Official Luthiers Forum!

Filippo,
I have never been able to find quartersawn lumber at a lumberyard. They only have flatsawn lumber. It is very wastefull to quartersaw wood. That is one of the reasons they charge more. Luthier suppliers are the only ones that carry quartersawn lumber. I have seen some quartersawn oak, but that was done for the visual effect of the grain. And it wasn't cheap!
I have quite a bit of mahogany that is over 3" thick, and none of it is truly quartered. It is all off quarter to some degree. You waste a lot when you quartersaw wood. I think that is why it is so expensive........
Mike R

You're also paying for highly select grade, and/or just the fact that it's been earmarked as "guitar" wood. Calculate it out for the 4 thin slats which comprise an acoustic back & side set and Honduran is a good $60 per board foot! You can occasionally find Honduran that's really really wide (I have a piece that's 28" iirc). If you find something like that that was slab sawn close to the middle of the log, the outer portions can lay near quarter. But I agree quartering doesn't seem to be a vital issue for a solid body electric.

Peace,
Sanaka

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...imagine there were no hypothetical situations...

its Labor .. highly likely that the piece is laminated down the centre, which calls for dressing and jointing so it can be glued up .... 75-100 is the norm for a hondo blank where I am from.

When was the last time you saw a 15 inch wide, quartered, 6/4 or 8/4 hondo board ??? I cant say I ever have ... african ..OK .. just got some nice 16 wide quartered, but its only 5/4.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Came close a little while ago Tony. I bought a 6' x 8/4 x 14" Hondo board at Blackforest Woods here in Calgary. It's about 20 degrees off quarter and was about $14.00/bf if I recall. Last time I was there a couple of weeks ago, they still had some of the same size boards. All are 10' to 12' long.

You should go to an electric guitar factory some time....you'll see huge boards up to 12/4 thick x 18" wide x about 20' long. I've got a pile of 12/4, 8/4, and 6/4 offcuts in my shop from my factory days...we could pick whatever we wanted out of the scrap bins. A lot of the factory folks use it as kindling. It gave new meaning to the name "flame maple". All that nice kiln dried stuff lights right up...

Trev

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http://www.PeakeGuitars.com

The price for perfection in wood is always high. When I was at Hibdon, we cut up tons of 8/4 mahogany for solid body blanks. The market was demanding 1-piece blanks (14" wide) and clear, with no pin knots or sap, etc. Think about how much wood is wasted in getting a perfect blank in the aforementioned size by cutting up 10-12 foot lengths. You might waste a piece that is 8" long and 14" wide cutting around small knots. Or, you might be left with a piece from the end of the board that is 15" long, which is not long enough for a solid body. There is no value in the off-fall. We had customers reject blanks that had one pin knot smaller than the size of a pencil eraser, or a couple of worm holes the size of a pin head.
Obviously, the best yield and therefore best value is to buy log-run 8/4 mahogany, glue 2 pieces together, and not worry about the pin knots. Some truly crazed perfectionists think a 1-piece body has the most mojo and can't deal with the fact that wood comes from a tree and therefore has knots and worm holes. For this level of perfection, the cost of the off-fall has to be factored in. You may only be buying 4 board feet, but 4 board feet might have been wasted getting that "filet mignon" cut of mahogany.

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Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large