Posted by David McQueen on November 27, 2012 at 11:03am
A friend of mine has a saw mill and brought me some wood.The front and back of the box are Tamarack. The box sides, neck, bridge, string guide and headstock are Black Ash. The fret board is the only departure from wetlands wood. It is made of Paper Birch.The birch was white white before being oiled. Now it looks like maple. It even has a hint of bird's eye to it. It is really nice to work with.The Black Ash is hard to tell from Red oak.You can tell looking at the top of the box, that the Tamarack is a slice through a whole tree. It was hell to sand. The dark grain is really hard and the white is like a sponge. I though of using some other wood for this, but a large part of this exercise was to make a guitar from his own wood.The whole thing is finished in spray acrylic with brass fittings and a disk peizo pickup and volume control.
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Actually, I am in Barrie Ontario Canada, but the wood comes from Northern Ontario, about 7 hours north of me near Timmins. I think the climate is probably much the same. If I remember my geography, Minnesota is just south of North Western Ontario and has the same Borial forests.
Most people don't use Tamarack for finish work. It is apparently incredibly dense and strong and won't rot, but it tends to cup,if not really well dried. If my chum can slice some at less than 1/8" and then some at about 1/4", I'd like to make a box with Tamarack sides and back and put a spruce or cedar top on it. I think it might have a really good sound. similarly, I would like to try a birch and an ash box with spruce or cedar top.
Cherry wood is often like your Tamarack. It has two tones of wood. Dark inner wood and light outer wood. The light sands much easier and is softer. I like the contrast and will always keep the two tone if possible. With your wood roster you sound as if you live in northern Minnesota. Tamarack and Ash and all. Is it so? .... Dave, Duluth MN
I would have liked to put about a 4" tail piece on this one to increse the string sttsck amgle. However one of the things here was to hav ethe box open when complete. I only had 3/4" attachment window on the box lid.
The wood is lovely. Notice thee is more white on the left of the box top. This is the softer part of the Tamarack. When sanding it down it was getting thin faster on that side. I wamted to get down to about 1/8" even. I got to roughly 3/16" and I could see it starting to wedge out on me so I quit while I was ahead. All that being said, i'm pleased.
I have him looking for some good Black (swamp) or White Spruce logs and / or White Cedar. The Tamarack is really hard to work with.
He is up back home in Northern Ontario, about 250 miles south of James Bay. Tree growth there is slow so with either spruce or cedar, I should be able to get a really tight grain. Most time the logs are not big enough for a standard guitar, but for a box guitar they should be just fine.
What you can't see in the photo is the grain on the Black Ash. It is almost identical to Red Oak. I'll look around for more photos of this one and put them up.
Comments
Most people don't use Tamarack for finish work. It is apparently incredibly dense and strong and won't rot, but it tends to cup,if not really well dried. If my chum can slice some at less than 1/8" and then some at about 1/4", I'd like to make a box with Tamarack sides and back and put a spruce or cedar top on it. I think it might have a really good sound. similarly, I would like to try a birch and an ash box with spruce or cedar top.
Cherry wood is often like your Tamarack. It has two tones of wood. Dark inner wood and light outer wood. The light sands much easier and is softer. I like the contrast and will always keep the two tone if possible. With your wood roster you sound as if you live in northern Minnesota. Tamarack and Ash and all. Is it so? .... Dave, Duluth MN
The wood is lovely. Notice thee is more white on the left of the box top. This is the softer part of the Tamarack. When sanding it down it was getting thin faster on that side. I wamted to get down to about 1/8" even. I got to roughly 3/16" and I could see it starting to wedge out on me so I quit while I was ahead. All that being said, i'm pleased.
Beautiful one. I love the wood and simple design. Good bridge placement. Nice work....
I have him looking for some good Black (swamp) or White Spruce logs and / or White Cedar. The Tamarack is really hard to work with.
He is up back home in Northern Ontario, about 250 miles south of James Bay. Tree growth there is slow so with either spruce or cedar, I should be able to get a really tight grain. Most time the logs are not big enough for a standard guitar, but for a box guitar they should be just fine.
What you can't see in the photo is the grain on the Black Ash. It is almost identical to Red Oak. I'll look around for more photos of this one and put them up.
yum yum ! ;-)
Nice grain on the body.....A friend with a sawmill.....dang.....now that would be nice.