Alternative woods?

[Geoff738]

So, I have come close to pulling the trigger on Rivoltas made of Siramboula for the body and necks. Might be fine? Looks not dissimilar to Korina/ash depending.

But as stocks of traditional woods decline, I am wondering what folks have tried, and what they thought.

So, not ash, alder, rosewood, maple, mahogany, pau ferro, koa. Maybe cedar. Spruce. Ebony. I have to admit I think streaky ebony is incredibly attractive as a fingerboard material. Paulownia.

But stuff like siramboula, okoume, walnut, myrtle, and what I assume are dozens more wood species that are perfectly wonderful to make guitars out of. Wenge can look awesome.

What else is out there? What do you like. Builders, what are you looking at as alternatives to the traditional species?

Cheers,
Geoff

 

[bumnote]

I wanted an ebony board for a Strat neck but wasn't going to pay to get not just ebony, but also the extra cost of a dark black and stripe free.
I went with dark Blackwood. It's as dark as an ebony board and smoother than most rosewood, I couldn't be happier with it. If I ever do another neck order I'll be using Blackwood again.

 

[Dostradamas]

This is old cedar.
Try what is easy and looks like what you like.

 

[Zarkon]

I really like the feel of chechen as a fingerboard, and it's great looking wood too.

 

[Jupiter]

I’ve built a couple guitars out of Japanese cypress (hinoki). They smelled great!

There’s a fella on the site who has made some great looking instruments out of the same stuff I think (or maybe it was cedar), using the fire and wire brush method to emphasize the grain texture.

 

[Unionjack515]

(Reclaimed) California redwood. Super soft but soooo excellent in a Tele shape.

Spanish cedar in an LP-style guitar instead of mahogany. Lighter, more resonant, louder.

 

[bumnote]

I'd recommend taking a look at what custom rifle stock makers use. They share guitarists' love of grain and different choices in woods. My other hobby is target shooting and I have two coffee table books that are just pictures of exotic rifle stocks...basically wood grain porn.
This is just a pic of Turkish walnut I found online, but that finish would look great on a guitar body.

 

[elpico]

I'm too clumsy for soft woods. Owned cedar guitars before, not a good idea for me.

Lots of Maple here in Canada. Black walnut is great if you need a darker domestic hardwood.

Dark fingerboards are the main trouble spot with domestic wood. I imagine we'll see more & better products like rocklite as time goes on and that'll probably be the answer to that.

 

[Swirling Snow]

I have a guitar made of nyatoh and it sounds amazing. On the other hand, the identical guitar hanging next to it sounded dead.

 

[cometazzi]

I have a guitar made of nyatoh and it sounds amazing. On the other hand, the identical guitar hanging next to it sounded dead.

Also known as Nato Wood, I believe. I have a guitar that I suspect is made of this. Seems reasonable.

I've also owned many Affinity guitars made of Agathis, a.k.a. "furniture grade mahogany". Like any other wood, some were 'meh' and some were grate. The body wood wasn't what was holding those guitars back from being awesome.

To be fair, I'm in the "pickups are 70% of the guitar's tone, everything else (like body wood, or fingermeat) is fighting for that other 30%" camp, so take that with a grain of potash.

 

[memorex]

Reclaimed ipe (brazilian walnut) from the Coney Island Boardwalk. It was free when I ordered my Musikraft neck several years ago, now there's a $25 upcharge. It's a chocolate brown color and smooth and hard like ebony. Of my two Tele necks, I prefer it over my rosewood board.

 

[Peegoo]

I've used lots of different woods to make guitars. Here's a red cedar Tele like thing. It is very soft and dents easily, but it's light in weight and sounds great.

This is redwood with ebony binding.

 

[Freeman Keller]

Bob Taylor is doing a lot to promote alternate woods and to change our expectations of traditional woods. Martin has been pushing alternates to wood - HPL, Richlite, laminates like Stratabond. I encourage both.

 

[chezdeluxe]

I’d like an acoustic with Walnut back and sides.

Epiphone NY made a few archtops using walnut in the 1930s and they have a bright clear tone.

George Lowden’s opinion is that you can’t get a better wood for “ clarity and definition “ than Walnut.

 

[Geoff738]

Bob Taylor is doing a lot to promote alternate woods and to change our expectations of traditional woods. Martin has been pushing alternates to wood - HPL, Richlite, laminates like Stratabond. I encourage both.

And he is putting streaky ebony on high end models. I personally love the character it imparts. Beautiful to my eyes. That said I am not particularly fond of dusty, dry looking pau ferro for example. So I have my prejudices.

Cheers,
Geoff

 

[Geoff738]

I’d like an acoustic with Walnut back and sides.

Epiphone NY made a few archtops using walnut in the 1930s and they have a bright clear tone.

George Lowden’s opinion is that you can’t get a better wood for “ clarity and definition “ than Walnut.

Gibson is using walnut on some currentish acoustics. Some J200s I believe. Maybe others as well.

Cheers,
Geoff

 

[Geoff738]

Reclaimed ipe (brazilian walnut) from the Coney Island Boardwalk. It was free when I ordered my Musikraft neck several years ago, now there's a $25 upcharge. It's a chocolate brown color and smooth and hard like ebony. Of my two Tele necks, I prefer it over my rosewood board.

Your posts about that neck, plus seeing the Siramboula Rivoltas laregely inspired this thread.

I have also wondered why certain, tropical, woods came to be favoured over plentiful local ones. Why mahogany and Brazilian rosewood if you are Gibson surrounded by maple and other Carolinian species. I think the violin world had a lot to do with that, but once we got to sticking pickups in ?

Cheers,
Geoff

 

[trev333]

Old growth D/Fir is great for guitar bodies.... bodies in the 4lb-5lb range..

 

[Supertwang]

I’m surprised more companies other than Godin don’t use CHERRY. Post WW2 many lower end but all solid wood acoustics made in the US were primarily BIRCH. Some even had birch fretboards dyed blackish brown. All the N.American fruitwoods are good for instruments, plum, apple, pear, cherry but good luck getting large enough pieces. I’d also consider Osage orange tree wood

 

[Geoff738]

Old growth D/Fir is great for guitar bodies.... bodies in the 4lb-5lb range..

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The fir/other conifer species can be heavy. Or very light. And probably all points in between. They tend to be soft and have knots. Imo gives them character. I am a fan.

Cheers,
Geoff