Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi folks! I recently recieved this blank from someone on another forum who was kind enough to offer it to the first poster in the continental U.S. He was even kind enough to pay shipping.
Here is his description of the wood.
"It's soft maple. It's old wood. Could be really old. I bought the stock at an auction when the business that made molds for cast iron foundries finally called it quits. They used to cut the ends off of huge boards (mostly pine, maple and mahogany) and chucked them in a back room in the event they ever needed a small piece. We know how that goes... So this back room was jammed with odds and ends and I bought the whole thing. Took two pick-up truck loads out then gave the rest to the only guy bidding against me. Turns out, he's a turner (no pun intended) and wanted the thick stock for his woodworking class."

The blank appears as advertised. It's 2"x18"x14", roughly. The blank came from Cincinnati. Here in Virginia in my "shop", humidity is 36% at the moment. My shop is not humidity controlled, and may reach as low as 32%, give or take.
I'm worried about the ends splitting and cracking with low humidity, since I have to wait 3-4 months for spring to get to work on it. But it is too cold outside to coat the ends in anything too toxic vapor-wise. I'd have to leave it outside until it cured. I have some old latex house paint. Will that work to seal the ends, or would you worry about that with stock this thick and supposedly this old? I can't afford to lose any length off of this blank if it is to be usable to me.

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Mike

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

Hey Mike.
Congrats on your score.
I wouldn't worry too much about it, because it's so old, and probably really dry.
Do ya have any water base clear finish laying around?
If you don't, the water base latex would help a bit I think.
Parafin wax?

Thanks, Allan. I'll probably just hit the first couple of inches of each end with the latex just to be safe. I've got plans for this blank, and i don't want to risk losing it.

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Mike

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

Whatcha gonna make Mike?

Well, I have a four string bass bridge(your basic toploader Fender type), a nice maple neck, and a set of tuning keys. All i really need is a body blank, pickups, pots and a jack and I'm set. I've got the body blank now, and I've got some time to accumulate the rest.
This blank is a couple of inches short for a P bass, so I'll have to redesign a body to fit the blank, but i've already got an idea what to do there. The way I build is that I use whatever comes my way, and adapt what I'm doing to fit whatever it is that I have.
It'll basically be a P Bass inspired bass build. It'll be my first bass build, but I've assembled enough of them and worked on enough of them that I should be fine. Gonna be fun!

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Mike

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

Soft maple for a body? I was under the impression that only hard maple is suitable for bodies. Soft maple for tops, hard for core.

Gabby, from what I have been able to gather, it's been used in production instruments before. I know from perusing the bass forums that it is or was used in the Squier Vintage Modified series, particularly the P Bass.
http://bass-guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Squier-Vintage-Modified-P-Bass?sku=430659
If you'll scroll down to the specs on the jazz below, you'll see the body for it is also soft maple.
http://bass-guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Squier-Vintage-Modified-Jazz-Bass?sku=519639
I also seem to remember it being used 20 years or more ago in one of the Epiphone offerings.
However, I don't really care if it's been used before. All kinds of wood has been used in electric guitar bodies, including Balsa, Pawlonia, Pine, Fir and lots of other softer woods.
Also, although this is labeled soft maple, it's certainly not that soft. It's quite heavy, and passes the old hardwood test of pressing your thumbnail into the wood to see if it leaves a mark. It doesn't. I'm perfectly satisfied that it'll make a fine guitar.

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Mike

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

Honestly, given the weight I'd say soft maple is a better choice for bodies than hard.

I actually prefer the soft maple,
which really ain't that soft.
It has those pretty little dark lines in it sometimes.

These days alot of guitar companies are offering basswood bodies. In my experience, soft maple is still a lot harder than basswood. I made a tele with basswood and has dented easily. The finish on the guitar seems a little soft, but I think alot of the dents are due to the soft basswood.