Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi! I've been looking all over for a place to source decent wood for solidbody guitars. I've finally found a source, and the prices are decent, but I need help. Those of you who do this regularly know that the wood is sold by the board foot. What I'd like to know is, how do I figure how many guitars per board foot, or alternatively, what length of board equals how much board foot.
For example, they have 8/4 lumber that is 6" wide, and 8/4 that is 10" wide. How do I figure out how many bdft per foot of length of each.
Thanks.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

The formula for figuring out board footage is:

(Thickness x Width x Length) / 144 = Board Feet

Figuring out how many guitars in a board will depend on your design.

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Aoibeann

Lillian F-W, thanks for the help. Another question, and please don't think I'm an idiot, but..... I understand thickness x width x length, but what does /144+=board feet mean?
Thanks again.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Mike,

Think inches. All of the measurements are in inches. Divide result by 144 = board feet.

Ex: 12" length X 12" width X 1" thick = 144

144/144 = 1 board foot

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Thanks, Steve and Lillian. Much appreciated!

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Another way to think of it Mike, easier to visualize, ....a board foot is just a square foot that's 1" thick. So in your first example, an 8/4 board 6" wide is just like a 4/4 (1") board 12" wide... 1 board foot per foot of length.

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Dave
Milton, ON

Thanks, Dave.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.