Official Luthiers Forum!

Yes, Bob was right on. Sorry to sound harsh, it's just that as others have said, if you want folks to identify some wood from a picture, it has to be a close-up or certainly much closer than that original picture. I thought you must have been joking... I'll try to watch what I type for how it could be perceived a little better. Apologies... now get that wood out of the kitchen, or like my wife, your's may banish you to the basement for the night. Brrrr...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Florentin -

Don't mind the smart remarks - it is all in good nature -
you may recognize me from Delcamp - as i frequent there but don't post as much - I have read your posts there in the past and seen your valuable contributions. I am sure you will fit in just fine here.

As far as the wood you posted - well you paid .55 cents too much for it. Home Depot sold it and it was probably part of a pallet they got. As you know they are not in the business of selling raw wood, but only milled lumber.

Your best bet for practice is to pick up 2 pieces of 24" - 1 x 4 popular from that same home depot, and a Japanese saw, and Titebond from the same store. One piece you cut your scarf joint and make the headstock and neck. The other piece you cut up into 4 pieces to make your stacked heel. The wood will be about 6 or 7 dollars at most, and the saw and glue another $25.00 at most.
They have other types of 1 x 4's as well - and different sizes - you can pick up cedar or pine as well - find something with the straightest grain you can find. Starting with decent wood to practice will make your practice that much more valuable.
Who knows - your neck may come out perfect and all you would have to do is get some sides, popular again, which they sell in 4 x 1/8 inches slices as well. You can end up making a complete guitar for less than $24 bucks in wood.

Trying to practice with wood that is not really good for anything will not help you. As for the pine you have now - either try to carve a fish or something out of it - or cut anything that keeps the wood from being square, then as you build cut hunks off it off to use a gluing cauls.

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

Show your wife the pics of what I do in my house and you should have no trouble taking a few pics of a "dirty piece of wood" on your counter!
Here I am using our ottoman as a workbench so I can glue kerfed linings:

Here I am carving braces in my kids play area(note the toys in the background:

Here I am joining a headplate on my brand new granite counter top(note that I do not even have wax paper under the piece)

And the show stopper. Here I am cutting some wood on my, again, brand new granite counter top with nothing under the board. I did have the forethought to hang the cut over the sink to catch the saw dust! This shot was taken when I stopped so I could take a pic.)


There you go. Show these to your wife and you should have no problems. That applies to anyone who does less boneheaded things while building than I do but gets crap from their spouse.Practice this line, "See honey? What I do is not nearly as bad as what Tony does! He's a real dumbass!"
Your welcome!

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Pretty gutsy Tony.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

I disagree that buying it was a bad idea....

It's a great idea to practice on scrap.... There is quite a bit of technique to learning how to saw things by hand.. It takes practice to get a straight, accurate cut where you want it...... Learn the techniques on cheap/free wood before you go out and spend $20.00 or $100.00 on hardwood for your neck.... If your experience is anything like mine... not only will you spend plenty of time making horrible cuts on scrap wood - but you will also be buying a 2nd saw once you learn the technique to replace the one you mess up with poor technique....

Another fine use for that piece of wood.... Practice splitting it out for brace wood! So far - all the guitars I have built contain "2x4" brace wood... and I have gotten quite a bit better at picking suitable "brace wood billets" out of the 2x4 stack at the hardware store.....

Splitting out that wood will teach you volumes about how to "Read" the grain on a piece of wood you buy - to evaluate whether or not it will split out nicely or if it will go all squirrely on you and become completely useless.... Trust me - far too many expensive "Brace wood Billets" are really not useful for much more than for starting the BBQ grill because the splits go wandering hither and yon - waving and curling and twisting all over the place... Totally worthless for building Guitars... You need to be able to identify it quickly so it doesn't end up becoming a cracked brace in a guitar...

Thanks

I am ok.

I am used to being laughed at, just not by grown-ups
I am a school teacher, so it goes with the territory.
Allowing the students to sometimes laugh at me, and knowing when it is ok to laugh right back at them, can be a wonderful teaching tool. It's just a bit different with grown-ups you don't really know.

I agree that the first photo is not enough information.
I see that now. But I honestly thought a luthier could tell by looking at that photo.
Goes to show how much I know about wood.

"Constructive Criticism"?... I don't know. We'd have to revisit the definition.
By the way, Bobc, I love your online store!
As soon as I know a bit more (ok, a lot more) about working with wood, I will make sure to get some from you.

