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MN Punk
December 7th, 2011, 01:31 PM
I play two guitars on stage with my band (Fuzzy Machete), both telecaster-style guitars built with paulownia bodies from GFS, and the more I play these guitars the more I appreciate this remarkable wood.
Paulownia is an East Asian hardwood tree which grows extremely fast. Apparently there was a tradition in Japan to plant one when a baby girl is born, and then use the wood from it to build her a dresser cabinet as a wedding present when she gets married. Because it's such a fast-growing tree, it's very lightweight and very cheap (not to mention rather eco-friendly, if that sort of thing is important to you.)
From a guitar-building perspective, the advantages are that it's cheap, light, warp-resistant, easy to work with, and beautifully resonant. I also happen to think the wood itself looks really pretty, especially if you accent it with a dark wood oil or tinted grain filler.
The one downside is that it's kind of soft. You can't just carelessly bang it around the woodshop, even after the finish is applied, because the stuff is really easy to dent. But as long as you hand-screw everything to avoid stripping the wood, it's firm enough for top-mount bridges if need be. This property does, however, make it pretty easy to cut, route, and/or sand.
Dean and a few other companies use it as a core wood under mahogany tops or other laminates.
Paulownia is an East Asian hardwood tree which grows extremely fast. Apparently there was a tradition in Japan to plant one when a baby girl is born, and then use the wood from it to build her a dresser cabinet as a wedding present when she gets married. Because it's such a fast-growing tree, it's very lightweight and very cheap (not to mention rather eco-friendly, if that sort of thing is important to you.)
From a guitar-building perspective, the advantages are that it's cheap, light, warp-resistant, easy to work with, and beautifully resonant. I also happen to think the wood itself looks really pretty, especially if you accent it with a dark wood oil or tinted grain filler.
The one downside is that it's kind of soft. You can't just carelessly bang it around the woodshop, even after the finish is applied, because the stuff is really easy to dent. But as long as you hand-screw everything to avoid stripping the wood, it's firm enough for top-mount bridges if need be. This property does, however, make it pretty easy to cut, route, and/or sand.
Dean and a few other companies use it as a core wood under mahogany tops or other laminates.