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I visited with a gentlement last night that does a lot of crafting and has a couple of laser cutters. He told me he makes trips to Oregon and buys trees and brings them back here. One time he said he bought a White Myrtle tree that was almost 4 tons of wood he brought back. He said it is has beautiful curly figure and mineral streaks and invited me to over to take a look saying I might want to use some on a guitar.

I've never heard of white myrtle but I googled some pictures this morning. What are your thoughts on the tone of this wood for back/sides? Similar to mahogany, maple, black walnut, or other wood I might be familiar with? I'm doubting it's dense enough to sound similar to rosewood. I listened to a clip of a guitar made from white myrtle this morning and it sounded nice.......but recordings can be deceiving.

If you have a pic of a guitar made form white myrtle I would love to see it.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Here's myrtle that I would describe as white & brown. Easy to work with & produced a very nice sounding classical guitar.

OK - now that I saw that picture - I am asking myself - how can I get myself some white myrtle ? That classical looks awesome !

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

This one is more white than brown. I prefer the darker color, however. I've purchased myrtle sets from RC Tonewoods & LMI. Oregon Wild Wood also stocks myrtle, as do several other suppliers. I have one set on hand that I'm saving for a 12-string.

(Umbellularia californica) sometimes called White Mrytle, is a great native wood for guitar building.It is easy to bend and is tight grained and easy to work.I've seen it range anywhere from light yellowish tan to dark brown and can be highly figured. I have some sets and boards laying around that i plan to build with. I think you will like building a guitar out of it.

These are two recently completed Bouzouki's.
The photo is not a great representation of the colour. The traditional bouzouki on the left is a very golden yellow ochre but the one on the right is more 'white' with grey-brown streaks. Very nice to work with. Doesn't have a great tap tone but sounds fine when completed.

So would you say this wood in a finished guitar is similar to mahogany tonally? I read an old online post where one person thought is sounded similar to maple......but I no nothing about that poster.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

According to most sellers, it has clear and bright sound with nice projection. But like alot of woods, that can very from tree to tree.

I looked up the density and it's more dense than I expected (the website I visited had it denser than hard maple). Surprising.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

More myrtle goodness.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

It's very nice to work with. I don't know quite yet how it'll sound, this is my first build using Myrtle.

Thanks for all these great pics! Myrtle is a unique and beautiful wood.

Wish I could hear other sound clips from Myrtle guitars (I've heard one).

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......