Official Luthiers Forum!

I can't help but disagree with you guys.. I realize you might ruin the odd set but if your putting the amount of time and energy into a guitar that you do whats another 100 bucks? I've heard from several people the timeline for a 1 off amateur build is 100+ hours (I know some of you can bang off half a dozen in that time but if you're that good you're not asking about tonewood grading either)

And if you want to practice bending, practice. Most vendors sell practice sides or go slice up some 2x6s and practice until your ready to attack your guitar.

I'm not saying go out and use Master Grade BRW and Adirondack tops every build but after putting that amount of effort into it do you really want be thinking "I wish I used a nicer set of ..."

Gotta find a balance.. If your guitar sounds amazing and looks like it was built from scrap I hope you enjoy playing it because you'll have a pretty hard time selling it.

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CVT Inc.
A tour of our shop (Somewhat outdated)
My Personal eBay profile. BCWoodBug

I'll side with Truckjohn on this one. My first spruce-topped classical was built with a top that I pulled out of a batch of 35 basically reject-grade tops that I bought from Darren Hippner. I probably paid 7 dollars for the top, after figuring out how many of the 35 could actually get used on real guitars. Steve Kinnaird commented here on how nice the silking looked on that top.

I love to resaw, and I love to go to the hardwood supplier to try and find the boards that are worth resawing - and believe me, the place I go is on the lookout for guitar sets themselves. I've processed some English Sycamore (basically the U.K.'s most common Acer species) with very nice flame that they had left for furniture work, and have one guitar in the works now from that and probably another 8 sets stashed. I think the hunt for somewhat-bargain wood is one of my favorite parts of the process, right up there with neck carving.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

In the end, you gotta decide what floats your boat....
If you just aren't turned on by building with Cheap/plain/common wood... Don't.
If you believe that you will build a better guitar out of higher grade wood... You will... So use it.
It's your money and Your hobby... in the end, you are the only one who can decide what is interesting and fun and challenging for you....

Myself.... I am very new to this, but kinda a Contrarian... In my mind, "Tonewood" is what you end up with... not what you start with... I really believe one can build a fine guitar out of whatever you happen to have at hand.... So far, I have ended up with a Retopped Esteban, and Oak guitar and a Cherry guitar.... I am pretty happy with all of them.

Many people don't feel the same way I do, though... If you don't believe you can build a good guitar out of something... You won't be able to!

Also... That's not to say I don't value those guitars made of Beautiful, Expensive, and Rare wood..... I certainly do... I am just not there yet myself.

Thanks

John