orgmorg

I was just kidding.. honest

I don't care much for the look of oak, but that's just me. I think it would make a great sounding guitar, though, and english oak is much better looking than american.

Yep, Woodmizer LT30hydraulic. Man, is it sweeet! I had a Peterson swingblade circular mill, which was really cool, but the bullwork of moving the logs around, etc. was starting to take it's toll. I figured, if I wanted to continue in this line of work, I needed to just take the plunge and get some real machinery. I don't think I will ever regret it, either. It's gonna take some time to get the hang of all the controls, though. Already got a bunch of work lined up, too.

OK, so I didn't get it just for guitar building, but I am having a blast with it!

Wes, I don't know what your price range is, but check this site out for parts: http://www.linnlumber.com/

Well I guess if the power went out for good, an electric guitar wouldn't be much good, anyway.

[quote]I calculated the density of the wood (105 lbs, 10" dia. and 33" long), it works out to 1030 kg/cubic metre. Eastern hardrock maple (A. saccharum) is around 750.[/quote] Southpa, the 750kg/cuM for maple is based on dry wood. Holly, when completely dry is around the same weight as hard maple. Still pretty good, though. You are right about having it quartersawn. You will have a much better chance of getting it to dry straight that way. And for the blue stain mentioned earlier, constant airflow is the key. Keep all sides exposed to air, except the ends, seal them with wax or latex paint.

One thing you could try is a contour guage. This is a modern version: http://woodworker.com/cgi-bin/FULLPRES.exe?PARTNUM=864-220 the old fashioned ones were a row of wires in a metal sheath, probably still available anywhere.

Ah, so I'm guessing it's like a 3 wheel benchtop unit? I was thinking maybe you had one of the big, old floor-standing ones, like from the 1950's. Those were made by Parks, and were really well built machines, worth keeping an eye out for.

Here is the tutorial on the scarf joint: http://projectguitar.com/tut/anck.htm

Garehanman, tell her if you get your midlife crisis over with while you are still young, she won't have to endure it when you are over the hill. Also, how old is your Sears bandsaw?

Cool beans, Erik! And since it's in your own garage now, you won't have to worry about the drool, or um.. whatever that is on the floor.

It's probably exactly what it appears to be: A cheap chinese bandsaw. If you are good at tinkering with machines, you should be able to keep it cutting decently, as long as you don't expect too much of it. As far as it's value, I would definitely try not to pay over $100 for it. $50 would be a pretty good deal.

What machines are you looking to hook up to it? I have one of the 3/4 hp blowers, and it really doesn't pull enough to work effectively on most stationary machines- bandsaw,etc. It is OK on small sanders and such, though. When buying any motor these days, don't trust the horsepower ratings. The cheaper ones are usually way overrated. Always look at the amperage on the spec. plate and figure a minimum of 10 amps per HP at 120v. A good quality 1hp Baldor or Dayton motor pulls 14amps. I have one that size on a blower and it does a very good job on all my machines, even my planer and thickness sander. Older stuff like this often turns up on ebay. For the blower unit, look for a radial fin type, as opposed to the "squirrel cage" type. The squirrel cages move a lot more air, but don't generate the level of vacuum that the radial fin blowers do.

You won't be able to get any stain/dye into the wood with the sealer on, but the topcoat can be tinted with transparent colors. Probably won't have the same effect as dying the wood, but it could still look very nice.

That's how it starts out. It later becomes.. Found On Roadside, Dead And ultimately... Find Old Reliable Dodge

The biggest problem I encounter is cracking. If the wood is straight grained and clear, warping isn't a real big problem. Since you are going to a more humid clime, you should be ok, especially if you can keep your new shop at a good humidity level. If you can get a coat of sealer on it before the move, even better. EDIT: Sorry, I realise now you were asking about the wood you are having shipped from OR. My reply was in regard to taking the partially completed guitar back to OR. For the lumber- unless you can keep your AZ shop around 40% humidity, seal the ends as mentioned earlier, with latex paint or wax, and stack it with small strips of wood between the boards ( keep all faces exposed to air, except the ends ) for as long as you possibly can. I don't heat lumber up at all, nor do I recommend it. That will crack it for sure. Kiln drying is done under controlled conditions to avoid this.

