Butternut Anyone?

[joshatatlasstands]

Quick question. I had a dying butternut true felled a while back and I have a lot of it. It is pretty light and soft. Has anyone ever used Butternut in a guitar build? I hope I can find some use for it, it is very nice looking wood. I hear it is a wood carvers dream wood, but I don't carve so... any suggestions on how I can use it? Is anyone interested in using some of it for a build? If so I'll be happy to help. I have more of it than I need for my own use right now. It should be ready for use soon.

Thanks,

Josh

[joshatatlasstands]

just found this butternut build on tdpri

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/telecaster-discussion-forum/118826-cedar-tele-build.html

Also wanted to let you know I had the tree cut in 8/4 thickness, easily wide enough for a full body too.

[MAGGOTBRAIN]

Ive seen a few builders use it...

Orgmorg from here uses it and Thomas Lieber uses it on a few of his guitars.

Very nice to work with, easy on tools. Im using a book matched piece from Org on

this.

[orgmorg]

Hey, that looks familiar!

I had forgotten about that, glad to see it taking shape.

I like butternut. It is lightweight, but yes, it is very soft, and will dent if you look at it too hard.

I use this to my advantage by beating on it and using the resulting texture to create cool stain effects.

A propane torch can add a nice touch, as well.

But you know me, I will build a guitar out of anything.

Edited July 2, 2011 by orgmorg

[joshatatlasstands]

it looks like you took a small ball hammer to the back, gave it a bird's eye look. Neat. Is that correct?

I have another question then, does butternut's light weight cause any major changes in the tone? If so is it a good sound?

I'm thinking I may inlay some of the butternut into the walnut tele I build, maybe some pinstripes or something.

I wonder if the butternut is strong enough for me to make an Atlas Stand out of some of it...I could at least do the panels out of it and make the legs out of walnut, that would be sweet. Maybe that should be my first documented build here.

So, if anyone is in need of butternut let me know, I can lop some off the end of one of these 2 inch thick boards I have.

throwing in a pic I want to share, I love the guitar on the right, it had a figured maple neck. My amp stands get lost in the mix when such nice instruments are set near them

Edited July 2, 2011 by joshatatlasstands

[orgmorg]

I used a polished stone ball, about 2" diameter.

Butternut is not very strong. Using it like you said, with the walnut would be a good idea. The grain is almost identical, just a lighter color, so you would get a nice two tone effect.

As for the tone, I have no idea. The gutars I built out of it sound great, but I am not good at describing tone.

Butternut can vary a lot. Some is very even grained, like on Maggotbrain's guitar, and some has a lot of reaction wood with very fuzzy grain. You can see this in the log. It will be very lumpy looking. Nothing wrong with that in my opinion, just something to be prepared for when working it.

[joshatatlasstands]

I definitely dig the look of butternut with the indentations, it probably even helps strengthen the surface by compressing the wood to form an outer shell. very interesting, thank you kindly for the help here.

[ihocky2]

I've never used it, but after handling some at the mill I would guess that it should sound similar to poplar or basswood. They are both lighter weight and soft hardwoods.

[joshatatlasstands]

This is all good to hear because I had no idea if I could actually use it or not. Seems to me like I have a pretty good lot of butternut on my hands then. I'll probably use some of it for amp stands and some for a guitar build down the road sometime.

If anyone needs some butternut let me know, I have more than I will use in a good while, it's all 8/4 and cut in 8 to 10 foot long slabs, at least until I start to mill it down. It needs a few more months to air dry but at 8/4 it really doesn't need to be sandwiched to stay super flat. I'd love to see someone build something with it, and I'd be happy to put some in the mail. Spread the love, right?

Sincerely,

Josh