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Spruce It Up

Posted by Nathan Binns on January 26, 2016 at 2:42pm in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

I was looking at ordering some kerf lining and saw that it, as well as other bracing material, is made of spruce. I'm kind of a noob when it comes to different types of wood so what's the difference between the different kinds? I saw one was Sitka spruce, another German, another adirondack.

Where I'm really heading with this question is what kind of Spruce is in a 2x4 from my local hardware store? Could I use it for kerf lining? I know that it wouldn't make a decent soundboard but I'm really just dealing with support structure here. If I spent $3 on a 2x4x8' and spent some time on the table saw I'd have kerf lining and other bracing to last me years.

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Replies

  • Kigar January 26, 2016 at 10:09pm

    There are a few how to's online about making kerf from a board.  It looks like one of those things where the set up takes a bit of time, then you can crank out a lifetime supply in a fairly short time.  For thinner bracing coffee stir sticks are great, already trimmed for height and width although the species is not known.

  • David McQueen January 26, 2016 at 9:25pm

    Try toi find some reclaimed spruce .... from a reno job.  It will be dry and seasoned.  Don't worry about nail holes.  Just use them.

  • David McQueen January 26, 2016 at 3:12pm
    Actually it will make a wonderful sound board. The spruce in my hardware store is a mix of black and white spruce. If you go to my pics, there are guitars with spruce tops made from 2x3" 's. I only have an 8 1/4" table saw, so I can only slice 2 1/2". Those tops are glued together knotty spruce from ripped out basement studding. It is really tough.i show both knot holes and nail holes, as this stuff is recycled. Your boxes are small, so the imperfections of store spruce won't matter. I am using store bought spruce almost all the tme now. The big things with instrment spruce is both that it is knot free and straight grained plus the strips are wide enough (8"). I am using 1/8" thick pieces which are then planed and sanded and glued together to make an 8" wide sheet. Have fun.
    • Nathan Binns > David McQueen January 26, 2016 at 8:14pm

      I'm sold. I took a look through your pics and I like what I saw. Very nice builds. I love your headstock shapes on the 6 strings.
      I'm going to give the hardware store boards a shot. It sometimes takes a bit of digging, but I can usually find one or two really nice boards on a palette. I bet if I look really hard I could even find some nice straigt grain patterns too.

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