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Cool. Like I said, I know very little about this. I just thought maybe it was a way you could talk him out of it.

Yes! Yellow Pine! Love it. Thanks, Hyunsu for showing the world that pine can indeed be used for a guitar. I, too like using woods that are not traditionally used. And I am glad you left it natural, as well.

Yes, "and such" those always come in handy Wouldn't a rosewood stock be a bit hard on the shoulder with the kickback? I know very little about this, but I thought that the reason walnut was used was to absorb some of the shock? A friend of mine bought a piece of "walnut" from a salvage place for like ten bucks a while back. He had picked it up because he thought I might want it, and was wondering why it was so heavy. It was brazilian rosewood. I told him what it was and that I'd happily give him considerably more for it. He said it wasn't anything to him, and I could give him $15. I gave him twenty. I don't know how it ended up there, probably stashed in the rafters of some deceased woodworker's garage that got torn down. It's now stashed in mine.

I like to rough out the shape with a 50 grit sanding disc on a 4 1/2" angle grinder. I don't believe wenge would slow it down a bit. Try it on some scrap first, to get the feel of it, though.

Actually, a woodlot like allstellar is describing can be managed in a manner that requires no planting of new seedlings, which is much better ecologically than clear cutting and replanting. Good point, though, and partly why I mentioned the Forestry Service.

Cherry can produce some really wild figure, but it also usually results in unsound wood. Whatever causes the grain to go crazy also causes the growth rings to separate when it dries. Letting it dry in log form will actually make this worse. Cherry crotches are also notorious for splitting down the middle. Allstellar, you likely have a mix of white, red, green, and black ash. They are all pretty similar, the white having less or no dark heartwood. The "swamp ash" used in guitars is either red or green ash, the same species as the northern trees, but growing in the southern coastal swamps and bayous, the wood is much different. These trees actually grow in the water, and the base of the trunk gets much wider than further up. This is the part the guitar wood comes from.

I'd be willing to bet it sounds a lot like alder in terms of tone. They are very similar in density. Western ( bigleaf ) maple is even softer than the red and silver maple, which are considered soft maples.

Nope. It will dry slower when it is cold, but won't be harmed. When it is dry, you will want to store the good stuff in a climate controlled room. As far as falling the trees, I strongly recommend getting someone who really knows what they are doing, or at least taking classes before attempting it yourself. Contact your local forestry bureau either way, they can help you. BTW, the ash that you have is much different from the swamp ash that Fenders are made of. Heavier, different appearance, and brighter sounding, but still very nice wood.

Construction lumber is dried to 19% moisture content. Hardwoods are generally dried to 8%. That is a good target to shoot for. Ash does dry a little quicker than most other hardwoods. It also has a lot less moisture to begin with. Roofing tar will work fine, but has to be applied after the log is sawn ( don't want to saw thru it. ) It's much easier to coat the whole log end with latex paint. The main idea is to keep the moisture from coming out the ends, where it comes out the fastest. If the ends dry quicker than the middle, you get cracks from the uneven shrinkage. For air drying: Keep the wood at least 8" off the ground, more is better, and keep the grass cut around it, especially in copperhead country. Keep it supported every 16"-24" for 1" boards, 30" is ok for 2"+ Keep the stack 4 feet wide or less, with 1x1 sticks perpendicular to the boards, between each layer, spaced the same as the bottom supports. The sticks should be dryer than the wood to prevent staining. Cover the top with old roof tin or whatever, if there is no roof above it already, and put a bunch of heavy stuff on top of it. Keep the sides open to airflow, but shaded from direct sun. On the sawing, See if you can find a portable sawmill operator for hire. Where are you located? Also, check out forestryforum.com and woodweb.com. Tons of info at both places. Forestry forum has a very usable search function as well.

Ash actually dries very easily. If you are worried about checking ( the cracking you are referring to ), seal the log ends with a couple or three good coats of latex paint. Do this as soon as the logs are cut to length, and saw the logs as soon as possible. This goes for any wood, but ash logs should not sit around long with the bark on because of boring beetles. Not that they are uninteresting, mind you. A decent 800bf capacity dehumidification kiln can be had for about $2500 plus you build the enclosure. It will dry 2" ash or cherry in about a month or so. Whatever you do, don't try drying it too fast. Hardwoods need to dry at a controlled rate until they reach 20% moisture content. After that, higher temps and airflow are OK. 210 deg. is probably way too hot, though. Serious degrade can occur from too high temps, and drying too quick above 20%MC. For air drying, outside under cover, or an open shed is best. Air flow is important, not only for drying, but to avoid mold and staining. If you have to do it inside, use a couple fans to circulate air. How are you planning to saw it?

