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pine as guitarbody material??


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Thank you all for the answers, and i think that I'll wait 'til i start working before i start building a guitar, so that i can buy more expencive wood. B)

-Daniel

For one of my projects I got my old guitar ( a very nasty cheap thing) and modded it. Hollowed it out, put a new top on with some f holes etc. Cheap, easy and practice using a router and finishing. No need to buy hardware or pups etc either. :D

MIght not be the guitar that you've always dreamed of but certainly good practice.

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I would definately try the pine body. If it turns out you don't like it then build the next guitar. A guy just ordered a 6-string custom bass from me and he handed me this 8/4 piece of Teke(which is commonly used in fine funiture). It's very oily and extremely heavy. It's definately not a typical instrument building wood, but that's what he wants. I know that it's going to be a great playing and high quality instrument and he's going to love it. Point being, you can build an electric guitar out of almost anything and make it work. And if it doesn't work than you can learn from your mistake and move on. Even the acoustic building world has expanded to using different woods that would never have been used years ago.

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I would definately try the pine body. If it turns out you don't like it then build the next guitar. A guy just ordered a 6-string custom bass from me and he handed me this 8/4 piece of Teke(which is commonly used in fine funiture). It's very oily and extremely heavy. It's definately not a typical instrument building wood, but that's what he wants. I know that it's going to be a great playing and high quality instrument and he's going to love it. Point being, you can build an electric guitar out of almost anything and make it work. And if it doesn't work than you can learn from your mistake and move on. Even the acoustic building world has expanded to using different woods that would never have been used years ago.

Ok, what you're saying is true, I learn from my mistakes=) And If i build my first guitar in pine the mistakes won't cost me very much.

What's the good and bad sides of using pine?

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Danelectros and Silvertones in the '60s were made from pine frames with Masonite tops and backs, with vinyl tape around the edges. They also had pickups made from lipstick tubes.

And lots of people seem to really like them. I wouldn't mind making a pine-and-Masonite hollowbody just for the heck of it. It could be a really fun project.

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there was a great arch top builder. [i am forgetting in his name right now however] who proved that it doesnt' all lie in the wood he built a archtop guitar out of a pallet. that was as beautiful sounding as any other one he had built out of expensive wood.

That was Robert Benedetto. He was mentioned earlier in the thread.

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I know that Harry Fleishman has built spruce bodied guitars before. He used bubinga necks with them too. They seemed like great guitars.

I would use pine for the body only. If you had something to veneer over the top it would be way cool in my opinion. Like 1/4" maple or rosewood.

If you want lightweight and strong for the neck why not choose Spanish cedar? You can get 1" x 3" x 30" neck blanks starting at $12.00 from Gilmer Wood Company. Gilmer has plenty of student grade wood that is acoustically sound but with cosmetic *flaws*. Use that stuff for your tests and build a nice sounding guitar.

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