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I'm looking for some insight on what everyones approach would be. In a perfect world, if I was to order 5 boardfoot of hardwood lumber and had the choice of what size boards I received. What size boards would be optimal to yield the most back and side sets as well binding, bridges, finger boards, etc with the least amount of waste? The back and side sets should be large enough for Jumbo or at least a Grand Auditorium size sets. Thanks for your help-----Chris

I've only built a few instruments, but most have been from rough lumber. My biggest concern is always resawing on my 12" bandsaw. I can only get about a 7 1/4" through it so I have to cut wider boards down anyway. When I do, the thin strips leftover become linings or shims or tools or whatever.

It never stops me from building bigger instruments though since the only part of the back that extends beyond what the wood already covers is the tips of the lower bout. I just joint those areas too and glue in pieces cut from the upper bout. So far the joints have been pretty hard to see, especially if I do a sunburst. I have also just done three piece backs as well with contrasting wood leftover from a different project.

I prefer to have long boards I cut down myself, since there always seems to be a nice area of figure in the middle of the board that I don't see until after running it through my planer.

It works well for me to just cut the boards as if they are long enough to be sides, and as wide as possible and still fit through the bandsaw. I came across a nice 8/4 cherry board I'd forgotten about, 32" x 8", and after planing, jointing, and resawing I got four .125 plates. I had the flexibility to shuffle them around to pick what I thought looked best for grain on the backs or sides and got sets for two guitars.

Any portions of the plates cut off after this get used for testing finishes and dyes(very handy!) bridge plates, inlays, rosettes, shims, tools, whatever. I rarely waste anything.

I'm far from an experienced resawer, though I have done all of my instruments from lumber I have resawn myself. I have yet to feel comfortable getting boards of minimum dimensions or squeesing an extra set from what I have. Plus sometimes I like to move the template around to see what grain looks the nicest with the shape I am making. If you are new to resawing, my advice would be to be prepared for it to not work out exactly like you plan and don't try to cut your dimensions too close.

I have some wood that I got from a friend who processed a log and gave me 4 slices to make a guitar. He didn't have control of the length of the log section so he just cut it up into quartered slices. At first I thought it was a bit of a shame because it would be kind of wasteful (having to give me 4 slices for one guitar), then I realized I could get two from these 4 slices. The wood is pretty much perfectly quartered so the grain pattern is consistent and matches from piece to piece. I don't remember the dimensions off the top of my head but it is wide enough that I can take two slices and rip them in half fro two side sets and the other two slices will make two back sets because they are long enough to nest the upper bouts in the waist of the other.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Don't worry about yield... grain orientation, making sure there's no defect, knowing how the wood was dried, etc... basically getting wood that you know is suitable for a guitar is much more important than squeezing out extra $ in raw material cost. Rarely - if ever - will you come across a board that is perfect for resawing and is the perfect size for x number of guitar sets. Make sure the wood is suitable and at least big enough, then worry about how to maximize it for your design.

After you've resawn three or four boards, that may become clear. Resawing can be like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get! Start out with less expensive woods, maple or walnut would work. Getting the maximum number of sets may not be the best yield from a board, I'd rather get three sets with really good figure than five mediocre sets. Sometime the best figure isn't where it needs to be to get the max number of sets.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon