Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm just starting to get the materials together for an ES335 clone,and I have an admittedly dumb question...

Could someone recommend a good supplier of 5/8" maple boards for the top and back of the guitar?

Thanks for your patience,
Robb

Thanks for that link!

I try to avoid buying from places like stewmac because you can buy the same wood at a much lower price if you don't buy it in the form of blanks. If you can't find a local source, or have no way to mill the wood to the right size, I've heard good things about http://oregonwildwood.com/. Not as cheap as a lumber store, but still cheaper than stewmac.

http://www.curlymaple.com/ They are located in PA

Thanks! But what I'm looking for is something without figuring. The ES335 I'm working on will be alpine white, and it would be a waste to cover great figuring with paint.

If you are just looking for straight grain maple you should be able to buy that at any local hardwoods store. Cabinet makers in your area should know who to go to or just look in your local phone book. In my area the hardwood supplier also has rough milling capabilities so if they only have say, 3/4 then they might be able to plane it to what you need. Otherwise any cabinet shop can do that one for you.

This is why I love having a big bandsaw and a helical head planer and jointer, being able to mill my own wood saves me a ton of $$$.

Yeah. that would be cool. gotta see about getting one.

Yeah. Those are nice tools to have. But for a hobbyist builder (like me), it would take a very long time for that equipment to pay for itself in terms of saving on lumber costs.

I am a hobbyist builder myself. I got the bandsaw for 350$ and the helical jointer and planer for 900$ on ebay. I use steel city 13" helical head planer and their 6" table top helical head jointer.