dpm99 Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 I want a guitar made from the wood of christ's cross, like squisgar squigelf! Really? I just happen to have some I was saving for a project, but I'm not in love with the figure. Since you seem like a good guy, I'll sell it to you for WAY less than I paid. How does $1200/bf sound? I'll even include free shipping! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmth Builder Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 (edited) Is it quarter sawn? Edited July 21, 2008 by Neil Beith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan316 Posted July 22, 2008 Report Share Posted July 22, 2008 Hence, the "almost" portion of your statement. LOL I want a bass made from a coral reef. That should really piss off the Greenpeace guys! Yes, I'm evil. If you're gonna go that route (enraging Greenpeace), cover the thing with baby seal pelts, use genuine ivory for the nut & tuner buttons, and mount the wood over a smokestack of a rubber-burning plant and let the heat dry it. Denis Leary would love it... matches his 1970 Cadillac El Dorado Convertible and styrofoam Big Mac containers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpcrash Posted July 26, 2008 Report Share Posted July 26, 2008 Ok - update time. Guitar is assembled and playable - here are a few pics validating that it is indeed plywood (in case prior pix weren't clear enough). Used an existing maple/rosewood neck and hardware. I'm trying to get some sound bites because it sounds AWESOME! Very punchy, very clear - depending on how you set the switch - it can go from balls to the wall to smooth and clean. Only had one string here and wanted to get pix done... so... anyway. Will update with mp3 as soon as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyonsdream Posted July 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2008 Thats aweomse, Can't wait to hear how it sounds. Some closer pictures would be nice when it's all together and playing. I got held up on mine due to another build needing to get done ASAP. I should be able to wrap mine up in the next week or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpcrash Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 I will not let this thread die! Here is a recording of the bass (tuned to D). My sound card sucks worse than my photography skills so there is buzz. Guitar does not buzz through amp. I will be playing this bass in 2 shows next week here in Northern Virginia. Also, tried to get a couple of close ups. I am quite motivated by this experiment and have started on another project using strips of 4/4 as sort of a "plywood" build. This will be entirely from scratch as I found some curly maple flooring (5/4 x 6") to make the neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 (edited) Ha! I love this bass. It sounds really clear. Good work! Edited August 2, 2008 by dpm99 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travismoore Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 Sounds surprisingly good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 Excellent work, and an excellent solid sounding bass. I do hope however, that you're not going to make a habit of building instruments out of ever-worsening quality materials. Papier-mâché does not have appreciable engineering value ;-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 dont forget about the paper mache classical built by Antonio de Torres in 1862 to prove that the top was more important for the sound of an acoustic than the back and side Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 dont forget about the paper mache classical built by Antonio de Torres in 1862 to prove that the top was more important for the sound of an acoustic than the back and side And I thought I was an encyclopedia of useless knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 Did I forget to wrap that comment in </humour> tags? Pshaw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpcrash Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 Thank you for the compliments - and don't worry - the second project is more about me being creative with shaping and learning more about curves. The "strip wood" guitar will be my first build of a non-standard template, meaning it's just a simple freehand design. Pic below. Again, thanks for compliments, I was quite surprised by how clear it sounded - and it's not yet shielded. Just waiting on zyonsdream now - maybe we'll trade tracks and see what a plywood rhythm section would sound like Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyonsdream Posted August 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 that's awesome sounding and looking! I'm glad to see you got yours done. I've been pulled away by mine to complete tow other projects but hopefully I can get mine together soon. The body is basically done, just have to get the time to build the neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Probably the most intriguing sound clips since the A/B comparison of the Floyd and headless trem a while back. Now you should take a GOOD recording () of the bass and mail it to manufacturers like Alembic who use absurdly exotic and prohibitively expensive woods. I mean it. And thanks for championing guys like me who buy their mahogany down at the corner store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 ....and what trees do you expect your mahogany to come from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Probably the most intriguing sound clips since the A/B comparison of the Floyd and headless trem a while back. Now you should take a GOOD recording () of the bass and mail it to manufacturers like Alembic who use absurdly exotic and prohibitively expensive woods. I mean it. And thanks for championing guys like me who buy their mahogany down at the corner store. Alembic mainly uses very common woods, and actually are pretty open to lesser known woods. They use some unique tops, but I wouldn't call them absurdly exotic, the few select instruments with typically more expensive tops are still relatively middle of the road expensive. Now if they were using Pink Ivory, Blackwood, Snakewood, Brazilian Rosewood, Pernambuco and such for body and neck wood on a regular basis. I would agree with what you are saying. A solid body requires about 4 to 5 bd. ft. of wood(neck and body). I have never viewed wood as the most significant cost in a solid body, that would be electronics and hardware. If you look at basic pricing for hardwoods(at different cost ranges) it doesn't seem like the biggest concern relative to the total build cost. $1.50 bd. ft.