source for wood body blanks?

[Alex W]

Stew-Mac, Warmoth and other sites that sell routed guitar bodies will also sell a wood body blank, but are there any sources out there that might offer better prices? I'm thinking of wood specialty stores or suppliers. I'm primarily looking for a slab of mahogany, BTW.

 

[al heeley]

Projectguitar.com has a big resource area with specialist timber suppliers all over the States. May be worth having a look thru their website and forum.

 

[cacibi]

There's a place here in Seattle:

(link removed)

Looks like they carry Ash, Alder and Maple

 

[KokoTele]

I just went through this process, and was only marginally successful in finding a source. I was thinking that Guitarmill and everyone had to be making huge margins on instrument makers who didn't know how to source their lumber.

Well, it turns out not to be the case. The real problem is that the dimensions and amount of wood we use for instrument building is somewhat odd. If you only want to do one, you're probably better off buying a blank. Otherwise you're probably going to have to buy more wood than you need and wind up paying more anyway.

I wound up finding a supplier for swamp ash that is somewhat cheaper than buying a blank, but one face needs to be planed and I had to buy a 6' board. I'll get 4 bodies out of it, but it wasn't a feasible purchase until I had interest in others having a body built for them.

Also keep in mind that there are several different kinds of mahogany. Honduras mahogany is closest to what they used in Les Pauls. African mahogany is cheaper and works, but it looks a little funny (this is what Warmoth uses unles you specify something different).

For body blanks, these appear to be among the better suppliers:
http://www.gilmerwood.com/
http://www.guitarmill.com
http://www.usacustomguitars.com

Prices are all similar for all of them.

For just plain old lumber, the best I've found is http://www.curiouswoods.com I've been to their store and dealt with them through email and found them to be incredibly helpful, though they know little about instrument building.

If you're building a tele, you want 8/4 wood, which is 1.75" thick. The total body width is 13", so either you need 8/4x8" and join two pieces, or you need a board at least 13.5" wide to make a 1-piece body. This is the killer, they're kind of rare. The piece of ash I'm getting is scrap from another order.

 

[KokoTele]

Almost forgot (for anyone who may be reading and wants ash)...

The ash that most woodworkers use is the northern variety, which is much heavier than swamp ash. If their catalog just says "ash," it's probably the northern kind.

 

[dr_twangenstein]

Try here

www.grizzly.com

Lots of other cool guitar building stuff too. Esp. for acoustics.

 

[sean79]

Here's a direct link to the wood at grizzly.
(link removed)
You can punch in page numbers in their online catalogue. The guitar stuff seems to run from page 340 to page 374 (body wood is on page 343). I don't see any mahogany, but they have some real pretty maple.

 

[Alex W]

Wow, thanks for all the informative replies everyone! I'll be looking through all those links.

 

[jwsamuel]

Here's another place to try:

Woods

Jim

 

[JohnnyAtomic]

I just went through this process, and was only marginally successful in finding a source. I was thinking that Guitarmill and everyone had to be making huge margins on instrument makers who didn't know how to source their lumber.

Absolutely, I've been having a hard time finding good wood/lumber at ANY price. So I totally understand why these guys are charging a premium for a blank.

 

[KokoTele]

Absolutely, I've been having a hard time finding good wood/lumber at ANY price. So I totally understand why these guys are charging a premium for a blank.

To tell the truth, I don't think it's that much of a premium price. The *only* board I was able to source that's big enough for bodies is maybe enough for 4 bodies, but still needs to be planed on one face to the right dimension. It's still going to cost me about $215, or about $55/body blank. Two of those should be really sweet with clear wood and excellent grain, two more are not suitable for transparent finishes and it's kind of a leap of faith that they're suitable for guitars at all. Assuming that they are, I'll have 2 premium blanks and two seconds (or one 2-piece blank). 2-piece blanks retail for $65. If I only get 3 bodies out of it and were to sell those blanks for retail price, that comes to $235. I'm hardly better off than if I'd just bought pre-made blanks.

I'm sure that the suppliers we mentioned before are getting a better price for buying in bulk, but they're also putting in more labor resawing & dimensioning wood. I'm sure the margins are not all that spectacular for them.

 

[JohnnyAtomic]

To tell the truth, I don't think it's that much of a premium price.

Yeah that was kinda my point, I don't think they're making a killing like many people assume.

 

[KokoTele]

My bad. I saw the "premium" in your post and proceeded to misread the rest of it

 

[Mike Simpson]

Has anyone used a B. Hefner body? Or is Guitarmill a better choice? Thinking of making a partscaster...

http://edenhaus.com/telebdy.htm

I did a search for B. Hefner on the forum and came up with some not real positive comments on their necks and customer service but did not see a mention of the bodies.

 

[getbent]

Has anyone used a B. Hefner body? Or is Guitarmill a better choice? Thinking of making a partscaster...

http://edenhaus.com/telebdy.htm

I did a search for B. Hefner on the forum and came up with some not real positive comments on their necks and customer service but did not see a mention of the bodies.

one a B Hefner body on the bay about 2 months ago, just started painting it... it is a really nice body and (this is my second partscaster, the first was 10 years ago for a friend and turned out nice) I got it for 90.00

It has a small knot right where the plate will cover it.... I asked on the tdpri if it would matter and was assured it would not... so, I got it fine and while the emails were a little terse, they totally delivered. and the quality is really nice, I feel kinda bad that I'm just painting it... but that is what I want. Anyway the edenhaus stuff is nice... (I read the reviews too... you just never know)

 

[CaptainCrust]

For body blanks, these appear to be among the better suppliers:
http://www.gilmerwood.com/
http://www.guitarmill.com
http://www.usacustomguitars.com

I bought a blank from USACG a few weeks ago and wound up with a 5lb 7oz swamp ash tele body even though the guy volunteered that he'd pick one that "wasn't too heavy". That's definitely on the upper end of swamp ash weight. It would be wise to state your weight expectations when ordering from any supplier.

 

[Old Guy]

You may want to take a look at Lutheirs Mercantile

http://www.lmii.com/

 

[Stubbs]

Carvin has alder and ash blanks for $59 and $89 respectively.
www.carvin.com

For a wide variety of woods, check out www.woodnshop.com

 

[Jack Wells]

I'm a fan of Guitar Mill. The following project was cut from a two piece blank from Guitar Mill. It came glued up.

......