Official Luthiers Forum!

I have a nice stash of Douglas Fir that were backerboards from a veneer company. Had about 10 years now. Veneer business has shut down. Very fine quartered grain. I am sure there is runout since the backerboards are from half sliced logs. Some of the stuff is wide enough for a one piece top. Can you please give me some information about its guitar top possibilities. Also, is it a good wood for laminiated sides? I also have some Western Hemlock from the same place. It is heavily "bearclawed" and very tight grained. Much narrower boards. Around 8 to 9 inches.

Please give me information if you can or tell me where to find it on the forum. I looked, but the name of a member or members "Douglas" comes up in a lot of the posts so it is hard to find specific information.

Thanks
Ken

The guy at Gilmer woods made what he said was a great guitar top out of some Doug fir, its a good possibility, and its free. Look for the lightest stuff.

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Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I

Ken, I would say Douglas Fir is not a common top wood, but one that has been used before. I have a set in my stash that I plan to build from in the future. I believe Larry Stamm is a luthier/supplier who builds with it so you may want to look up his website and see if he has some info.

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David White, Toronto

"All my favourite singers can't sing."

I remembered this story from last year because I thought it was so cute. The smile on his little girl's face was too.

viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=18460&p=260915&hilit=+doug+fir#p260915

A doug fir topped parlour size.

Darrin

HEY!
That's MY little girl!

That little guitar is just as sweet as the girl holding it.
Almost a year later, it sounds better every day (not that I play it much, because it does belong to Jo) She just learned her first chord yesterday and is really excited to play it every chance she gets.

That thing is braced with D.F. as well. I've got a good stash of the stuff and use it for bracewood and will use some for linings as well.

The tone is what is most striking. It has great resonance, sustain, clean, clear overtones and punches through in the upper range.

If you have a stash, and it was the right price (free like mine) and need some encouragement, don't be afraid.
There a good chance it will work out just fine for a nice guitar.
I wish the board I had was big enough for a dreadnaught because I think it would make a great banjo killer!

Before building with it, I did a ton of searching for info on it.
Larry Stamm was a good source.
There are several other DF guitars out there and no one seems to complain about them. The biggest hang up is that fir has a bad rap as being construction lumber and therefore isn't tonewood. If memory serves me right, its closer to being a hemlock than it is to being a fir. Either way, it makes a great christmas tree.

Good luck with the build. Feel free to PM any questions you might have.
Its good to know someone else is thinking about trying it as an alternative tonewood!

Dave

I have a friend who is an executive at Sierra Pacific Windows division where they use all tight grained qs doug fir. I told him I'd love to have a piece big enough to make into guitar tops. He told me it shouldn't be a problem.

The other day I was at the post office nearby. Waiting to get a passport. I was looking at the door and noticed it seemed to be solid qs doug fir. I don't even want to know how much the post office pays for it's doors or I'll just get upset. But I do have a serious case of Door Acquisition Syndrome.

Darrin

David Freeman from canada uses doug fir for tops, he is lucky enought to get pieces large enough for one piece units. Jody