Timberking

Call Hogan's Hardwoods in Jacksonville. They have anything you want or can get it, from veneer and 1/4" stock to body blank thicknesses. Domestic and exotic. They gave me a good price on quilted maple.

yeah, my thoughts too. Good practice material to start with. I am also thinking about some other species that might work. You know, we have a large variety of hard hardwood species here. Man, that beech I got really looks like it would work. They cut me the heartwood. It is beautiful. A nice, reddish color with lots of grain pattern. And hard as any maple I have handled. We'll see.

Hmmm..... Don't know if I can get any London Plane, but I do have some Arkansas Riverbottom Sycamore. Been reading up on it and sycamore along with beech is used for furniture, flooring, and wood turnings. The wood is hard and dense for both species. For a body, I figure if soft hardwoods like basswood and poplar can produce acceptable tones, then these woods would be ok for a body. From what I have read on these woods, both are stable with beech being more stable but sycamore should be ok too. Drying is the big key and we have a local kiln here that is drying some ash for me now. What the hell, nothing ventured nothing gained. I am gonna try both for necks. Laminate it up and see what happens. The wood was free so experimenting will only cost me my time and I would rather use local woods. The thought of ordering maple or mahogany neck blanks kinda irks me. Thanks for responding butcherboy.

I have come into possession of some beech and sycamore planks. These species are common in my area and plentiful. I do know that both of these woods are dense and hard. Matter of fact , in years past, sycamore was used for chopping blocks and beech was used for thread bobbins. So they are both hard. I am thinking of using them for building necks and possibly bodies. Anyone have any experience with these species for necks or bodies, particulary for necks? Was wondering most about their stability. Thanks.

Can you place wax paper between the small blocks and the body?

Hey Matt, the book is ordered. Will get it this week. And if the wood doesn't have a nice grain pattern, we'll paint it a solid color or veneer it. Also, got a friend who has a plunge router if we want to try it. Never used a plunge router before. I have plunged a commode though.

LGM.... thanks bud, this is exactly what I needed to see. This I can understand. I'm gonna follow these steps. I'll let you know how my first try turned out. Thanks again. Rick

Thanks arrowheadguitars and LGM for the pics. Both really nice. The thing that has got this dummy here stumped is actually the wood prep and steps to finishing a stained ash body. Not necessarily the clear coating part, but the wood sealing procedures. Like, for an ash body, do you just sand the wood, stain, clearcoat, and buff? I read somewhere about filling the wood pores on ash before staining and another article I read didn't mention that. Please excuse my ignorance, but my friends I am still confused. (Old guys like me stay alittle confused anyway) LOL. Thanks for you patience. I really envy you guys making all these beautiful guitars that I have seen at this site.

No on the book. lotta crap at work this week. Will order the book next week. Have read alot about staining.Still somewhat confused. One place said fill the wood first. The other said don't fill the wood. I'll get it figured out when I get my ash.

Thanks.

Hi everyone, I am new and must say that this is an awesome site. My good friend Guitarfrenzy has gotten me interested in trying to build a guitar. I would like the first attempt to be a black translucent finish on an ash body. Can someone steer me right on what is the best stain, where to get it, and how to go about finishing it? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!