Official Luthiers Forum!

I have an elderly friend who offered a plank or two of this wood from her family barn that was dismantled years ago. She thought I might be able to make a guitar with it. I've never heard of one produced from this wood. Anyone else? Didn't know if it would be worth the effort.

Thanks for any thoughts!

It's definitely been done before.

In a heartbeat.
http://www.laetzstrings.com/gallery/guitar_wormy_chestnut.html

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I've built dulcimers with it. A bit lighter than oak, a bit harder than mahogany, a beautiful chestnut color. A million little sound ports. If you like the look, by all means use it.

Thanks for the info--looks like it may require a wee bit of filler.

Wormy chestnut will make a fine guitar. The issue is dealing with the worm holes. The issue is that if you don't find all the worm tracks and deal with them - you can have funny buzzes and cracks later on. The wood is plenty strong in and of itself, though.