Pine Tele 1/4 sawn body?

[soulfixinman]

I am wanting a pine tele body with the tight grain that runs up and down the body

I am assuming that is called a quarter sawn pine Telecaster body,
I have been looking and can't seem to find the source,
I am guessing the problem may be the wood is hard to come by?
Can somebody make me one?

thaks
Dave R.

[Colt W. Knight]

A truely quartersawn piece of pine is going to be difficult to find because most pine trees are not large enough when they are harvested to quarter saw a chunk that big. Second, with exception of a few builders, no one really cares about quarter sawn pine.
The best approach would be to glue up a two-piece guitar blank using a 2x8 with really nice tight grain patterns. Plus, one piece pine blanks big enough for teles are really hard to stabilize without a lot of experience in working with such wood. A forum member here, Marty(GuitarBuilder) makes just what you are looking for, excellent quality pine tele bodies. I would just send him a PM.

[Colt W. Knight]

http://www.geoffswoodwork.co.uk/conversion.htm

Here is a handy, no nonsense explanation of how lumber is sawn.

As far as pine being hard to find, thats really a yes or no answer depending on what you are looking for, and where. Most real lumber suppliers will have some 8/4 pine. Its used a lot in new home construction and remodeling to make ledges or decorative gussets. This is almost always going to be flat sawn. However, if you will notice how lumber is flatsawn, a certain percentage will also be quarter sawn. So you really need to dig through the lumber pile to find the piece of wood that suits your grain needs. If one lumber yard doesn't stock the wood you are looking for ask them if they know of another local supplier, or if they can get some in for you. Most likely they won't special order anything under 1000 board feet, so they are ussually more than happy to reccomend you another source.

Here is one of my pine teles. You will notice it has a tight grain pattern on one side, but heart wood on the other edge.

end grain


That particular body isn't anywhere close to being quarter sawn, but it sounds fantastic. However, I made about 6 blanks from that one board. 2 where one piece, and the other 4 cracked and warped. I was able to salvage another 2 by making them 2 piece bodies. If the board were 100% quarter sawn, I wouldn't have had that problem.

[PeterUK]

This is my current project:



Is this quartersawn? It's a 1-piece pine body.

Peter

[guitarbuilder]

Thanks for the plug Colt!

Peter....not quartered.. in quartersawn the rings would look like this on the endgrain
lllllllllllllllllllllllll

[guitarbuilder]

Tonewoods had some spruce that was close like this:
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

[Colt W. Knight]

Nope that is flat sawn. It was cut like this.


But it does have a nice tight grain pattern, and its a lovely piece of wood. It will make a fantastic guitar.

[Ricky D.]

Originally Posted by PeterUK

This is my current project:



Is this quartersawn? It's a 1-piece pine body.

Peter

That's flatsawn. Quartersawn would have end grain which is perpendicular to the top all the way across.

[PeterUK]

Originally Posted by guitarbuilder

Thanks for the plug Colt!

Peter....not quartered.. in quartersawn the rings would look like this on the endgrain
lllllllllllllllllllllllll

Originally Posted by guitarbuilder

Tonewoods had some spruce that was close like this:
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Hee hee! Thanks.

I don't really care. It's a wonderful piece of wood, light as a feather and I can't wait to hit that first chord with it when it becomes a.....

.....Blingcaster!

Peter

[soulfixinman]

Originally Posted by Colt W. Knight

http://www.geoffswoodwork.co.uk/conversion.htm

Here is a handy, no nonsense explanation of how lumber is sawn.

As far as pine being hard to find, thats really a yes or no answer depending on what you are looking for, and where. Most real lumber suppliers will have some 8/4 pine. Its used a lot in new home construction and remodeling to make ledges or decorative gussets. This is almost always going to be flat sawn. However, if you will notice how lumber is flatsawn, a certain percentage will also be quarter sawn. So you really need to dig through the lumber pile to find the piece of wood that suits your grain needs. If one lumber yard doesn't stock the wood you are looking for ask them if they know of another local supplier, or if they can get some in for you. Most likely they won't special order anything under 1000 board feet, so they are ussually more than happy to reccomend you another source.

Here is one of my pine teles. You will notice it has a tight grain pattern on one side, but heart wood on the other edge.


That particular body isn't anywhere close to being quarter sawn, but it sounds fantastic. However, I made about 6 blanks from that one board. 2 where one piece, and the other 4 cracked and warped. I was able to salvage another 2 by making them 2 piece bodies. If the board were 100% quarter sawn, I wouldn't have had that problem.

Yes I like that grain....did you do nything to enhance the pine grain lines?

[soulfixinman]

I found this one and bought it...Sugar Pine 4.4 ounces

I hope the grain turns out lookin' good cause I want to do a translucent or clear

[iansmitchell]

Good luck!

[Nick JD]

Picture a quarter of a pie.

Now cut the straight sides off the piece of pie.

You got two quarter sawn pieces of pie.

NOW EAT THE PIE!

I like pie. Especially quartersawn pie.

[otterhound]

Our quarters are made from metal . Probably won't make a very good pie . What do they make them from behind the black stump ?

[Telenator]

Originally Posted by soulfixinman

I found this one and bought it...Sugar Pine 4.4 ounces

I hope the grain turns out lookin' good cause I want to do a translucent or clear

That body is going to have absolutely beautiful grain once you put a finish on it. Nothing like a one-piece body!

[Mojotron]

VG (vertical grain) Fir is expensive but very cool looking as a 1/4 sawn wood. That might be worth checking out.

[Colt W. Knight]

Originally Posted by soulfixinman

Yes I like that grain....did you do nything to enhance the pine grain lines?

The only thing on that guitar is two coats of sanding sealer and two cans of DEFT Nitro Lacquer. The guitar is yellower than that particular picture.

[Colt W. Knight]

Your body is beautiful, and it will have an even more beautiful grain pattern with a translucent finish. There are a few tricks you can use to make the grain pop out even more. If you want a colored finish, you can stain it with alcohol based stain, but pine doesn't stain even so try it on scrap first to see if you like it. Then lightly sand all the raised grain. Then spray it with sanding sealer and tinted lacquer.

[soulfixinman]

Originally Posted by Colt W. Knight

Your body is beautiful, and it will have an even more beautiful grain pattern with a translucent finish. There are a few tricks you can use to make the grain pop out even more. If you want a colored finish, you can stain it with alcohol based stain, but pine doesn't stain even so try it on scrap first to see if you like it. Then lightly sand all the raised grain. Then spray it with sanding sealer and tinted lacquer.

I usually stain my maple necks with vintage amber, but what I have is water based stain...I could just hit it with some sanding sealer and RR tinted clear. What is the deal on the MInwax wood hardner I have read some use to make the pine harder and I think I read it seals any sap in the wood also?

[Colt W. Knight]

I dont use it on a guitars, but I have used it for shelves. It does harden the wood surface, and it also works as a sanding sealer.

Water based stain works as well, I just prefer alcohol because it evaporates quicker, so it expediates the sanding process.

But sanding sealer and tinted lacquer will do a good job of bringing out the grain a little more too.