avengers63 Posted July 28, 2008 Report Share Posted July 28, 2008 I have some longhi & bloodwood, both 1" thick, that I'm wanting to match up into a body. We've all seen bloodwood made into thin caps, but... this would probably end up being 3/4" thick. Aside of weight, is there anything specific I need to worry about? As for longhi, has anyone ever made a body from it before? If so, what are your experiences with it as far as tone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted July 29, 2008 Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 bloodwood is also very very hard. but it takes a great polish, and the open grain looks great. but yes bloodwood is very heavy. that is the only drawback i can think of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWishICouldShred Posted July 29, 2008 Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 Very hard, too. I just finished slotting a fretboard made out of it and it took forever. I checked the depth of the miter box with an equally thick piece of rosewood, and the bloodwood was SO much harder than the rosewood to cut. It's a great looking wood, just make sure your tools are sharp. It's almost as hard as ipe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted July 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 Yea, I made a small box from some thin stock I had, so I know how hard it is. That's why I'm not figuring to do as little machining to it as I can. For the shape, I'm thinking anout an LPjr. I haven't done a double cutaway yet, so why not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted July 29, 2008 Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 Bloodwood smells beautiful too, like chocolate, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshvegas Posted July 29, 2008 Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 (edited) LPjr! LPjr! possibly the coolest looking guitar ever! P90 and scratchplate? Edited July 29, 2008 by joshvegas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted July 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 LPjr! LPjr! possibly the coolest looking guitar ever! P90 and scratchplate? I suppose that might depend on what the dude who buys it wants to do. Like the other bodies I've been doing, it's going on eBay. I can always make myself one later if I really fall in love with it. It's not like there'd be anything overly difficult about getting these two woods again. FWIW: I'd be 100% OK putting a pair of P90s in it with a white p/g. I might be tempted to put some GFS DeArmond copies in it instead of soapbars. For some reason, I'm liking the idea of those quirky top-mounts. Too bad I have NO IDEA what they'd sound like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshvegas Posted July 29, 2008 Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 (edited) sounds good! dog ear p90s are the way to go on any LP junior though! EDIT: or is that what you mean? Edited July 29, 2008 by joshvegas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted July 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 No, these are what I'm meaning. http://store.guitarfetish.com/gfsnyodestsu.html http://store.guitarfetish.com/gfsnyal3sumo.html The alternate would be getting a pair of DeArmond pups on eBay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshvegas Posted July 29, 2008 Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 AH right got you yup they would look pretty sweet in my humble opinion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyonsdream Posted July 29, 2008 Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 the blood wood I've used turned a reddish brown but looks nice still. Not sure if that's the info you are looking for. It's also like rosewood heavy but if you have it in stock you already know that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted July 30, 2008 Report Share Posted July 30, 2008 The Warbird I built originally had a blood wood fret board. Not too bad to saw through. I didn't think it was that bad to sand into the radius and smelled wonderdful. Like another post said, it smells like chocolate. After several months it did start to turn more of a brown color though. A lot faster than purple heart turns brown. It was also very brittle and loved to chip out. That is why I ended up having to replace it with a rosewood board. My first fret job sucked. I pulled the frets and even with heating the board chipped out terribly. I could not find another piece of blood wood that I like as much as the first so I went with rosewood because I was under a dedline. BUt I have tosay that other than the chipping it wasn;t that bad to work with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted July 30, 2008 Report Share Posted July 30, 2008 After several months it did start to turn more of a brown color though. " That's surprising to me. I have it as the fingerboard on a guitar and a bass. The bass is almost a year old now I guess and still that lovely bloodwood color. The guitar is newer (half a year?) but hasn't changed. I read on the LMI site that bloodwood "doesn't oxidize over time" or something like that. Has it changed color for anyone else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWishICouldShred Posted July 30, 2008 Report Share Posted July 30, 2008 Woods do strange things. I'm starting to think that the oxidizing properties of bloodwood, purpleheart, paduak, etc. are individual to each piece. True story- I was in the shop working with a luthier in my area who's been around for quite some time. We were looking for a specific veneer piece and ended up going through an ancient stock of wood in his workshop, which hadn't been touched in quite a while. He said that almost everything in there was from 1990 or earlier... I found a purpleheart board near the bottom of the stack that is still BRIGHT purple. It was under a chunk of paduak dated 1974. I have, however, noticed a lot of color changes (brown to purple and fading back) in the purple heart I'm currently working with. I'm going to try a UV protective clearcoat and see if that helps the color stay better. However, I've noticed no fading or color changes whatsoever in the bloodwood I have for the fretboards, which has been in my posession for almost a month. Go figure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyonsdream Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 It could also be due to location. The UV is different in different parts of the world, air quality also could play a part in just how fast it changes. The PH in the basement under a piece of Padauk was likely out of contact with any UV for the past 20 plus years so it would seem logical that it wouldn't change as quickly. Put that board outside for a month and see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted July 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 The bottom line really is that if it's going to turn, it's going to turn. The best we can do is take preventative measures, like using marine/spar finish and limiting the exposure to light. Of course, this doesn't bode well for the purpleheart/bloodwood picture frame I made for my mother-in-law. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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