Know yer Japanese wood?

[Jupiter]

Jogging up in the hills and rice fields behind my house I came across some kind of lumber yard, and it got me thinking I might be able to source body blanks up here relatively cheaply, but I don't know what wood to ask for. I did a bit of googling, but the best resource I could find for information about Japanese woods for woodworking is a book that costs about 60 bucks.

I know the common names of a few Japanese species, but I don't know enough about their properties, and I don't know enough about woods in general to evaluate a blank strictly on its own merits. Anybody know anything about these woods from a guitar-building perspective?

Keyaki (zelkova)
Kaede (maple--but what kind?)
Kurumi (walnut)
Tamo (some kind of ash)
Sen (some other kind of ash?)

My next project is probably going to be some flavor of T-master/offset, and so I'm looking for something sort of like alder or a light ash, but somewhere down the line I'm dreaming of a LP Jr, too....

[Feargal]

Fender Japan uses sen as ash i think.

[bbmyers]

An interesting note on Japanese woodworking. Most hand tools in Japan are design to be drawn toward you rather than away from you like European tools. Bringing the spirit of the wood into you as opposed to pushing it away. I thought it was cool anyway.

[Ace1432]

Originally Posted by bbmyers

An interesting note on Japanese woodworking. Most hand tools in Japan are design to be drawn toward you rather than away from you like European tools. Bringing the spirit of the wood into you as opposed to pushing it away. I thought it was cool anyway.

pulling is a more efficient and controlled way of cutting aswell

[skipjackrc4]

I love Japanese hand tools. I've seen Tamo Ash, and it's a nice looking wood. Never worked with it, though.

[sandman72202]

i have an alvarez yairi dy52 made in japan made of coral rosewood.....have searched the net high and low.
still can't find where coral rosewood grows or anything about it.

[Jupiter]

I have a huge slab of tamo that we bought for a low table, about 2.5 inches thick. I could probably get 4-5 bodies out of it--but my wife won't let me saw up a 600-dollar hunk of wood. . . .

[bbmyers]

Originally Posted by Jupiter

I have a huge slab of tamo that we bought for a low table, about 2.5 inches thick. I could probably get 4-5 bodies out of it--but my wife won't let me saw up a 600-dollar hunk of wood. . . .

Don't cut out all 5 at once, just do 1 at a time. She'll never notice.

[Jupiter]

I tried that with the cheesecake and it didn't work, but maybe this time. . . .

[Jupiter]

Okay, so looks like I'm on my own. I guess I'll just go in and start thumping boards.

BTW, I also found a stone cutter up the hill--seems like there are a lot of 'em around here, actually--and I'm going to ask for an offcut to make a fret leveller.

[jpbturbo]

Sounds cool.
I have nothing to offer on wood selection.
Let us know if you find something.

-josh

[bubba105]

I don't know much about the woods you mentioned, tamo has cool grain but I've only seen it in veneer in the states. I do know that I'd be up there making friends with the owner. Explain what you want to do, ask if he's got any distinctly grained wood in the sizes you need & give him your phone number in case anything new comes in that matches what you want. I have a few places like that & they even let me bring a spray bottle with water to see what the grain will look like with finish. You'll never know unless you get your hands on the wood, the perfect guitar could be sitting there waiting for you.

[axedaddy]

There were some post on this forum about paulownia wood. If you search there are a ton of threads talking about it. It is a fast growing flowering tree that I believe is native to Japan. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

[SixShooter]

Some of us would be very interested in seeing some of these species. Could you post some photos? If you do, please include some of the sawmill too just for kicks. I enjoy seeing pictures from far away lands.