spindlebox Posted September 24, 2023 Report Share Posted September 24, 2023 So I was gifted some very nice pieces of walnut flooring that is absolutely gorgeous and the perfect length and width for guitar necks. In the same pile, I was also given some pieces of cedar which, when glued together, I'll make a body out of. I have used cedar to make a guitar body before (Tele in photos), paired with an Oak neck, and it worked out great. I think Oak and Walnut are similar in strength and density and so I think weight - and this Cedar/Oak guitar is perfectly balanced. ...but we'll see. I'll give it a shot and see what happens — this guitar is for me anyway. Here are some photos for you, The floorboards were tongue and groove and that will be trimmed off, of course. Last photos are after running through my planer and before gluing. Of course, I have to joint the wood still, but just wanted to share my good luck in being gifted such nice wood! I love giving new life to materials (it's kind of my mission). I also included a photo of the aforementioned Cedar/Oak guitar for giggles. Hope everyone has had a great weekend! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted September 24, 2023 Report Share Posted September 24, 2023 How coincidental! I was just thinking of you when scrolling through the list of forums, seeing your name and icon being the last poster in 'The Luthiery Business*. Lovely pieces of wood there and even more valuable as they're being repurposed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spindlebox Posted September 24, 2023 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2023 Thank you my friend! I get massive satisfaction out of saving pieces of wood from stupid things like fireplaces lol! I named my company samsara guitars because samsara refers to the cycle of life, birth death and rebirth. And also Sam is an acronym for my first middle and last name! Haha! I am especially pleased with the walnut. It is absolutely gorgeous and incredibly strong and it is already pretty flat and straight by virtue of what it was designed for, so it's kind of a no-brainer! I just think a body would be just awesome out of that gorgeous wood. Though it might have to be chambered for its weight! I think a take on George Harrison's Rosewood Telly would be really cool with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted September 24, 2023 Report Share Posted September 24, 2023 27 minutes ago, spindlebox said: a body would be just awesome out of that gorgeous wood. Though it might have to be chambered for its weight! Just a quarter inch top, a lighter base and potentially even chambered if needed? I once bought a pile from the outlet of a parquet factory and one piece had this nice figuration. When bookmatched there was the face of a cow but unfortunately the boards were too narrow to make a full top. But it worked quite nicely as wingtops on a neck-through, bent over an alder base. There's other quite stunning examples on this forum about using strips of other woods to make the top wide enough. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted September 25, 2023 Report Share Posted September 25, 2023 very handsome tele. nice work. I can smell that guitar all the way over here in my imagination! as a side note... i have a cedar top acoustic that is about 24 yo now... the world needs more cedar guitars imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spindlebox Posted September 25, 2023 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2023 I couldn't agree more my friend! I love that guitar. It's a little soft but with proper treatment it's gorgeous. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted September 26, 2023 Report Share Posted September 26, 2023 22 hours ago, spindlebox said: I couldn't agree more my friend! I love that guitar. It's a little soft but with proper treatment it's gorgeous. "little soft" - must.... resist... urge... to... quote... steve... correl..... that's... what.... she......... (head explodes) not sure what variety of cedar my acoustic is (western red) but the top on has remained in pretty good shape... that said I take care of my stuff. the interesting thing is it def has a distinct sound to it. lots of midrange... cedar comes in so many beautiful shades... I like the natural streaks in that body. my acoustic has that typical cedar 'olive' look to it. anywho... putting cedar solidbody on my bucketlist! Looking fwd to seeing your new cedar creation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShatnersBassoon Posted October 18, 2023 Report Share Posted October 18, 2023 On 9/26/2023 at 4:28 PM, mistermikev said: "little soft" - must.... resist... urge... to... quote... steve... correl..... that's... what.... she......... (head explodes) not sure what variety of cedar my acoustic is (western red) but the top on has remained in pretty good shape... that said I take care of my stuff. the interesting thing is it def has a distinct sound to it. lots of midrange... cedar comes in so many beautiful shades... I like the natural streaks in that body. my acoustic has that typical cedar 'olive' look to it. anywho... putting cedar solidbody on my bucketlist! Looking fwd to seeing your new cedar creation. Yep…I had a Breedlove acoustic many years back that sounded glorious. I keep telling myself that it was partly to do with the cedar top. Like you say, nice midrange…’woody’ for want of a better word: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted October 18, 2023 Report Share Posted October 18, 2023 2 minutes ago, ShatnersBassoon said: Yep…I had a Breedlove acoustic many years back that sounded glorious. I keep telling myself that it was partly to do with the cedar top. Like you say, nice midrange…’woody’ for want of a better word: breedlove is nice stuff. cedar is not as flashy as flame nor as cute as quilt... but it's quite fetching in its own way and short of tone sniffing I'd say I like it more than spruce afa sound. not nearly as bright in a good way. "thank you, may I have another?" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spindlebox Posted October 18, 2023 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2023 2 hours ago, mistermikev said: breedlove is nice stuff. cedar is not as flashy as flame nor as cute as quilt... but it's quite fetching in its own way and short of tone sniffing I'd say I like it more than spruce afa sound. not nearly as bright in a good way. "thank you, may I have another?" It's like, that tone smells GREAT! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted October 19, 2023 Report Share Posted October 19, 2023 17 hours ago, spindlebox said: It's like, that tone smells GREAT! we should really have a subforum just related to "best smelling woods". I have smelt rosewood, walnut, mahog, maple, purpleheart, oak, sapele... with walnut being a fav and cedar and oak being right up there. A while back I was hogging out walnut via forstner bit and then collecting the shavings and putting them in a pot pouri dish with some oil... is a really nice smell. might have to find a reason to do that again soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spindlebox Posted October 19, 2023 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2023 47 minutes ago, mistermikev said: we should really have a subforum just related to "best smelling woods". I have smelt rosewood, walnut, mahog, maple, purpleheart, oak, sapele... with walnut being a fav and cedar and oak being right up there. A while back I was hogging out walnut via forstner bit and then collecting the shavings and putting them in a pot pouri dish with some oil... is a really nice smell. might have to find a reason to do that again soon. Right? I honestly love the smell of all wood to be honest. To me that's one of the pleasures of woodworking. But there are definitely some favorites! Canary wood is really good too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted October 19, 2023 Report Share Posted October 19, 2023 7 minutes ago, spindlebox said: Right? I honestly love the smell of all wood to be honest. To me that's one of the pleasures of woodworking. But there are definitely some favorites! Canary wood is really good too. I have not tried the canarywood... will have to get some and give it a sniff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted October 19, 2023 Report Share Posted October 19, 2023 Wood sniffers anonymous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted October 19, 2023 Report Share Posted October 19, 2023 What's the wood with that smells like shit when worked? Just a couple of weeks ago someone mentioned that wood being good for guitar building but sanding and sawing is smelly. The poplar I made one guitar body of also smelled like a manure storage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted December 18, 2023 Report Share Posted December 18, 2023 On 10/19/2023 at 4:49 PM, Bizman62 said: What's the wood with that smells like shit when worked? Just a couple of weeks ago someone mentioned that wood being good for guitar building but sanding and sawing is smelly. The poplar I made one guitar body of also smelled like a manure storage. I think there's a few but Ovangkol is definitely one of them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted December 18, 2023 Report Share Posted December 18, 2023 24 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said: I think there's a few but Ovangkol is definitely one of them... Funny how I can't remember anything about that! And I sawed, drilled, carved, scraped and sanded my GOTM winner top quite a many months on a weekly basis! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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