CD1221 Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 My brother and I were chatting the other day about getting back into guitar building and he mentioned he had a bunch of hardwood dunnage.....So we have decided to build some guitars out of it, just because. Here is the stash.... I spent a bit of time yesterday running some of it through the thickness planer to see what was underneath all the junk on the outside. I was pleasantly surprised. The sizes are a bit randomish, several very long 50mm square pieces, quite a few 65mm square pieces and several 95mm square ones. The plan is to plane everything back to clean wood, cut the 90mm bits in half lengthwise and join for body blanks. A few of the 50 and 70mm bits are very nicely quartersawn and should make pretty good neck laminates. No idea what any of it is, but it is hard and most certainly woody. My brother has an ibanez neck he wants to use, so his first one will be an RG based thing. Mine is going to be a mulitscale 7, just to see what the fuss is about. We have a fair bit of work ahead of us planing these down, so this thread might take a while to gain momentum. Much, much more to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 Nice score. Do you know what kind of wood that is? Personally, I wouldn't plane the wood until you know exactly what you are going to do with it. Planing it now is a waste of time and wear/tear on your tools. I would joint one edge, dimension it, plane after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Original Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 This sounds like a fun project. I've got some mystery pallet wood from Colombia that I rescued last year. I don't know the species, but it's hard and dense. One of these days... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 Looks like alder to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 This project is cool! I'm excited to see where it goes from here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonx Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 Looks like KD Hardwood to me, I don't know if that's a term used outside Australia as KD is usually B grade Vic Ash/Tas Oak and those are Aussie timbers so I don't know if the term us universal. Is it oak or Oregon? Too hard to tell on a mobile phone screen as I can't see any detail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted September 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2014 Hey Demonx, Mate I am in oz, so this is most definitely oz timber. There is a variety of colours here, I have no idea how to identify any of it. Probably several flavours of vic ash and assorted eucalypt species, I expect. The smaller 50mm pieces are very red, so that is something else again. Good point on maybe not planing it all now, guitar2005. I wanted to see what was under the crappy exterior. Some of the pieces have cracks that may or may not be superficial. I expect not all of what we have will be usable, fingers crossed most will be. At rough count we have enough for 6-8 bodies and over 20 necks. More to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonx Posted September 15, 2014 Report Share Posted September 15, 2014 Well, I'm on a PC now looking at the full pics and it still looks like Vic ash/KD Hardwood, I'm guessing it's splintery around the fresh dressed edges as well? What part of Oz are you from? (you should fill out your profile!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BetterOffShred Posted September 15, 2014 Report Share Posted September 15, 2014 Being broke and in college, I think this is a fantastic idea! It definitely looks like a nice big haul of wood. Ever since I started my project all piles of wood I see when I'm out and about are inspected with much greater interest. -Brett 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted September 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2014 Yeah, I was never good with the profile stuff.... I am in Newcastle, an hour North of Sydney. The slightly redder piece has some softer grain and has gone a little splintery on the edge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted September 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 So, i was wondering what to do about the bodies of the up and coming build, given that it is likely to be 4 piece not exactly matching slabs..... ....and then I spotted these. Seeing as how I bloody love blackhearted sassafras (see first build.... And avatar), I couldn't resist. 4 lengths 200mm wide and long enough to make 6 tops out of. Score! That is all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 18, 2014 Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 Watch out for debris in there before you plane reclaimed wood! Nails can cause all manner of pants filling. We still get bullets in old trees from eastern Finland and i know some trees locally have bomb shrapnel in them. Even found one with a decades old bicycle frame sticking out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted September 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 Shrapnel! I'll do a bit more of an inspection first, thanks for the heads up. Nails are probably more likely, though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 18, 2014 Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 Oftentimes if it is a possibility that nails or other metal debris is in there, a detector is cheaper than replacing shattered planer blades or worse a shattered head assembly. Guy around