Doc, I think he's asking about sanding the black stain back? If so, I am interested in the answer, as well.

It should be easy enough to rig up, but the problem I see is not being able to hold the guitar low enough to catch the wheel right. The lathe would be in the way, or at least close enough to knock into.

If I told you, I'd have to kill you. Na, there's a few places in the states that import it. I'm SO glad our absurd foreign policies are working out for you. I guess it's just our altruistic nature.

He's probably just tired of people who don't pay attention to the terms of the auction. You entered into a contract. Deal with it.

Hi, Brian. Welcome to the forum. Veneer that thin is sliced on a commercial veneer mill that uses a huge super sharp knife to peel off sheets of veneer. It can be done on a bandsaw, but requires a lot of very careful set up and patience. Then there's the issue of surfacing it. Even with a good thickness sander, you will have to rig a backer board to hold the veneer. If you are not worried about bookmatching it, though, you can surface the face of the wood before each cut, and use that face for the gluing surface, then sand the other side when it's all together. Real tricky any way you do it, and you will be making three times as much sawdust as veneer. Why do you need it so thin?

Hi, Alex. I know what you mean about the exchange rate. I have a Peterson portable sawmill, made in Rotorua, and I cringe whenever I have to order spares. I met some of the guys from the factory at a sawmill demonstration here in the states. Real nice folks, but they got me hooked on marmite. Can't live without the stuff now.

One way to make your own pattern sander with a sanding drum on a drill press would be: 1) find a piece of pipe or some other cylindrical object the same diameter as your sanding drum, but just an inch long. 2) With a hole saw the same dimeter, make a hole in a piece of 3/4" (or thicker) plywood. 3)Epoxy the pipe in the hole so it sticks out about 1/4" from the top. 4)clamp or bolt the plywood to the drill press table so that the pipe is directly under the sanding drum.

I have used mesquite on fingerboards before, it is really nice. I like the idea of using woods from the US, as well.

Most tunamatics are fairly narrow, not much room for intonation adjustment. If you place them right on the scale length, you won't be able to pull the saddles back far enough to get the intonation correct.

Well, I like the bags fine, I use them to set guitar bodies on while sanding. I blow my dust straight outside, so I can't really comment on the collection system. The blower unit is not as well built as more expensive ones, but it's certainly worth what Harbor Freight gets for it. All radial fin blowers are loud. Lower in pitch than a shop vac, but probably just as loud. Cud- I really like the way you got the dust collection worked into the table saw base. Especially with the router and sander integreted. Real cool!

No, I mean 2 wires coming out of the case, where most motors have 4 or 6 wires that get tied together different ways to run different voltage. I usually run 1 horse or larger motors on 220, and was kinda pissed that I couldn't do that with this one. At 15 amps, it's really just a little over 1 horsepower anyway, despite the 2hp advertisement. Still, it's a good value compares to similar capacity units.

On the back routing: No, you don't want to do the whole thing in one pass this way, the router would take off and make an awful cut. Here's an example: Picture at the neck blank. It is tapered, so the grain runs out at the sides, right? On the treble side, you can rout the regular way (heel to nut) no problem, the fibers are simply sheared off. On the bass side, you are going from the nut to the heel, and thus, into the grain. Imagine running a chisel this way, and you can picture what happens. The same thing happens at different parts of the head and heel profiles. Anytime you can see that the bit will be cutting into the grain like this, pull out, bring the router about a half inch or so to the right, and rout back to where you stopped. Repeat this until you are out of that area. Bigger operations actually have machines and cutters set up to run in reverse to handle this, but us mere mortals just have to take our time and pay attention.

Not this one. I've got the same unit, only two wires coming out of the can. Can you run a 20 amp circuit just for it? That would do it.

MDF dulls cutting edges pretty quickly. Also, look at the grain where the tearout occurred. You will probably notice that it is leading in to the edge where the bit is cutting. As long as you are down to 1/32 of trim, try carefully running the router right to left in areas where the grain is running this way. Make sure the piece is held securely, and just do about a half inch at a time, working from left to right, but running the router right to left. Hope I explained that OK. If you are working on a router table, you'll have to flip that explanation upside-down, but you get the idea, right?

I haven't seen any lumber moisture meters under $50 that I would consider buying. I got the Lignomat mini-ligno E/C, about $130, I think. It was the cheapest one I found that I felt would be reliable enough. Their website is www.lignomat.com. Delmhorst is another good brand. Hygrometers ( humidity indicators ) can be had cheaper, and still work ok.