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Has anyone tried Paulonia wood for plate material? It is super light like balsa but very strong when dry.

Wow - 62 views and not a single response.

I've never heard of Paulonia wood - but I'm not the most knowledgeable member, by far. But that's never stopped me from expressing my opinion!

If you have some, I'd do a bit of deflection testing on it - my understanding (in learning from those on this forum) is that you're looking for a high stiffness to weight ratio. So, if this Paulinia is similar to other good tonewoods for tops, in terms of stiffness to weight - it may be worth a try. Have fun

I spelled it wrong It's known as the Royal Paulownia tree..It can grow 18 ft. per year.Is strong, light, and of closed cell construction.Seems like a perfect wood for plates because of it's light weight and strength.It is highly prized in Japan for furniture building and was very expensive until the chinese started growing it.I planted some on my proprety in mid Michigan, but it hasn't done well there.It keeps dieing back in the winter, mabey to cold there for it.I hope to find some to put through my mill and test it.

There was a guy at the Colorado Custom Guitar show last month that had a guitar made with that. I think he said he had found the wood grown domestically too. He loved it. I can't think of his name.

He was that next table over from Mike Snider and Robbie if anyone knows him.

Mike

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Mike Lindstrom

Mike, From what i have been told,this tree is grown here and has become very invasive in the smokey mountian region of Tenn. I also know someone in ohio that has two big ones he might mill because a ice storm damaged them real bad last spring.

I have built a couple of Paulownia surfboards recently....it is a'strong balsa' and does not soak up water. Very workable. For guitars, it may be difficule to find tight grain vertical for the soundboard.....seems to be a fast grower. There are suppliers back east.... guitar quality?

Large pieces I have (2"x19" x 8ft) are mostly flat sawn/rift sawn, so I will not use them for soundboards....maybe for linings, etc.

As mentioned earlier, deflection testing of the soundboard would be prudent. I found someone (google?) who built a paulownia guitar....don't have any comments on sound, etc.

Have a go at it!!!!

I once built a dulcimer with a paulonia soundboard. I think it was the worst sounding dulcimer I have ever built. Other makers have said it worked for them. I have several large paulonias on my property. To me it is a weed tree, though the purple flowers are pretty.

I built 2 guitars with Paulownia top wood. One classical and one steel string. The steel string I showed at the GAL convention in 2008 (was played at the listening event) and also showed at the Colorado Custom Guitar show back in September 2009.

There are 2 types of Paulownia; Elongata and Tomatosa. The Elongata is wider grain and is used more for Biomass farming as it grows incredibly fast. Tomatosa grows at a higher altitude and thus has tighter grain. This is what I used for my instruments. I got the wood from a guy who milled a tree that blew down in the center of a small town in the mountains of Virginia.

The wood is very nice to work with. It is very light and stiff. Be careful you don't thin it too much as it will have a tendency to go rubbery on you. Keep it about 25% thicker than you would normally go. It is soft so be careful of scratches or dings during the building process. I have used scrap pieces for sound hole reinforcements, side braces and even kerf linings.

Reference sites:
http://www.paulowniatrees.org
http://www.paulowniawood.com/

Pics:
Paulownia at GAL 2008 listening event




Castor Instruments booth at GAL 2008


Paulownia tree growing on sidewalk in Tacoma