here where I worked for a few weeks has a self-made tractor diesel engine powered rotary sawmill. Apparently he hit some metal once in a tree, which shot out through the corrugated roof and landed in the car park over the road. The blade was toast (however it wouldn't surprise me if he tried repairing it...) and the log split. The sawmill where I get the wood I work with for lighting and furniture has a metal detector as part of the mill for safety reasons so at least I can be confident about that as it comes into the shop. The shrapnel found in old trees here is from WWII when Pori airport was being bombed. Apparently a lot of the really really old stuff in Isomäki is still likely to contain it. Nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BetterOffShred Posted September 18, 2014 Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 Those tops are beauties! I'm still trying to decide/find a top for my project.. Are you planning on doing a painted body with the natural top? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted September 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 Depending on what it looks like once the top is on, the back and sides might get a coat of paint, maybe a dark stain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted September 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2014 So, plans! This one is for me. Process, for those that are interested. 1. Find a picture of a guitar you want to base the design off. 2. Scale up to full size in drawing package (I use visio, because it is what I have). 3. Print out full size, stick halves together, hang on backlit window with tape. 4. Print out grid paper and stick together, hang on window over top of picture from step 3. 5. Trace the outline. 6. Draw out the fretboard, strings, nut and bridge. 7. Profit! Tomorrow is clean up some more timber day, finalise some specs and order parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BetterOffShred Posted September 19, 2014 Report Share Posted September 19, 2014 That's awesome! A multi scale 8 string you say? What kind of hardware are you thinking about using ? Specs and stuff? I'm dying to know hehe. -Brett Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted September 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2014 Actually, this one is a 7. I just used an 8 body because I found a clear, straight picture. 26.22 to 27.80 fan Bolt on neck Wilkinson vs100 style saddles on a custom bridge plate, string through body. Single volume with push/push coil tap 3 way switch Blackwater guitar co. slanted pickups (neo modern model), custom to match these scale lengths. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted September 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2014 Setback today, not the best. My brother came over to get things going, figured we would cut the pieces a bit more to size before planing. We set up the bandsaw I scored a few years back, tried a couple of cuts but the blade started wandering. Opened her up to have a look and found the rubber over the drive pulley had perished. Need to look into a replacement. Decided instead to dress a piece of hardwood benchtop and glue into a body blank for my brother 's build. So, not a total loss, but a lot of wasted time. Now i need to get the bandsaw up and running before any solid progress can be made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo Posted October 27, 2014 Report Share Posted October 27, 2014 The post about tracing your plan reminded me of my first guitar in high school. My buddy and were taking lessons at a local music store, and we were both building guitars in shop class. Mine was to be a flying V, so I pulled down a Gibson korina V and laid it down on the floor on some big paper we brought and traced it directly. With sop owners approval of course. After I had the raw V cut and shaped, I changed my mind and made some radical chamfers and waist cuts to it. I'm currently rebuilding that one. At this point I'd probably rather have that original korina V! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD1221 Posted October 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 I have had some equipment troubles that have slowed the building down, went to buy a set of replacement tyres for the bandsaw, the shop said they would be in after a few weeks, turns out they only got 1 and I need 2, so I will probably just find some online now, should have done that first up.... Also bought an oscillating spindle sander, which looks pretty damn fine. I also got in contact with the nice man (Tim) from Australian Tonewoods in WA that supplied the timber for my other build and after some to-and-fro via email, these turned up today: 2 sets of Tasmanian Blackwood body blanks, 1 streaky, 1 flamey. 2 Tas Blackwood necks 2 myrtle necks showing some nice flame. tasty. 4 Gidgee fretboards I am still going to do a build using the salvaged timber, to try my hand at multiscale and also new techniques such as body binding in a now-mundane, fairweather blackmachine build, then use the stuff bought here to re-build it permanently, using the sassafras top in the earlier post. I also have a strandberg clone planned, but disappointingly they are currently out of stock of their hardware until perhaps December. I have been looking at other brand hardware, but pretty sure I want the Strandberg stuff. That's all for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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