Lord-of-the-strings Posted October 29, 2005 Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 (edited) Hmm... my dad was just making a frame for a mirror out of pine (gotta love that smell ) and it got me to wondering, is pine any good for building guitars? what are the upsides and the downsides to it? I've heard it's really warm but why do so many people turn away from it? OH yeah... and the reason for me asking is the local llumberyards have pine up the wazzoo for dirt cheap. Edited October 29, 2005 by Lord-of-the-strings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackburncustomguitars Posted October 29, 2005 Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 Hmm... my dad was just making a frame for a mirror out of pine (gotta love that smell ) and it got me to wondering, is pine any good for building guitars? what are the upsides and the downsides to it? I've heard it's really warm but why do so many people turn away from it? ← Hi, Well it IS soft. Usually it doesn't tap test well. I'd pop for the extra bucks and at least go for mahogany or maple. Peace, Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted October 29, 2005 Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 It's used for guitar prototypes sometimes, from what I know. So it MIGHT work, but like Blackburn said, I'd go for Mahogany or Ash or something just to be sure it'll hold up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksound Posted October 29, 2005 Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 Our friend Hyunsu uses pine a lot. Don't know how they sound, but see for yourself: Search terms "pine" "hyunsu" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted October 29, 2005 Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 you can find tons of info by searching for "pine" link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiggz Posted October 30, 2005 Report Share Posted October 30, 2005 the pine u will buy from lumber yards is usually for framing or cabinet making, and is usually fairly green (by green i mean not dried), and will not hold up to the stress' of a guitar to nicely, go for somthing tried and tested, or some other wood that is dry enuf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Alex Posted October 30, 2005 Report Share Posted October 30, 2005 Round my way you can get kiln dried quartersawn pine no problem, but still get it acclimated to your shop, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunkielad Posted October 30, 2005 Report Share Posted October 30, 2005 Why not try it? It doesn't cost a lot and if it goes wrong, you can use it as a teplate for a better known wood! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted October 30, 2005 Report Share Posted October 30, 2005 (edited) Havn't we gone over this enough times? Why would you wan't to work with an inferrior wood thats hard to finish and is very soft when you can have a alder blank for less than $25? I wouldn't want to waste my time on a wood that will give me less than perfect results when just a few dollars are seperating it from a good wood. Edited October 30, 2005 by Godin SD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted October 30, 2005 Report Share Posted October 30, 2005 If you're looking for cheap, try poplar or alder (both proven in production guitars) - if you want something easy to work, try basswood. Most of the yellow pine sold as lumber in the US barely quailfies as adequate framing lumber - if you could find some of that high quailty (probably old growth) pine like Hyunsu has used, it might be worthwhile, but Home Depot 2x12s just won't cut it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted October 30, 2005 Report Share Posted October 30, 2005 The *right kind* of pine can, and has worked very good for guitar bodies. Problem is, I think it was always very old pine that was used. You know, much more dense than the new stuff you can buy now. I've been collecting wood from around the neighborhood that people throw away, and I seem to have some nice old-growth pine, fir, redwood, etc etc. "Tap-tone" on most pieces seem to be as good as it gets. Many of them are taunting me to make arch-top or flat-top sound-boards out of them. Fender made repros of the early 50's pine tele guitars, but I read more than once that they made the pine bodies out of stairs taken from an old torn-down church. See, even the Fender custom shop has to go on a treasure hunt for that kind of wood, instead of finding it on the shelf at a wood-shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrummerDude Posted October 30, 2005 Report Share Posted October 30, 2005 I have an electric Kremona that is made of pine. It is light as a feather, very comfortable because of its weight. The sound is bright, pretty damn sharp for a guitar with a really soft wood body as contrary to the muddy, unclean sound of my basswood Ibanez (basswood is damn soft too). No it's not a joke - my cheap as hell pine Kremona has a better sound than the sh*tty Ibanez. The big problem with pine is that it cracks easily. The dudes from Kremona topped the pine body with two 3 mm thick layers of maple veneer (one on the front pannel and one over the bottom, so the pine body is inbetween, it's a sandwich-like construction) The idea of the Kremona guys was to prevent the pine body from cracking and to protect its soft surface from getting dinged. Still, the mample veneers didn't help much and I had to fix a serious crack that almost halved the body apart. In conclusion: Pine has a great sound for a cheap wood. Even more - it has a great sound for a really soft wood. it is light and thus makes good guitars for playing live. BUT! It is very likely to crack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gripper Posted October 30, 2005 Report Share Posted October 30, 2005 My uncle bought the pews out of an old Prespe church in Michigan and made us knock them apart. He said most of them were pine and cherry but some of them he said were pine and ash or all pine. We would set our radio on them and you could tell which ones were all pine because the radio was about twice as rich sounding. Once they were knocked apart, I could not tell the differance but some of it cracked in about a week. He said that was the pine and we could throw that in the burn pile. All