Where to buy good wood?

[mrINFINITY]

I was just curious if anyone can tell me where I can buy nice, reasonably priced wood for building a guitar. I know steward mcdonald's sells them, but they don't have mahogany and there has to be other places that may have better prices. I'm gonna sandwich the body so I need 2 different types of wood. :)

[traktor]

Luthier's Mercantile, Healdsburg CA, http://www.lmii.com is worth a try.

Also, look around your own town or area. My shop foreman Ron discovered a place in McCloud (9 miles away) that has a huge yard of recovered railroad ties, made of all kinds of exotic wood! Being recycled, this is very affordable.

Of course, buying wood from scratch may require access to some additional shop tools like a joiner or planer or a cabbage-patch doll lengthener. Oh, no, wait- Not that last one.

[rjgoos]

Wood? Who needs wood??? The latest drawings on my engineering pad are for an all-metal homebrew tapping instrument......and I promise, nothing like the Solene. As Red Green so often says, "It'll be a great idea, if it works..."


RJ Goos


(if you don't know who Red Green is...well, you've missed a lot)

[mrINFINITY]

Traktor,

Thanks for the link, that's fairly close to where I live. I'm in central California.


rjgoos,

I considered making a guitar entirely out of jello, but I didn't think it would hold.

[Glenn Drakeley]

I believe the best guitars are made of air. Infinite tunings, as many strings as you like (and they never need replacement), no trussrod adjustments, you can never lose it, they fit in all luggage compartments, they're extremely light weight, they don't need a case, they're inexpensive, you can make your own, you'll never get lightning zapped due to improper grounding, you'll never get sued for copying one, fretless or not, bodyless or not and the list just goes on and on !!!!

Nobody will ever demand that you remove its pictures from your website, nobody will ever refuse to sell you strings......................

[traktor]

[ ... pondering air ... ]

[Glenn Drakeley]

.....and if you want the perfect pickups for the Air Guitar you have
designed for yourself, go buy a Theremin !!!!!!!!!

[rjgoos]

I saw a book at Barnes and Noble, on how to play the air guitar. The box included a video AND a free air guitar.

Jay

[Glenn Drakeley]

Air for Air Guitars comes from many places depending on what color and smell you want !!! New York City and Los Angeles come immediately to mind, tho the New Jersey Turnpike Air Guitar Air is the most aromatic !!! And all free of charge, afterall, air is truly in the Public Domain !!

[mrINFINITY]

"if you build a neck-thru guitar you better make sure it's held together good. You're gonna be embarassed if you're playing a show and it turns into a chapman stick" -A Friend of Mine

[Glenn Drakeley]

"if you build a neck-thru guitar you better make sure it's held together good. You're gonna be embarassed if you're playing a show and it turns into a chapman stick" -A Friend of Mine

I'm laughing so hard at this one that i'm crying and almost ****ing myself, what an amusing observation on your friends part !!!!!

[rockola]

Originally posted by mrINFINITY
"if you build a neck-thru guitar you better make sure it's held together good. You're gonna be embarassed if you're playing a show and it turns into a chapman stick" -A Friend of Mine

Did your friend have one fall apart on stage, or what was his point? I've never heard of something like that happening.

[mrINFINITY]

Rockola,

It's a joke because neck-thru's are basically constructed similar to a chapman stick, and then you add the sides to it to make the body. It's more of a joke between us because we both think the chapman sticks are dorky looking :P (no offense to anyone out there who plays one). I just think it looks like a giant crayola crayon. If that happened i'd be willing to bet that emmett would rush in with a lawsuit from the stories i've read, and from meeting him once. Hope I haven't offended anyone with this.

[rockola]

Originally posted by mrINFINITY
Rockola,

It's a joke because neck-thru's are basically constructed similar to a chapman stick, and then you add the sides to it to make the body. It's more of a joke between us because we both think the chapman sticks are dorky looking :P (no offense to anyone out there who plays one). I just think it looks like a giant crayola crayon. If that happened i'd be willing to bet that emmett would rush in with a lawsuit from the stories i've read, and from meeting him once. Hope I haven't offended anyone with this.

OK, now I get it. Ha ha :D I don't think Sticks look dorky, but they do look like crayons...

A radically different instrument design may take a long while to get accepted. Back in the 50's, Gibson couldn't give away the original Flying V's. Today, of course, you could swap one of the very few they sold for a nice new Porsche.

[traktor]

Of course, Dave Bunker's original design from the 1950's -- which was called "The Board" -- was also unusual-looking, being somewhat crayon-shaped, and as I recall it may have had *removable* body parts.

(Just another of my unauthorized opinions.)

[rjgoos]

>It's more of a joke between us because we both think the chapman sticks are dorky looking :P (no offense to anyone out there who plays one). <


Ahem...those of us with more "refined" tastes would reply that it has a "minimalist/post-modernist" design. Just as the Borg cube was way cooler than the other space ships on ST-TNG.


RJ Goos

[mrINFINITY]

Since you brought up the flying V, i was thinking. That shape would make an excellent touch guitar.

[mrINFINITY]

Thanks for all your guys help. I finally found a store nearby and purchased some zebra and holley wood to make my guitar with.

[rjgoos]

Originally posted by mrINFINITY
Thanks for all your guys help. I finally found a store nearby and purchased some zebra and holley wood to make my guitar with.


Wow...quite a leap of faith...to go out and buy the wood for an instrument.

All I can say is, best wishes, and good luck!! Keep us posted on how it's going, like Ola has.


R. Jay Goos

[mrINFINITY]

rjgoos,

I will be sure to do that :). Once I start actually cutting the wood i'll take some pictures.

-Alan

[lemur821]

Just as the Borg cube was way cooler than the other space ships on ST-TNG.

I'm a little late, but I just noticed this. The problem with the stick is that it only has one half of the equation. Sure, it's minimalist, but it's missing all the green smoke!

[woodsman]

Hmmn green - I think that would accent mahogany welll...
Maybe ill add a smoke machine to my project...later...after it at least has strings....