David Ivy Posted November 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ivy Posted November 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 This is the partscaster that I built out of pine but the pine was way too so I am building a new body out of poplar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ivy Posted November 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 Pine was way too soft So I am building a new body from poplar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 I have heard that pine makes a very nice sounding body. I hate working it though. It's hard then it's soft then it's hard then it's soft.... The difference in the density of the growth rings makes carving it a special challenge. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ivy Posted November 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 @ScottRyespecially pine is easy to work but it's just not stable enough for guitars. Although I have heard that white western pine makes really nice guitar bodies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 Some years back we had a guy building blues guitars out of 100+ year old yellow pine floor joists taken from an old building in New Orleans. With all that going for them, they likely oozed blues. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ivy Posted November 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 @ScottRha ha Yes! Well after a 100+year's I would think that the wood had time to stabilize and probably hardened over time. I think I will only use yellow pine to build lap steel guitars with. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 pine - well if it's good 'nuff for bill kirchen... probably too good for me. (hot rod lincoln y'all!) like any other wood... man there's pine then there's pine. I love the smell of all of it! the stuff they get at home depot is a pretty bad example... but the stuff they have at my local lumberyard appears to be quite nice. have thought about using it for a gretsch roundup one of these days. anywho, never saw a tele I didn't like and yers is no exception. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ivy Posted November 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 @mistermikev poplar will make a much nicer body than the homedepot construction lumber that I made it out of. The problem with that pine is its not dried good, so it's too soft to hold the neck on with string tention. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 23 minutes ago, David Ivy said: @mistermikev poplar will make a much nicer body than the homedepot construction lumber that I made it out of. The problem with that pine is its not dried good, so it's too soft to hold the neck on with string tention. right on. def hit the nail on the head w home depot - the do not do a lot of drying. their top of the line pine looks pretty good but honestly, the commercial lumber yards def get the better stuff and all the stuff I've got from mine - the water content is so low I can't even measure it. poplar can be quite nice. that said - what you'd pay at home depot is probably more than you'd pay from a good lumber spot... or at least that has been the case for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ivy Posted November 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 @Mistermikev The poplar that I bought from my local lumber yard was about $85.18 for a 8/4 x 8 ft blank just about wide enough to do a one piece body. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 2 minutes ago, David Ivy said: @Mistermikev The poplar that I bought from my local lumber yard was about $85.18 for a 8/4 x 8 ft blank just about wide enough to do a one piece body. jeez, that's what $5-6 bd ft? my local sells poplar for $2.35ft... but you have to buy a 12ft stick. they sell mahog for $4/bdft. then again some of the other places near me are a lot more expensive so perhaps I'm spoiled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ivy Posted November 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 @mistermikevwhere do you live? If you don't mind me asking. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 1 hour ago, David Ivy said: @mistermikevwhere do you live? If you don't mind me asking. arizona. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ivy Posted November 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 @mistermikevit must be easier to get certain hardwoods in Arizona than it is here in Louisian. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 Just now, David Ivy said: @mistermikevit must be easier to get certain hardwoods in Arizona than it is here in Louisian. i suppose so. lots of soft curly maple... hard to come by hard curly maple. lots of white ash... hard to come by black ash. I spose every place has it's specialty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 2 minutes ago, mistermikev said: I spose every place has it's specialty. So very true! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ivy Posted November 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 Yes, it's hard to get curly maple here. Hard maple not so difficult. Rose wood,ebony,very hard to find and expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 1 hour ago, David Ivy said: Yes, it's hard to get curly maple here. Hard maple not so difficult. Rose wood,ebony,very hard to find and expensive. well, I think ebony and typical rosewood are pretty hard to find anywhere but africa or india! that said... apparently indian rosewood grows here in az so awaiting a find of that someday! further, curly soft maple is one thing... curly hard maple is another entirely. i see pallets of both at my local spot but there is almost zero curl in the hard and all sorts of it in the soft. I believe it's just more rare to find a stunning piece in hard maple. anywho, yes, az is def a good place for wood! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ivy Posted November 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 @mistermikev I have a hunk of the walnut left. I think I might cut fretboard blanks out of that. I still have one rose wood fretboard to use for another build. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 22 minutes ago, David Ivy said: @mistermikev I have a hunk of the walnut left. I think I might cut fretboard blanks out of that. I still have one rose wood fretboard to use for another build. right on.  have a whole stack of em just sitting there... mocking me... saying "why aren't you building faster mike... what wrong with you mike..." it's quite embarrassing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ivy Posted November 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 @mistermikev you have a cnc machine. Right? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ivy Posted November 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 @Mistermikev seems like if you have a cnc machine you would be able to build guitars much faster than some one like me who can only build one at a time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted November 2, 2020 Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 1 hour ago, David Ivy said: @Mistermikev seems like if you have a cnc machine you would be able to build guitars much faster than some one like me who can only build one at a time. well, yes if you are going to invite me to derail well I can hardly turn you down on that... yes have a cnc but A) just got it and have a number of things to work out in the design yet and B ) I don't think you save yourself any time building just one guitar on cnc. I've easily spent more already on this build just designing it (again, I'm new to the cad/cam and mach3 but I've got power friends who are tutoring me here!) and C ) my goal is to use cnc to up my game more than crank things out so... admittedly pushing myself to things I might not have attempted otherwise. when building by hand... once I'm actually building things go pretty fast but that's usually because of an awful lot of forethought... the only way I can keep myself out of trouble. I get the sense - only 4weeks or so in to cnc, that the amount of time I spend thinking ahead is about going to be doubled in the cnc design time and really the manual build time doesn't amount to much in contrast. It really is everything they say - not going to speed you up for one offs. That said... now I really feel like I have the ability to 'see' things before they are built. for instance, my current bass has got a radius top and a radius back... setting up a digital model allowed me to see that my ctrl cavity was going to be close on space... so I was able to modify my radius on top/bottom to give me a hair more room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ivy Posted November 3, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2020 @mistermikevi understand, I enjoy working with my hands. When I started building kits, it was to learn more about guitars than just playing them. I now Love building bodies and I rather enjoyed building my SG. Something about bringing art to life! That makes it all worth the hard times you might have throughout the build. I remember when I was a teenager and learning to play ,I had a lotus les paul copy. I took it apart to paint it a different color and couldn't put it back together so I gave it to my best friend at the time And told him if you can put it together you can have it. Needless to say he put it together and played it. And still has it today. Lol... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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