What's a good place to get wood for guitar building online?

[Greg Seaman]

Where are you folks getting the beautiful woods I keep seeing in this forum? I'm just getting into building from scratch and need some good sources for fine, reasonably priced woods. Any suggestions?

[Brendo]

I'm in Australia, so the local woods are obviously very different, but the good news is you can build a body from just about anything, and I think still make it look good. Plus for the first few it is probably better to make them out of something cheap. My first one was out of some finished pine boards that cost me about $40AUS, but I mangled the hck out of it. It worked, sounded good, just looked like it had been vomitted out by the BFG. But I've just built a lovely looking pine body from a piece of building grade wood, about $6AUS for the 1.8mtr length. There is 5 pieces glued together in it, but it looks fine, and was cheap enough that if I screwed it up I didn't feel I had lost more than I had learned from the project.

Look for wood that is already 45mm [1 3/4inch] thick, it will save a heap of time.

Be open minded, keep your eyes open and most of all, have fun doing it.

[iansmitchell]

My opinion?
First builds, shipping pallets. You can get them for free, there's generally some good 2"x4"x6' and sometimes even 2"x6"x6', pine, oak, or poplar, in them. Sand some dirt off, glue the boards, route and prepare.
EDIT: Since wood shrinks and this stuff is generally put out a bit green, it'll be closer to 1.75" than 2" thick. If weight becomes an issue, deal. But I don't think the guitar cares how thick it is.

[bubba105]

Massachusetts has to have a thousand places to buy hardwoods. Do some searching for places within striking distance of your home & go pick out what you want, it's fun checking through the stock. Ash, alder, maple & poplar should be very reasonable in your area. If you've only got a car, have them cut your wood to length so it fits in the trunk. This seems obvious but make sure the wood is dried. No sawmills, unless you know someone with a kiln. Be forewarned, this is addicting but, then, you already have a company name, a good one at that. Have fun.

[Greg Seaman]

Thanks guys!
Yup, I do plan to build some lumber-casters to begin with. I have quite a bit of woodworking experience and many tools. I've also worked on guitars for a very long time so I feel pretty confident in my first building from scratch endeavor. Right now, I'm building from pre-fab parts from Warmoth, Stewart Macdonald's, etc.

Pallet wood sounds interesting and other members have talked about using it with great success. I went around to the local lumber dealers and actually found some interesting wood but in reality, it's not real cheap for maple, mahogany or even some pine.

Most of it was narrow (6" or less) and the planed stuff was mostly 3/4" thick. There was some 8/4" available at one place that deals in hard woods for furniture builders and the like. A sales person from that particular place is going to price out some suitable lumber for me but I haven't heard back yet.

Of course I could always buy some narrow stuff and glue up some billets to work with. I am also looking into rough lumber because I will be getting a thickness planer in the near future. I'm lucky enough to have a truck, so that makes things easier.

You'd think there would be a lot of lumber dealers and sawmills in this area and there are but generally, they're interested in selling building supplies -most of which is not hardwood. There used to be a lot of small sawmills around here but many are gone -just like the many small farms, victims of the economy I suppose.

My wife's father was a sawyer for many years and when I was younger, I worked at the same sawmill as him for a summer. Her family knows all of the locals so maybe there is a sawmill or two remaining. The catch is as bubba105 says, sawmills have a lot of green lumber lying around but not much seasoned stuff.

What I'm really looking for are some places like these:
http://www.gilmerwood.com/
http://www.berkproducts.com/
http://www.nwtimber.com/
http://www.curlymaplewood.com/

These are random samples. I have no experience dealing with any of them and was wondering if any of the other members have. Thanks again for the replies!

If you're interested in finding out a little about me, here's my website address:
http://sites.google.com/site/nuagesmusicalinstruments/
I'm still in the process of building. It's not much but I call it home!

[Shepherd]

Try this http://www.woodfinder.com/

[iansmitchell]

Up north there's a lot of reclaimed wood dealing going on. Doesn't get much more seasoned, and they'll also have some wider pieces. Old growth stuff too.
You may have to talk with greenpeacers to find out who, but they're out there.
Old(often virgin) woods, some in wide and thick, and the prices are reasonable all things considered.

[Jack Wells]

If you've only got a car, have them cut your wood to length so it fits in the trunk.

......... but make sure they cut it in lengths that are multiples of 16 in.

[iansmitchell]

Originally Posted by jwells393

......... but make sure they cut it in lengths that are multiples of 16 in.

Unless you do a mini-sized body...

[Greg Seaman]

IANS has a (another) good suggestion concerning the reclaimed wood. I think that I'll look into that eventually. Greenpeace. That makes sense. Jack, it's always nice to hear from you. The thread you did on building necks was outstanding! Special thanks to BUBBA105 for his help. Hey SHEP, thanks for the link. There's enough places there to keep me busy for quite a while. BRENDO from the other side of the world, thanks also! I'm still open to more suggestions and ways to force poor innocent trees into submission!!!!
========Greg=========

[fishtownmike]

I sometimes find good would on ebay. Search for rough sawn wood. It usually much cheaper then finished wood. You need to search just for wood and not for anything with guitar/lutherie in the title since some of these clowns mark up guitar woods to ridiculous prices. if you don't have a jointer and a planer they are good investments since they are helpfull in making your own blanks out of stock wood keeping prices down.