Malasian Hardwood?

[spindlebox]

So I have gotten some things from Harbor freight, specifically a work table and the drawer France basically just said hardwood. I know it was made in Asia.  

So I just salvaged this table from the side of the road and I'm going to be making a flying V style guitar for the singer in my band. It looks to be the same as the drawer fronts of the workbench.  It is good solid wood, no particle board at all, but I am just wondering what kind of light hardwood they have in Malaysia? It says made in Malaysia on the bottom.

 Just curious if anyone knows, I am doing searches and haven't turned up very much.

Yes yes, it isn't tonewood, etc.  But this is what I do.  

Thanks in advance!!

Edited December 2, 2022 by spindlebox
Clarification

[spindlebox]

A little more research turns up that it very well could be RUBBERWOOD.  It is very similar to Maple and Teak.  

https://www.wood-database.com/rubberwood/

[Bizman62]

Hah! I was just going to say Rubberwood as that's the name often used for pale cheap Far-East furniture.

Regarding "tonewood", if the guitar you build out of it makes a tone then what would you call the wood? Electric guitar bodies have been industrially made out of chipboard, particleboard, plywood, fiberboard... Not to mention other materials like composite which is what Flaxwood guitars use, and you can't call them inexpensive!

[spindlebox]

39 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Hah! I was just going to say Rubberwood as that's the name often used for pale cheap Far-East furniture.

Regarding "tonewood", if the guitar you build out of it makes a tone then what would you call the wood? Electric guitar bodies have been industrially made out of chipboard, particleboard, plywood, fiberboard... Not to mention other materials like composite which is what Flaxwood guitars use, and you can't call them inexpensive!

Oh trust me, i know.  I used fairly atypical wood on my first build:  Cedar and Oak, and it sounds just like my other Tele from Fender.  I mentioned it because some people go nuts over that stuff.  I believe Acoustic guitars - YES that makes a massive difference, but for electric - not so much.  I won't be getting into any "tonewood" debate here either.  I was just trying to figure out what I have!  It's actually really nice and hard wood.    I'm looking forward to working with it.

[Invader Zim]

3 hours ago, spindlebox said:

 I believe Acoustic guitars - YES that makes a massive difference, but for electric - not so much.  I won't be getting into any "tonewood" debate here either.  

Take this for what it is worth:

"HUMAN CONTROLLED SYSTEMS of SPL generation are an INTEGRATED system that stretches all the way from the skill/intentions of the player to the movement of the speaker cone in the room.  A (hopefully) harmonious system that is inter-dependant (to varying degrees and often in a bewilderingly complicated series of relationships) 

ON EVERY SINGLE COMPONENT IN THE SYSTEM.  Again.  INTEGRATED SYSTEM, DEPENDANT TO VARYING DEGREES ON EVERY COMPONENT IN THE  SYSTEM.

EVERY SINGLE COMPONENT IN THE WHOLE  SYSTEM MATTERS TO SOME  DEGREE, IN SOME  RESPECT.

The pick matters.

Dude.

The FUCKING PICK MATTERS."

 

It is no debate, just carefully and critically listen. 

[Bizman62]

7 hours ago, spindlebox said:

I used fairly atypical wood on my first build: 

Same here. If the properties of the wood are suitable, the species doesn't matter that much.

 

3 hours ago, Invader Zim said:

EVERY SINGLE COMPONENT IN THE WHOLE  SYSTEM MATTERS TO SOME  DEGREE

That's very true. The big question is how drastic the effect is. Picks are homogenous so changing the thickness or material is both measurable and repeatable. Wood is a creation of Nature and even within a same trunk there's no two identical pieces. Climate, bugs, diseases, pollution all affect a growing tree. Even the time period when a certain tree has grown matters. Everything matters to some degree. But if it's not audible, does it matter?

 

[spindlebox]

39 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

But if it's not audible, does it matter?

 

No.  To me.  But to some, it gives them the warm fuzzies.

I challenge anyone to listen to a recording of different instruments, recorded with the same microphone and amp into a DAW - to tell me which one was made from Alder, which one was made from Cedar, and which one was made from Rubberwood.
 

If it sounds good - it IS good.

[curtisa]

10 hours ago, Invader Zim said:

HUMAN CONTROLLED SYSTEMS of SPL generation are an INTEGRATED system that stretches all the way from the skill/intentions of the player to the movement of the speaker cone in the room.  A (hopefully) harmonious system that is inter-dependant (to varying degrees and often in a bewilderingly complicated series of relationships) 

ON EVERY SINGLE COMPONENT IN THE SYSTEM.  Again.  INTEGRATED SYSTEM, DEPENDANT TO VARYING DEGREES ON EVERY COMPONENT IN THE  SYSTEM.

EVERY SINGLE COMPONENT IN THE WHOLE  SYSTEM MATTERS TO SOME  DEGREE, IN SOME  RESPECT.

The pick matters

It's a quote from a series of posts made by a somewhat eccentric audio engineer who used to frequent the prosoundweb forums with the screen handle Slipperman. His extended diatribe on recording high gain guitars became somewhat of an internet legend amongst the recording community. You can read the whole thing here if you've really got a lot of time to kill: 

Full text of "Slipperman's Recording Distorted Guitars From Hell (readable Version)" (archive.org)

Note however that his essay is specifically related to the recording and mixing of distorted guitars. He actually makes no mention of what the guitar is made of, or the relative importance of it in the overall sound.

[curtisa]

Well, I'll be a blue-nosed gopher. Turns out 'Slipperman' was Tim Gilles who engineered albums for Taking Back Sunday, Biohazard and Anthrax. He later emigrated to Tasmania and died only this year, a mere couple of hours drive from where I live.

Small world.

[spindlebox]

Which shows the importance of not wasting precious time arguing about things such as that on the Internet.