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I am looking for lesser brand name guitars that may have brazillian backs to remove for my own. It may be a cheaper way to acquire braz. Thoughts?

This is a 60s Framus. I don't know if this is braz but it sure is pretty.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Well, the chance of finding a solid rosewood ( or any type of wood) back on a less expensive guitar is very slim. The majority of guitars in the quality level that you are talking about are going to have laminated (plywood) back sets.
That Framus back looks to be Sapele, and it would be laminated.
There were some models made by Giannini and Yairi that had Brazilian b & s sets but they too were very thin laminations.

Cal

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Remember, there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers!

I'm with Cal - that's sapele.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Yeah, i realized this is sapele a few seconds after uploading the photo. I still think its beautiful wood and won't hesitate to use it. Ill buy it new of course. I still want to find some Braz that doesn't require re-mortgaging my house.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I see people finding furniture from time to time and cutting it up. I think even here on the OLF someone shared an antique store find. Might be a way to do it.


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Ive been on the lookout for furniture.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I once saw a Steinway grand piano from ~1900 in BRW at a store that sold insurance salvage and overstock stuff. It was in good shape except that it lacked the keywork and strings. I spent quite a lot of time checking it out, and determined that it was mostly hand cut veneer, about 1/8" thick. Most of the larger parts, such as the legs, were actually faux painted to look like BRW. It would have been difficult to get any usable BRW from it: where the veneer was in good shape it was also very solidly glued down. In the end I called a piano tuner friend I knew, and he got in touch with the school where he studied, since they teach all aspects of restoration. It was gone the next time I went back, so I hope it got properly restored to it's former glory.

I suspect that most of the old BRW furniture you'd see would be similar.

I have seen fairly low-end guitars from the early 20th century in very nice BRW, and often enough in decent shape. Rather than trying to salvage the wood I'd think it would be more productive to set them up to modern specs with a new top. Most of them were made for gut strings, and ladder braced, but with a new top and an adjustable truss rod would make nice 'parlor' instruments. One drawback of this, ifI understand it correctly, is that the wood loses it's 'legal' status when you do that; you would not be able to export the guitar, even though the wood was harvested long before any embargo. I may be wrong there, though.

I have a family heirloom Birdseye maple bedroom set that's been pretty nervous the last 20 years that I've been a luthier.

Hesh when you posted that Birdseye I was thinking about that lol

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I bought a brazilian rosewood guitar for not much money that was playable and eventually took it apart and planed the braces off the back and made a new guitar from it.It was very small like a Martin 2-1/2.....

So it can be done: -) Finding those could be a challenge.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

If you do decide to try laminating backs and sides which I have done certainly wood has coco, Honduran, Indian, pauferro around
.022 thick which is fine to work with with


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Mike McNerney

Brad, please check your PM.

One of the New England Luthier group members found an old Bay State guitar that was only partially completed from when the company originally went under. It had one of the most amazing sets of BRW on it that I've ever seen. Some folks just luck out...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

@Hesh - Don't touch that furniture!!!

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

If you find a larger (longer) parlor guitar you can add a center wedge and make a double O or OM size guitar without too much trouble. If you want to use the sides from it you will need to add a wide tail graft (and possibly a wider tail block) Still, it's a shame to cannibalize the old guitars.