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I know the cypress wood for the flamenco guitar is from the Cupressus sempervirens.
Do you know if the wood from Cupressus lusitanica and Cupressus macrocarpa are also suitable wood?

LMII has Cupressus macrocarpa back & sides sets ,IIRC.

thank you for your reply

I assume that this is what LMI calles Mediterranian Cypress. I have used it a couple of times now and it works easily. I like the tone but cannot compare it to Spanish cypress.

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Actually, Mediterranean and Spanish is the same cypress, while the Macrocarpa variety is from California and usually known as Monterey cypress. It seems Monterey tends to be a softer wood.

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Build log

MY BAD!!!! I meant Monterey. So sorry.

I guess that is why they use Latin, but I won't even pretend to know anything about that.

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Antonio,

Ive got some Monterey Cypress in my shop which I bought from Tim Spittle at Australian Tonewoods (one of our sponsors). I believe Tim gets it from Tasmania. I havent used the stuff yet but Im told it works and bends ok.

If you have any questions about the wood then Tim would be the man to ask.

Cheers Martin

I have several planks of Mendocino Cypress which is very simular to Monterey Cypress. It is supposed to be stronger than Spanish. I cut a set for Mike Colins and he liked it. I gave a set to Ken Franklin. It taps pretty nicely. I know of a couple of guys who have used it for steel string and Ken agreed that it would be fine for that.
The smell is wonderful. It carves and turns well. It is like Yellow Cedar in that it is very, very smooth and even textured. It really polishes well.
Link

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

Links Cypress is really nice.
I can't wiat till he gets some more cut !!

Mike

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Mike Collins

Hi Antonio.
I've used Cupressus macrocarpa on some flamenco builds.
I find that its tone is indistinguishable from spanish cypress.
Its a bit stiffer than spanish cypress and needs a little bit more effort to work.
Its usually pinker than spanish cypress, but you can get it in some nice creamy coloured sets.
Its alot cheaper at about 1/4 cost.
I like it quite a bit.
The grain structure looks as little different to spanish cypress.
If you're going to use a laminate trimmer to cut your binding channels just be wary of your feed direction because it will split off in big chunks if you go against the grain.
If you take your time and be careful you chouldn't have a problem.
It polishes well bends well , and doesn't need pore filling .

Have fun.

Cheers,
Claire