that sound gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Mariah Posted October 30, 2005 Report Share Posted October 30, 2005 Why would you wan't to work with an inferrior wood thats hard to finish and is very soft when you can have a alder blank for less than $25? For starters, if you need to make a lot of bodies $25 a pop is still a bit hefty. I'll probably go through four or five prototype shapes before I hit on the right one for what I'm building right now. Should I spend $125 for five blanks or ~$15 for a massive chunk of pine? For another, it's just damn fun to tweak the nipples of people that spout off rotely memorized factoids as if they're gospel. "Pine sucks! It's too soft!" Basswood's soft too. So is swamp ash. "It sounds bad!" How many around here can honestly say they have heard a guitar made out of pine? Are you stating something out of real knowledge, or just repeating things you've heard from others that heard them from others that know a guy that built a pine guitar once? "It'll crack and warp and bend!" Possibly. This is about the only valid complaint with pine. Then again, I have pine furniture my dad built a decade ago that's just as flat and in one piece as the day it was finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrummerDude Posted October 31, 2005 Report Share Posted October 31, 2005 How many around here can honestly say they have heard a guitar made out of pine? I could. I have a guitar made of pine. Are you stating something out of real knowledge, or just repeating things you've heard from others that heard them from others that know a guy that built a pine guitar once? In my case - yes, I'm using my real life knowledge because I have a pine guitar, for freak's sake! "It'll crack and warp and bend!" Hell, yes. it will crack and that's for sure. Whoever wants to build a pine guitar, apply a thick maple top and you'll be fine. Well, in most cases. My guitar cracked under the two layers of maple. Once again: pine is a good cheap tonewood. but it WILL crack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted October 31, 2005 Report Share Posted October 31, 2005 If you think Pine doesn't work, (as I used to) then you should check out THIS GUY, BRIAN POE, out. Although I probably wouldn't care for one myself, his bodies are quite the craze around the vintage Telecaster crowd right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrummerDude Posted October 31, 2005 Report Share Posted October 31, 2005 (edited) If you think Pine doesn't work, (as I used to) then you should check out THIS GUY, BRIAN POE, out. Although I probably wouldn't care for one myself, his bodies are quite the craze around the vintage Telecaster crowd right now. ← Haha, this is awesome news! I am trying to make a Classic Telecaster and getting a good one-piece ash or alder blank is a problem for me. Now that I know the truth about the very first Telecasters, I'm going to build this one out of PINE! You know that there is one problem, though. The body will crack. PS: Does anybody know if any of those antique pine Esqures survived till nowadays without cracking? Edited October 31, 2005 by DrummerDude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted October 31, 2005 Report Share Posted October 31, 2005 Check this out. This guy lives in my hometown, here in Ottawa. http://www.zacharyguitars.com/071199pics.htm Personally, I don't think that pine is strong enough for use on an electric guitar. Pine dents really easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted October 31, 2005 Report Share Posted October 31, 2005 What would be cool is if we devoted one GOTM to Pine guitars, everyone could get creative and just make some wild Pine guitars.. lol I think I'll call mine the "Pineocaster" with beautiful Knotty Top clear finish. Whose all in for a Pine Guitar contest? Raise their hands.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrummerDude Posted October 31, 2005 Report Share Posted October 31, 2005 Whose all in for a Pine Guitar contest? Raise their hands.. Count me in. My finish won't be too knotty because I'll use a 5-6 mm thick layer of maple top veneer on both sides of the body. Otherwise the pine would simply fall apart. By the way, I have an idea. What about using inner crack protectors? "What is an inner crack protector?", you'd ask. Well I just invented it Have a look at the pic I made. The body is drilled from its side all along its width. Then several hard wood bars (made of maple, beech, oak) are stuck tightly in the holes and glued. The two layers of maple top are applied as well, of course. This would 100% protect the pine body from cracking. What do you think? I know, im a genius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Here's a knotty pine tele : http://members.cox.net/jpeters24/knottycas...ody%20large.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeiscosRock Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Take note that those first Esquires were made of pine out of an old church (the pews), and were very VERY old, so chances are, the wood already got alot of the cracking out of its system. As for crack protectors, you could laminate wood against the grain and then cap it on two sides with maple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Crack? Only if you're using a piece of wood that's too green for the purpose. Most of the pine you get isn't of terribly good quality, and isn't terribly dry, ergo it'll crack. You want woods that crack? Go get some flatsawn brazilian rosewood, or worse, some Ziricote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksound Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 As for crack protectors, you could laminate wood against the grain ...← In my country, we call it plywood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrummerDude Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 As for crack protectors, you could laminate wood against the grain and then cap it on two sides with maple. ← Man, I am saying this for the third time: I have a guitar with a pine body, laminated from both sides. The pine body cracked even though the laminates were holding it inbetween. At least they prevented it from completely falling apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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