guitar_player Posted September 28, 2008 Report Share Posted September 28, 2008 I've been thinking about making a guitar with a body that is spruce with a mahogany back and front laminated onto it. The body would probably be 1 1/4 inches thick and the back and front 1/4" each. I'm thinking it would give a nice sound an I would probably do 3 single coil pickups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
low end fuzz Posted September 28, 2008 Report Share Posted September 28, 2008 i made a mahogany semi hollo bass with a spruce top that sounds pleasant; but are you talking about the 'meat' of the body being spruce? and what kind of spruce? home depot grade spruce, or sitka/engelman? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted September 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2008 i made a mahogany semi hollo bass with a spruce top that sounds pleasant; but are you talking about the 'meat' of the body being spruce? and what kind of spruce? home depot grade spruce, or sitka/engelman? Yeah I'm talking about the meat of the body being spruce, I'm not sure I'll probably have to find something better than the home depot stuff I had touble finding suitable piece for a picnic table this summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted September 28, 2008 Report Share Posted September 28, 2008 Spruce and WRC bodies have been done successfully; Parker Guitars makes a spruce bodied parker fly, Rick Turner's Renaissance has a WRC core with hardwood top/back laminates. A spruce and/or WRC bodied electric has been on my 'to build' list for some time now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar101 Posted September 28, 2008 Report Share Posted September 28, 2008 I've been thinking about making a guitar with a body that is spruce with a mahogany back and front laminated onto it. The body would probably be 1 1/4 inches thick and the back and front 1/4" each. I'm thinking it would give a nice sound an I would probably do 3 single coil pickups. There is a guy on YouTube, Arlo West that plays pine Telecasters. They sound very good so spruce should be fine. His guitars are solid wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myka Guitars Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Spruce body guitars are great sounding. With a resonant neck these guitars sound great. In addition to playing a Turner (WRC body) and one of Steve Klein's headless guitars with a spruce body and a rosewood neck I have also built one. I love it now. I cannot recommend it enough. Once thing to think about is the softness of the spruce. To deal with this I wrapped the body in a harder wood (in this case walnut). It is just a veneer and the spruce is the dominant tonewood. Here is a pic: Here is the rest of the in progress gallery so you can see some more of the veneer details: Spruce/rosewood guitar. And the finished gallery. I used a rosewood neck for this, a sitka body, and an Adirondack top. This guitar was the most harmonically beautiful sounding electric guitar I have ever played (the Klein being a close second). Amazing combination. I have one more neck plank and it's going on my personal spruce electric (as soon as I find the time to make it). ~David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Gibson made a guitar with a balsa wood core that they called cromyte or some such...I was wondering about bamboo lately...a lot of straight grain. A veneer would seem adequate for protection of the soft surface of the spruce but I wonder whether some hardwood under the bridge might not go astray...just a thought Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted September 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Thanks everyone, I think I might do the hardwood under the bridge just in case probably just a piece of maple. I could probably get some nice looking veneers. Now I just have to find some suitable wood for it. It'll probably be awhile before I start though I am currently trying to get some more guitar oriented tools for my shop which seems to be happening very slowly. I would like to try a rosewood neck too I found some blanks for about $45 so I probably will do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dugg Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 A few years back, I did a bamboo floor for some friends and saved the scraps, which I've used in 3 axes so far, one 'scratch built'. Recently, I mortised a block of bamboo under the trem bridge of my alder body partscaster with the grain running crosswise to the body. The cross grain supports the six screw bridge much better, and people noticed an increase in sustain. The bamboo is marvelously hard, tough and 'springy' and has very low internal damping. One of my younger friends made two necks from the bamboo and they have outstanding sustain and even response. Putting a block of hardwood under the bridge of a softwood body is a very good idea. I also did that on a recent poplar/redwood scratch build, but the block was rock maple not bamboo. They both sound good. The poplar/redwood has a poplar neck (!) with 3 CF reinforcing rods. That axe has almost twice the sustain of a stock bolt on neck strat yet weighs about 5 pounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chowlee Posted October 1, 2008 Report Share Posted October 1, 2008 (edited) you guys are giving me a lot to consider as far as different guitar woods as I'm always looking for ways to keep weight down and enhance sustain Edited October 1, 2008 by chowlee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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