Rare Electric Guitar Body Woods - opinions please :)

HoodRobin

Hi there.

So, one of my mates' 21st is coming up mid Jan 2015, and he's told me a number of times he wants to shape and put together a guitar one day.
So I figured a rad present would be a block (with the cavities cut etc) of really high quality rare African wood to start him off on a good note.

I know of Rare Woods in Cape Town [http://www.rarewoods.co.za/wood-price-list?].

They have a massive range.
Could any of you suggest some nice dark woods that I should consider?
Gotta be;

- Fairly rare (nothing stock standard)
- Interesting grain
- Sound good (he play them blues)

His current guitar is a hollow body piece of cr*p.

Thank you!

Chocklit_Thunda

Most nicely figured woods are heavy and often unstable for a solid body.
Would you consider using a figured top on a slab of a regular piece of mahogany (possibly chambered) alder, ash (also chambered), poplar, spruce, Oregon pine, sapele, Padauk, etc etc etc. ?

As for the figured woods, you should look at cocobolo, Macassar ebony, koa, blackwood (african and Australian) zebrano, regular rosewood, walnut, afrormosia, wenge, ebony, shedua, Limba, etimoe, Kiaat, Panga panga, Pallisander, teak (Rhodesian and Madagascan), Acacia (the local stuff) and bubinga

Not a of those are African and some of the african ones aren't incredibly dark
Just google them and have a look. Not all of them are available locally/easily.

V8

HoodRobin wrote: So, one of my mates' 21st is coming up mid Jan 2015, and he's told me a number of times he wants to shape and put together a guitar one day.
So I figured a rad present would be a block (with the cavities cut etc) of really high quality rare African wood to start him off on a good note.

A very cool idea, though it's fraught with challenges...

To get an idea, perhaps review a few build threads, a good one is lapdawg's : http://www.guitarforum.co.za/setup-mods-and-repair/attempt-to-get-close-to-a-%2759-burst-replica/.

I did have a similar itch during 2014, but came to the conclusion that I'm better off (at the moment) modding than building from scratch - the tooling is scary! Though Wizard's Workshop is a safe place ?

warrenpridgeon

I've been a little scare round these parts... ???
Been hectically busy.

V8 wrote:
HoodRobin wrote: So, one of my mates' 21st is coming up mid Jan 2015, and he's told me a number of times he wants to shape and put together a guitar one day.
So I figured a rad present would be a block (with the cavities cut etc) of really high quality rare African wood to start him off on a good note.
A very cool idea, though it's fraught with challenges...

To get an idea, perhaps review a few build threads, a good one is lapdawg's : http://www.guitarforum.co.za/setup-mods-and-repair/attempt-to-get-close-to-a-%2759-burst-replica/.

I did have a similar itch during 2014, but came to the conclusion that I'm better off (at the moment) modding than building from scratch - the tooling is scary! Though Wizard's Workshop is a safe place ?

I WAS going to attempt a build this year, but I found a deal on my guitar so I went for that instead. But I still really want to try my hand at guitar building.

First up is a case for my multi effects pedal.

With regards to the woods... Some places sell smaller pieces, others force you to buy a huge slab (enough for 3 - 5 bodies depending on the minimum size requirement). Be sure to ask if they sell smaller sizes or only bigger pieces.

You can get enough sapele mahogany for a body for a couple hundred rand. That's a decent base.
I wanted to cap it with maple, but I battled to find nice figured maple without having to bring it in from overseas and then the price got crazy.

V8

warrenpridgeon wrote: I've been a little scare round these parts... ???

We've never met, but I'm scared none-the-less... ? - Oddly enough I've been in Sandton last four weeks, but on a rather heavy contract, zero free time.

warrenpridgeon wrote: You can get enough sapele mahogany for a body for a couple hundred rand. That's a decent base.
I wanted to cap it with maple, but I battled to find nice figured maple without having to bring it in from overseas and then the price got crazy.

Shipping & the exchange rate can make heavier things uneconomical, though not outrageous.

When Chris Webb emigrated I took a job lot of his projects off his hands (six!). I've finished one, rationalized that I cannot do four of them and have one left in the que.

The one I finished :

97' Epiphone EM1 (Killer explorer style neck)

The one I want to do is the SG :

The projects I've given up on :

Washburn "timeless timber" NX6N

60's Gretsch Astrojet

Solid body Warlock - love the shape...colour not so much!

Annndddd...(after chatting to lapdawg & Wizard) the LP, such a incredible piece of wood. Flame maple cap, with a spruce body. Pic doesn't do it justice. But the amount of work, Hmmm - beyond me!

Sooo many guitars, sooo little time!

