Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello everyone- This site has been so helpful and inspiring over the past few months, thanks to everyone who contributes... Anyway, I have been experimenting with some wenge and toying with a few ideas and have noticed(and read) that the wood is getting lighter and lighter in color as the weeks pass. I have read that wenge will get lighter colored when exposed to light & darken when exposed to air. All of the pieces that I have cut have lightened considerably since I cut them out of a large block. The block was very dark brown initially, as were most of the pieces I cut out. Now I have lots of pieces with many very light-colored streaks.

So here is my question: If i finish the wood now, will it continue to lighten? Should I laquer it or something? I would prefer that the wood not get any lighter than it is now. A couple of the pieces are fretboards that I have made(against the advice of some OLFers) and I would rather not get them all gunky with finishes. Any comments or suggestions?

Thanks again ya'll, keep posting the photos!!!

 

I cut alot of wenge for back and sides necks and fingerboards.

A whi;e back i got a large board that had some sap om the outer edge.
the sap is a light straw colour.
when i cut into the board there was lighter areas that got lighter with
oxidisation (exposure to oxygen and sunlight) this darkend down once
finished.

What i expect you are experiencing is that you peice was from the outside
of the log and therefore is not 100% heartwood which is why it is lighter
than normal.

either that or you have panga panga which is a very close cousin to wenge
looks exactly the same but is lighter coloured.

The likely hood is that it will allways get lighter with exposure to sunlight
but of course a laqure will help reduce this.
You could use a laqure with a uv filter to help a little.

Good luck,
Joel.

Joel-
I tried to use wenge (once) and didn't have much luck.
Once I got the splinters out of my hands , I found that it was so hard and stiff that I couldn't get it thin enough to work for me, without having it split.

What range of thicknesses do you use for guitar sides and backs, when using wenge? Any tricks for bending?
Thanks
John

To be honest i dont like it much my self but you can get buetyfull results
if you can put up with the splinters.

The sides can be thicknessed down to 1.8-9 mm without buckling and
this realy helps with the the problem of it being so brittle.
But you still have to bend with care.
The back can come down to about 2.4mm
One thing about is that it is lighter than rosewood so some of the
classical guys are starting to use it becouse you can build a light guitar
out of it.

I havent used it for a neck myself but i have sold it for necks to electric
guitar builders and i have one guy who loves it becouse its very dense but
again lighter than most rosewoods.

I think it has good quality's for solid body guitars but to be honest there
are so many nicer woods out there to build acoustics from so i tend steer
clear.
But like any wood there will be people who love it and people who hate it
and think wenge is the marmite of the wood world.
It is a very showy wood if you have flat sawn grain and it will allways gain
fans becouse of that fact alone.

I would never advise a beginer to try wenge becouse it is a pain to bend
but if you have the experience and want to try something new why not!!!.

Joel.

Wenge is a great wood. It's really not hard at all to work with other than it
being splintery. Bends really easy and is pretty dang stable.

Yes it will lighten some but that's just the way it goes.

_________________
John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Thanks, Joel (and John).
Once I find my splinter tweezers, I may try some again!

Cheers,
John

[QUOTE=JohnAbercrombie] Thanks, Joel (and John).
Once I find my splinter tweezers, I may try some again!

Cheers,
John[/QUOTE]

yeah for sure give it another shot. I've had luck thinning the sides down a
tad bit more than normal when bending, but treat the back like any other
rosewood. Maybe I've just been lucky. I saw a guitar Mark Blanchard built
out of Wenge and it was beautiful indeed. That's what made me want to try
it in the first place so Thanks Mark!

_________________
John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Thanks John

I have built two guitars with wenge. One was a steel string and one was nylon string. I think it is very nice wood tonally. It's very resonant.

It is a little bit harder to work with than most rosewoods. It doesn't bend easily but it does bend predictably. The pores are huge but with a double or triple dose of pore filler and plenty of lacquer curing time, it will finish up beautifully.

I have never noticed it changing color, but then I have never had any problem with splinters from it either !

Mark

Thanks john,

I think you should give it a go again just take the sides a tad thinner.
also bending with a blanket in a form you should have no trouble at all

It is very stable so thats a bonus.

And mark you are lucky not to have sufferd a wenge splinter they are
notorius and almost allways get infected.

There is no doubt its a very pretty wood so that goes in its favour too.
Its very fashionable att the moment so it should be easy to sell a wenge
guitar as well.

Mark is also right about the pores they are huge but nothing a good thick
coat of z-poxy wont sort out.

Joel.