pollution has an effect on soil and nutrient quality. Etc Etc Etc.

Does it REALLY matter though? No. The amount of 200yo old timber available, is insignificant compared to the thousands and thousands of awesome guitars built every year.

[Daniel Sorbera]

Espicially considering were talking about a solid body guitar here. Where the only real effect on tone the wood has is changeing the way the string vibrated and thus changing the tone. Thus the wood will change the tone quite a bit but I doubt you will hear much diffrence from 200 year old or 10 year old mahogany.

Probably not an audible difference ( although Eric Johnson could most likely hear it!). laugh.gif

[unclej]

the only time that i've ever actually dealt with really old wood had nothing to do with guitar building. the son of a lady friend brought me two 3-4" pieces of true 4x12" loblolly pine that were part of the floor joists from a house that was built in atlanta georgia in 1835. they wanted some bowls turned from it to give to the family that they bought the old house from.

after that length of time the pitch in the wood had turned to amber. i used gouges and scrapers on it and the pitch would build up so quick on the tools that they wouldn't cut after about 45 seconds and i'd have to re-sharpen them. i probably made about fifty cents an hour on that job.