Ever make your own guitar?

[Peter Naglitsch]

Jack, stunning guitar! great stuff
Durrant, great stuff here too. Just gotta ask: No 3, is that swamp ash with a black grainfiller and a black burst? And no 5, is it oregon myrtle or what is the top wood?

[Durrant Pickups]

Hi Peter,
No.3 is an Australian mountain ash with black grain filler and black burst and No. 5 is a Queensland black wattle top that piece was quite interesting as it had some sap wood in it.
We were also using Tasmanian Oak tops
also here is another one we made with a custom pearl inlay on ebony

[Rick Turner]

Tasmanian Oak...Hah! Mountain Ash...Hah! Victorian Ash...Hah! Swamp Gum...Hah!

It's all Eucalyptus Regnans...and wait! There are even more names: Eucalyptus regnans - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Brits were brilliant at mis-naming Australian timbers which resembled...sometimes ever so remotely...wood that they were familiar with.

I've spent a bit of time in Tasmania including with loggers and sawmill operators there, and Tassie oak is indeed an amazing wood that can be...and is...used for everything from decking to fine furniture to acoustic guitar and uke backs and sides. My ex-girlfriend's house was practically all Tassie Oak...siding, flooring, decking, some of the framing, and her beautiful dining table.

[Durrant Pickups]

Hi rick, thanks for that I was unaware of that link between all those names haha. I just call it what it sells as my mistake. I will however still call them separately to customers just because it's easier for them to identify.

[Rick Turner]

It would seem that you can call it whatever you want by common Aussie practice! But if someone wants to know what it is by Latin name, it's Eucalyptus regnans... One wood, so many names...

Call it by what your customers will pay the most for...

[Peter Naglitsch]

Thanks for the info Nathan. I have seen guitars made from flame "Tasmanian Oak", or Eucalyptus regans, before on some great guitars. But I have never seen the look of no 3. I can really understand if someone would confuse that wood for ash when looking at that particular piece. The QL Black Wattle was also very nice looking. Great to see so many native woods being used. Around here we mostly have pine...
i googled Black Wattle and came up with this:
http://www.beerandbrewer.com/Images/...20Original.jpg

[Rick Turner]

Black wattle...another term for Acacia...
As in: Tasmanian black acacia which is "Acacia melanoxylon"...and to further confuse things...it also grows in California, to which it was introduced in the 1880s in SoCa...and it's found in Southern mainland Australia. It has happily migrated north from SoCal, and it's well established in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have about a ton of quartered log sections to resaw into guitar and uke tops and backs... Great stuff...
And...for the sake of further de-confusifying..."wattle" is "Blank...blank...blank...Acacia"; and yes, there seem to be Acacias all over the freakin' world, but we're mostly concerned with those growing in Australia (and Tasmania), Hawaii (Koa), and California (the stuff from Australia that loves it here...).

[Rick Turner]

I think this whole thread has "degenerated" (in a good way!) to suggesting that one look below the surface that you first see into what lies beneath.

Examine everything you do for an underlying truth.

Never accept "old wives' tales" about anything related to lutherie.

Be willing to accept the truth that was known 500 or so years ago once you have examined it.

Know that fingers, ears, and even other senses lead the "truth" of "scientific" measurements.

Do not reject those "scientific" measurements that track well with truth...

Do not reject those "hand, ear, and eye" "measurements" that track well with truth...

[Steve Conner]

Rick, can you elaborate on how we might tell the difference between old wives' tales and 500 year old truth?

[peskywinnets]

Just needs a couple of scratches touching up & it's good top go....

[ken]

Tasmanian Oak...Hah! Mountain Ash...Hah! Victorian Ash...Hah! Swamp Gum...Hah!

It's all Eucalyptus Regnans...and wait! There are even more names: Eucalyptus regnans - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Brits were brilliant at mis-naming Australian timbers which resembled...sometimes ever so remotely...wood that they were familiar with. I've spent a bit of time in Tasmania including with loggers and sawmill operators there, and Tassie oak is indeed an amazing wood that can be...and is...used for everything from decking to fine furniture to acoustic guitar and uke backs and sides. My ex-girlfriend's house was practically all Tassie Oak...siding, flooring, decking, some of the framing, and her beautiful dining table.

The green pickguard on the black guitar in my photo was imported from Australia. I was told that it was flame maple veneer over birch plywood, the kind of ply you make RC boats and airplanes out of. Now I'm wondering what wood it really is.

There are so many guitar builders in here that I *still* think we ought to have a forum here just for us - one full of how to's and ideas and lots of photos too

ken

[John_H]

I think this whole thread has "degenerated" (in a good way!) to suggesting that one look below the surface that you first see into what lies beneath.

Examine everything you do for an underlying truth.

Never accept "old wives' tales" about anything related to lutherie.

Be willing to accept the truth that was known 500 or so years ago once you have examined it.

Know that fingers, ears, and even other senses lead the "truth" of "scientific" measurements.

Do not reject those "scientific" measurements that track well with truth...

Do not reject those "hand, ear, and eye" "measurements" that track well with truth...

"Now who You Jivin' with that Cosmik Debris?"... Welcome back Rick.

Just needs a couple of scratches touching up & it's good top go....

haha. right click>save image as...

There are so many guitar builders in here that I *still* think we ought to have a forum here just for us - one full of how to's and ideas and lots of photos too

I think that would be cool. Maybe a sub-forum off of Guitar Tech.

[Peter Naglitsch]

There are so many guitar builders in here that I *still* think we ought to have a forum here just for us - one full of how to's and ideas and lots of photos too

Not to take away from this forum but you can always check the project guitar forum. Quite a few of the guys hanging here pops up at PG. Or the other way around...
Project Guitar Forum

[peskywinnets]

haha. right click>save image as...

Too easy eh?! (& here was I hoping I'd get some polite, constructive comments about the build!)

[Chuck H]

polite, constructive comments

Ugliest guitar I ever saw. I Love it!