Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi good people. I am a new member to this site. I have been wanting to make a guitar for a few years and have accumulated a few sets of tops, backs and sides, bridge and fingerboard blanks and some tools. Time has pushed this endeavor off. I am a CPA and will be slammed till tax day, but this project is increasingly more on my mind.

I was poking around in my barn the other day and came across some redwood planks. As you can see in the pics, they are still partially wrapped in the original wrap from Arcata Redwood Company. It looks to me to be fairly high quality, quarter sawn redwood. Each plank is 9 1/8" wide, 72 1/2" long and 1 3/4" thick. Here is the cool part.......... these boards are at least 50 years old. My father had built a cool redwood fence in the mid 60's. These must have been left over. The label says kiln dried. They are totally straight, although one side of one is a little dinged. I have moved these things around for at least 30 years because they were always in the way.

Now that I have re-discovered them, I think my first guitar will come from these. I want to build a classical guitar and plan on putting a cedar soundboard on top.

If I have figured this correctly, I think I can get a total of 12 b/s sets out of these two boards. It will take a while to get the first one done, but I am wondering... should I go ahead and re saw them into the sets, or hold off doing that till I am ready for the sets?

I look forward to picking all y'all's brains.

I would appreciate any comments on the redwood. I am no expert on tone woods so I'd love to know more about these boards.

Looks like I can't attach the pictures at the moment because they are too big. Can anyone assist in the process to re-size them? The other forums I belong to have a utility that re-sized them automatically.

Thanks
Gary

Welcome Gary. Glad to have you aboard.

One tip on pix is to have them hosted at a 3rd party and embed them in your post....

sounds like a very cool project and a neat story...

You can email them to me and I can resize them if you like. Should only take a couple minutes.

Thanks John.

Thanks Joey. If you PM me with your email address I will take you up on your offer. Thanks very much.

Just to note, Redwood is more appropriate for tops than back and side sets. That said, I have seen a guitar with a redwood back.

_________________
Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Garmo,
Welcome to the forum! Very cool to rediscover old wood that's been waiting patiently for you all these years.

Redwood can be great for tops, but I'd be hesitant to use it for backs and sides. Others may disagree. Personally, I've found it to be pretty delicate and to show wear and tear from even light handling--it also has a tendency to crack.

_________________
George :-)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No problemo.

As others have said it makes a nice top wood and the set on the left looks like it will give you some nice tops. Same for the one on the right but you will have to work around the flaws.

If it has good properties for tops, I would use all of it for tops.

Welcome!

I’m not sure I would use redwood for back and sides because of how easily it dents. You definitely have some tops in there though. Do you have the capability to resaw it? If I were you, I would only cut up one batch of tops now. Cut off whatever length you need for your top (plus some wiggle room) and resaw your slices. You never know what other project you might want to use this wood for down the line. If you cut it all up now, you will be limited in the future.

_________________
Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

A simple way to resize a picture is to load it in plain old MS Paint (not the 3d version). There is a button on the top to resize - it will say 100 by 100, try 50 or 30. Save the file and right click, look at the properties and see if its within the limits.

I used to use Photobucket to host my pictures but I'm so frustrated with all their ads and other BS that I'm back to resizing and embedding.

As others have said, consider resawing the one board for tops, if I had the wood I would consider making a solid body electric out of the other. That could uses the character of the wood effectively. (I make telecaster clones out of 100 year old pine from a historic barn). Good luck with your build and keep us posted

Thanks for posting those pictures for me.

I am eager to hear all you guys have to say. I read several threads last night about some of you using redwood for the back and sides. I have a couple months to take it all in before I decide.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

You could use them for backs and sides but as others have mentioned, it is a softwood (traditionally used for soundboards) and it is one of the more brittle soft woods. It would just dent/crack a good bit easier than other materials that can be easily sourced. My advice would be to pair it with a decent set of E. Indian Rosewood back and sides. Assuming it's well quartered and the runout isn't bad you should get some nice looking and sounding soundboards out of them. If you are going to put that kind of time into a project though I would use more durable back and sides, but that's just me and of course it is a freeeee country!

Good Luck and Welcome!

Some of the early "parlor" guitars used spruce back and sides with a hardwood veneer. It makes a very light guitar. I don't know if they did it for economy or strength, but I have seen a few done that way. If you used it for back and sides you might consider veneering over it to give some dent resistance. Redwood can make a good top for a classical.

I love redwood for tops. I have to second (or is it third) that I would be hesitant to use it for backs and sides. I dents quite easily, like cedar.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks for all the input guys.

So, if using redwood only for tops, what have some of you used for backs and sides? I like the idea of East Indian Rosewood, but I'm curious as to what other wood has been used and what the result was like?

Taht's beautiful stuff right there!

To answer your questions, once you get the saw all set up just cut everything. I have top sets in my shop that are 40 years old, no problem in having them cut to dimensions.

Redwood is an excellent soundboard wood. As you know B&S's typically are made from hardwoods. I would stay with that scheme. The board on the left does look like it is well quartered. That would be strongly desired for tops.

As for B&S's, East Indian rosewood would be a great choice for several reasons. It is beautiful, an excellent tonewood, reasonably priced, bends well and couples well with redwood.

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

I think any good tone wood will work for backs and sides. Because redwood is dark in color, I built one with flamed maple B&S. I think it was a very striking guitar. Many people find maple a tad bright sounding as B&S wood. Perhaps, but I frankly consider my experience (or lack thereof) colored the tone way more than my choice of maple. That particular guitar had a nice even sound. It gets played by a blues player who likes to really dig in with a pick. Seemed to compliment his style well. I have seen other redwood guitars built with sapele, Tasmanian blackwood, and Spanish Cypress. The Sapele and Cypress were classicals and the blackwood was steel string. If I really had to force a "tone" characteristic on the redwood, I would say it was similar to WRC topped guitars made at the same time.

Hi Gary and welcome! Nice looking wood, how often do we get lumber that is individually wrapped! I'm another one that would recommend redwood for tops and something else for back/sides. It's often soft so it dents real easy and can be quite brittle too. I also would recommend that you just resaw enough for what you need now and leave the rest as it is.

The easiest way to post photos here is to take them on your phone and then post them using Tapatalk. Often I will do that then go back and edit the post on the computer so I can use the keyboard to type.

Interestingly, I lived in Arcata for several years and also lived in Durango for a few years (just off of Hwy 550 headed up the valley on the way to Silverton). Both are pretty cool towns and were great places to live.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Redwood top and walnut back and sides can make a very nice guitar, and if you are new to guitar making that would be my suggestion. Walnut bends easily, is easy to work with and not too expensive. It is an attractive wood and takes finish well.

I appreciate all the input guys.

Steve Smith, I bet you lived only a mile or two from where I am. And Arcata. Hmmm. Interesting.