- $7.50= Low grade Plywood or the cheapest low grade wood you can get your hands on. $5.00 bd. ft.- $25.00= Alder, Cherry, Plain Maple, Ash, Khaya, Sapele, purple heart and so forth (many of the most common woods used) $10.00 bd. ft.-$50.00= Genuine Mahogany, fair figured Maples, Walnut, Limba, Bubinga, Myrtle, and many other "exotic" woods. $25.00 bd. ft.-$125.00= Cocobolo, East Indian RW, High figure Maples, Figured Walnuts, Figured Myrtle, Honduran RW, and so forth (really this buys you into a wide range of figured and extra exotic woods). You can pay $50-75 per. bd. ft. for some of the extreamly rare Rosewoods, Koa and ultra high grade figured woods. These are VERY rarely used for a complete solid body. You can pay $100-$500+ per. bd. ft. for the most expensive, rare woods around (Some of the woods I mentioned above), but availability and practicality of these woods makes them almost silly to consider as the primary wood for an entire solid body guitar. You can drop $125 on a set of pickups pretty easily(no fancy boutique stuff here), not to mention any other hardware or accesories. This is why I see wood as the cheap part of a build, and considering the importance in terms of stability and longevity of an instrument, I can't see trying to cut cheap out in this area(buy smart sure, but not compramise). Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Mmm, most definitely Rich. I hear what you're saying, especially when comparing the cost of wood to the rest of the build. I was mainly thumbing my nose at the "expensive/exotic wood is a tonal improvement" crowd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Mmm, most definitely Rich. I hear what you're saying, especially when comparing the cost of wood to the rest of the build. I was mainly thumbing my nose at the "expensive/exotic wood is a tonal improvement" crowd If these plywood builds go as expected, the experiment should blow up their arguments anyway. Remember the chipboard guitars someone here made last winter as a tonal experiment? IIRC, about 50% of the listeners couldn't tell the difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted August 6, 2008 Report Share Posted August 6, 2008 Mmm, most definitely Rich. I hear what you're saying, especially when comparing the cost of wood to the rest of the build. I was mainly thumbing my nose at the "expensive/exotic wood is a tonal improvement" crowd I hear what your saying, and feel the same way when I see high priced woods equates to better something(actually, I think in many cases you can get a better quality cut of a less expensive wood, because it is not as rare or milled with value as such a critical point). I also feel similarly when there is a total disregard in the selection. Material selection has always been a large part of instrument building, and for very good reasons(much as with most fine wood working). If a person doesn't care about their projects enough to learn about the materials they work with, that is there thang (they can deal with whatever happens). "Tonal improvement" is very subjective, and often people lose site of the whole when they focus on small points. In the end I think it all comes down to our personal preferences, and I think it is good to do what suits you and the hell with the rest. Since most of us don't have to build these for paying customers, we really shouldn't be driven by what floats others boats, and we experiment or take risks(hopefully with a good understanding of those risks) at the expense of only our personal instruments. So we should do as we please Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaycee Posted August 6, 2008 Report Share Posted August 6, 2008 What a cracking thread. If it sounds good and is stable, why not give it a go. I built my first guitar out of a Floor joist and it sounds good Here they have guitars built from Hemp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAK Guitars Posted August 6, 2008 Report Share Posted August 6, 2008 Whoa those Hemp guitars don't sound half bad in the sound clips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narcissism Posted August 6, 2008 Report Share Posted August 6, 2008 What a cracking thread. If it sounds good and is stable, why not give it a go. I built my first guitar out of a Floor joist and it sounds good Here they have guitars built from Hemp all i can think of is some dirty hippy sitting under a tree... weaving a guitar out of little pieces of rope... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpcrash Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 Hemp guitar??? Perhaps if I weren't using so much of it 20 years ago I might have thought to do that with the leftovers The plywood bass I built was also extremely inexpensive - Birch top furniture ply - $27 (For a whole 4X8 sheet, bought who knows when) Paddle-top neck/neck plate - $30 pots, switch, jack - $5 bridge - $12 knobs - $4 pickups - $28 strings - $20 tuners - $25 TOTAL - $151 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan316 Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 Mmm, most definitely Rich. I hear what you're saying, especially when comparing the cost of wood to the rest of the build. I was mainly thumbing my nose at the "expensive/exotic wood is a tonal improvement" crowd I don't look at exotic woods for their tonal characteristics, more for their structural superiority. I'm sick of rosewood for fretboards because of how filthy they get from players' hands. I want nice exotic woods with tighter grain for fretboards. Yeah, wenge is considered an exotic wood, but it sucks when it gets filthy and the open grain packed with dirt and oil. I'd LOVE to build a legit bass out of pine just for that open porous deep tone. Then give it some grain hardener to make it a little more dent resistant. But I'd make the neck with a maple or walnut skunk stripe for structural integrity cuz I know pine wouldn't stay straight and untwisted after tension is applied. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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