Wizard

That last LP definitely needs a home. Already shaped. Already capped in cool maple. Struggle to improve on that.

Wizard

Looks like a Knysna blackwood body

Lord-Vetinari

Interesting topic I wanted to look into at some point myself. I remember reading somewhere that the best wood for guitars comes from the inside of the tree, has less water and is lighter and for some reason that equals better tone. Like the ligjter start of the same model will sond better. No idea of it is true or where I read it but it stuck. Zero help I know lol.

peterleroux

One of the other trends at the moment is to use old recycled timber -either some old wine barrels or an Oregon Pine beam. Might be a bit cheaper, has a great history and a more well behaved wood to work with than a highly figured piece

Wizard

I made my "violincaster" from a reject offcut from rarewoods. Cost about 30 ront

Wizard

Other really cool thing about recycled woods and a rustic feel is that the manufacture tolerates error

Brastep

Rarewoods has an offcuts section where one can usually find a slab big enough for a body - for very little ronts. I built one out of white wenge. Weighs a ton, even with a bunch of cavities cut out. Applied a red stain to accentuate the grain - see pic

canonball

Brastep wrote: Rarewoods has an offcuts section where one can usually find a slab big enough for a body - for very little ronts. I built one out of white wenge. Weighs a ton, even with a bunch of cavities cut out. Applied a red stain to accentuate the grain - see pic

That is the business, @Brastep!

Shibbibilybob

If African is what you're after, then I'd say go with a sapele or khaya body, with a hardwood top.
Country woods in cape Town used to have plenty Wenge (panga panga) which is a very dark brown, open grained wood. You could also look for Kiaat, although it is less dark in colour, you do get some pieces with vivid colours and lots of colour changes, usually varying between dark orange/red and a pale yellow/white/grey, although a great deal of this wood is rather boring looking, and just plain old light brown.

Your nicest figured woods would usually be incredibly heavy and expensive, so you'd be better off, as Chocklit_thunda said, with a khaya/sapele (both known as african mahogany) back, and then a figured top. I disagree with his choosing of padauk as a body wood tho...padauk is very dense and very heavy, tho it does tend to have a very lively tap tone (if you can handle a heavy guitar, I expect a guitar with a padauk body would be sound great (I can promise about through pickups and an amp, but I'd expect a lovely chime if you knocked it with your knuckles).

Unfortunately, a lot of the african woods that are dark in colour are usually rather homogenous when it comes to gran and figure. African Blackwood and African Ebony are both very dark, but with little figure. African black wood is dark enough as to appear pretty much jet black under finish, with no real visible grain unless you're very close and hold it in the light.
The ebony also has very little going on in the way of figure, although you could expect occasional grey/brown patches.

Of the african woods, I expect figured Bubinga would be the best option as it ticks the dark colour/nice figure/african boxes.

Wenge would probably be my choice of top wood, over bubinga. It is less figured than the figured bubinga, but the open grain means that interesting grain patterns are often visible on flat sawn pieces...and the quarter sawn stuff has very nice visible stripes too.

domhatch

peterleroux wrote: One of the other trends at the moment is to use old recycled timber -either some old wine barrels or an Oregon Pine beam. Might be a bit cheaper, has a great history and a more well behaved wood to work with than a highly figured piece

there was this one astrophysics student chappie i heard of, recycled an old fireplace mantle into something resembling a decent guitar with his old man. went on to make a bit of a name for himself in certain circles apparently.

no need to be too picky, i don't think, you can evidently work miracles with just about any old hunk of carbon
dh|

Wizard

Panga panga / wenge is tricky to work. Splinters easily which usually embed themselves in your fingers and get infected easily. I'm personally a kiaat junky. Wenge is also a pain to finish.

HoodRobin

Thanks for all the advice guys! Really appreciated.
So I've been sold on not having the whole guitar out of Padauk.
But how easily does one attach one piece of wood onto the top of another? Sounds expensive. I'll also need holes for pickups cut and everything..
Thanks

Shibbibilybob

Oh it's very simple to join the body and the top. You just make sure both surfaces are perfectly flat, then spread glue on one of them and clamp the other one down onto it. I'm not sure how well this would work with plain old Ponal, but with Titebond, it's incredibly strong.

And yes, wenge splinters are the worst.

Chocklit_Thunda

White PVA wood glue ? That's about it

As shibbibibibibibibibibibilybob said, make sure both sides are flat and spread the glue evenly and clamp hard. Lots of clamps! If you think you have too many clamps on it, put more on.
You can never have too many clamps 8)

Shibbibilybob

Too many clamps? NO!
Too much clamping pressure? Yes, that can happen.