q83

Hey,

I've reached a mental roadblock in choosing the color to finish my JEM copy. I have three ideas in my head, and I wouldn't mind if you guys could tell me which you think would work out nicer (or give me ideas of your own)

1. Flame maple top, white stain, gold hardware.

2. Flame maple top, black stain, silver hardware.

3. White swirled with black. *

4. Black swirled with white. *

(* I haven't seen it done, but I figured it may look interesting)

I'm sorry this post is so utterly useless, I just can't make up my mind, and I really need other people to make up my mind for me

I too have access to an enormous supply of oak (enough to build a house out of if I really wanted to), and contemplating building a guitar out of it (although I've never heard of oak being used for the body of a guitar, I did some searching, and I found this page.

Here's the quote:

Off the top of my head, I can tell you why certain types of wood work well in stringed instruments. Aside from possessing the strength necessary to support the tension of four to 12 strings, "tonewoods" have a tendency to resonate at frequencies sympathetic to the pitch of the note or chords played. Oak, for example, is very strong, but does not have this resonant quality. Therefore, you wouldn't want to make a guitar out of oak... you'd save it for your dresser.

I agree with him, I'm sure it would make a bad sounding guitar, but one hell of a nice table.

Pau is portuguese for wood. Pau rosa is pink ivory wood.

According to this, "Pau Rosa is admittedly plain looking, but the tap tone is amazing. Glassy and bright with great sustain, it rings like African Blackwood (our most expensive tonewood!)."

According to this, Brazilian tulipwood is also called pau rosa, these are two different species as it seems, but I guess it's the first one... Although probably they have the same characteristics.

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Thanks alot for the research man, I really appreciate it. I'm wondering what kind of finish I should use on it. I was thinking of a veneer top, stained it and perhaps stain the rest of the body. Oh well, I'll decide when I'm ready. Thanks again.

The left wing is promising, reminds me of the Godin LG I have... the right wing... I've seen nicer pieces of firewood. You could definately make it work though if you fix the proportions. The entire body looks too thin, widen it out abit, and even both pieces. Even then, it's not very original.

And GregP, I'm comfortable with my LG, until my leg falls asleep that is. But I have a PRS that's about the same weight and it feels like it's cutting my leg off. Godin's are great for me because I work next to the head-office

I just got a guitar body made out of Pau-rosa wood... I'm wondering if anyone's heard about this kind of wood before used for electric bodies. It's a brazillian type of rosewood I'm assuming, but the entire body is made out of it. I've heard of it being used as a tonewood for the back and sides of acoustics. Anyone know anytihng about it? Does it sound like alder? Mahogany? Basswood? I'm at a loss, I won't be building it for another month or so but I'm very curious, and I'm not very savant when it comes to foreign woods.

Note: It's a JEM type body and weights about 4-5lbs.