Arizona to Oregon is a bit of a humidity change, unless you mean the high plains of western OR. I would wait a few weeks, more if I didn't have a way to keep the shop around 45% rel. humidity. I have a small part of my shop that i keep humidity controlled, and the rest is still pretty much open to the atmosphere, which is currently the viscosity of clam chowder. If I keep kiln dried lumber outside the "dry" room, it will reach 18%mc in a few weeks. It takes about the same time to get it back down to 8% You may actually want to keep the OR wood wrapped up until you get it back up there.

Eastern red cedar and baldcypress are both very pretty, but would probably not last a month or two of playing unless you coated them pretty heavy with epoxy. Cherry and the gums are harder, but not nearly enough. Oak and hickory are about the right density, and would work. You would want to fill the open grain with epoxy, though. Unclej mentioned mesquite and bois d'arc ( osage orange ) I have used both, and they are very good. Persimmon is another that I have considered. It is actually a relative of ebony, but is mostly white, with random patches of black. Also possibly black locust and honeylocust.

This is a bit of a shot in the dark, but I wonder if it may have something to do with the sandpaper. You mention 320 grit and higher, and I'm guessing this is the silicon carbide wet/dry paper? Anything over 220 grit is really overkill on unfinished wood, so maybe next time try a good quality aluminum oxide paper, and quit at 220.

I have also used 12ga copper wire, it's an interesting look. Could do the same with other metals, as well.

Silver maple is very nice. It is a soft maple. The big old ones often have rotten spots in them, especially if they have been topped a lot as is often done to silver maples, but you may still get some usable wood out of it. And besides, it makes lousy firewood, so you might as well use it for a guitar.

Like this? http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=15379 Actually, that's about what I was trying to get at, at least the part about conservation of energy. There is not actually a signal boost in that 100hz band, but it feels like there is one. In your model, the 100hz waves are being reinforced by the "tuning" of the wood structure, keeping that frequency going in the string's vibration. Similarly, when you listen to the unamplified guitar, it sounds much louder than just a string vibrating, because the string is driving the wood. Air is the poorest conductor of sound. If you took the cone out of a speaker, it would not sound too good either. The cone is there to push air. When you place the butt of your electric guitar, or tuning fork on the table top, you are giving it a larger area to transfer it's energy into sound waves. The energy was all there when you plucked the string or hit the fork, but now more of it is being converted into an audible form. Any time we select a certain material, use it in a certain way, add a piece of hardware, etc., we are affecting the way the energy from the string reaches our ear. In an acoustic instrument, this is a relatively direct relationship. In an electric, it is a bit different- you have to realise that the way the string drives the wood doesn't necessarily affect the tone you hear from your amp. But the wood IS being set into motion, and that in turn does affect the way the string vibrates. FWIW, the term "tonewood" almost always makes me cringe. I feel it is valid in some cases, such as "mahogany is a warm tonewood", etc., but to say that one wood is a tonewood and another is not, is really misleading. I don't know where the term originated, but it has come to be used in a rather snobby way, as if some luthier/deity has certified this particular chunk of wood as "tonewood" and anything less is stovewood.

Well, sorta, but no, the wood does not, nor can it actually add any energy to the mix. All the kinetic energy is coming from the string being plucked. Nothing short of a preamp is going to actually amplify any of it, that is to say, add amplitude to the signal. Reflect, yes, dissipate, yes, probably a lot of other stuff, too. I know this is nitpicking, but I think it is important here to recognise that this is a passive effect, rather than an active one. Yes, the wood affects the tone, but it does not actually add any by way of actively boosting anything.

Yes, it is very stable as well. I like it for making jigs and such with for that reason. And it's around the same weight as mahogany or soft maple. Not exactly basswood, but not unbearable, either. And yeah, it's spendy, at least for a domestic ( north america ) wood. Even in the log, it's around a buck a board foot for anything decent.