Truth is I learned a lot since I joined the forum, and I appreciate every moment of it.

Don, no hard feelings on my part. Thanks for the post.

About buying better wood to practice on, I don't know if I can afford it right now
I spent so much money during the last two weeks on tools and books, and I am afraid I'll go empty before I have to buy some decent wood for my first construction.

Now Tony...

Wow!!! How inspiring.
I don't have a shop, and the only space I can use for a shop would be our garage, which I am not crazy about.
Your photos are awesome! Thank you so much for sharing them. I will show them to my wife for sure
I think I will have to do most of my work in the house as well.

Thanks for all the help.

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Music Is Forever

I braced my first few guitars with Ponderosa pine, cut from a shelving board. It was easy to carve, and the guitars sounded just fine.

Many of my early guitars used salvaged wood, either from old furniture, shelf boards, or from pallets. I also cut trees, and more than one guitar part was made from a piece of firewood. In fact, I had salvaged wood for so long that when I started building guitars it seemed silly to me to actually pay for wood.

Fungus stains. They have no effect on sound or structure.

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John

Thank you John!

Pallets?

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Music Is Forever

Don't be afraid to build guitars out of whatever you have available. Old chairs, shelves, pallets, etc.. heck even two by fours and cedar fence posts.

As long as you keep the perspective that you are not building them with the intention of creating a world class instrument, and that they are just a learning experience, the more you build, regardless of what you build with, the better you'll understand the process. You might decide it's not for you, or that you love it and decide on a career change.

It's much less painful to go through the learning process with inexpensive woods, using a basic set of tools. If you make a mistake and have to start over, or trash a piece of wood, it's a lot less painful to toss a chunk of home depot poplar than a $90 neck blank.

BTW, you said you are a teacher. Any chance you could leverage your 'teacher' status to get access to a wood shop somewhere? Or possibly barter some guitar lessons in trade for some woodworking lessons at a local cabinet shop?

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Jim Hansen

Florentin thanks for the compliment on the store. Tell you what. If you have the money tp pay for shipping we will send you
a back side set, a soundboard, some bracing stock and a neck blank so you can participate in the build off. They may have defects but very usable wood. Hang in here and have some fun with your first build.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Hey Bob,

I really, REALLY love your store.

I have money for shipping - just send me as much stuff as you can

(Only joking Bob, but I do 'love' your store - Florentin, dude, that is one crazy offer. Go get it!)

Mat

/cheer Bob !

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Jim Hansen

quite a generous offer Mr. Cefalu!

Florentin, i find it hard to cut wood to size and i´m not able to play Bach, so you have a big advance at least on me. It seems like you´re not the quitting type so i´m shure you´ll get there in time.

best of lucks and do hang around!
cheers,
miguel.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Hey Bob..I like ur on-line store too, very, very, very much. Maybe you could pay my shipping and I'll pay for the wood..

Nice way to make a new member feel one of the family Bob..onya mate..

Cheers

Kim

How about moving to New York.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Got a job for me???

Jim, that is exactly how I am coming at it.



Yes, I teach Guitar, Chorus, and General Music in the public school system. I could certainly try to gain some access to the wood shop, even though it would be in a different building, and I don't know any of the teachers there, but it could work at least occasionally. About bartering lessons, I never thought of it. I would certainly consider it. Great idea.



That is a very generous offer, Bob. I will gladly accept, and with much gratitude!
Just tell me how to go about getting this done.
Thanks!

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Music Is Forever

Bob , that was truly a great thing to do . This is what makes the OLF a great place to learn and advance our abilities as newbies . I look forward to seeing the effort put into this guitar and win the challenge or not , I would say hes already a winner !

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the blueish mold on this tells me White Pine . Yellow pine will have a more golden color and the grains will be more contrasting .

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Welcome Florentin!
Hey, get yourself a hand plane and shape that piece of pine into something.
You will learn something about wood grain.
Try making a perfectly square 1x2 out of it.

i'll pick the wood out and let you know how much the shipping is. Just PM me your mailing address.

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

I already did try a few things.
I also have some more tools coming in the mail, and I can't wait to try different things.
Thanks!

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Music Is Forever

Bob, PM was sent.
Thank You!

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Music Is Forever

OK will get back to you on Monday

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

very nice Bob -

Florentin - please don't hesitate to ask for help or advice -

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