Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi Folks,

Is it your experiece that cocobolo made guitars generally smell strong? I mean obviously they call these rosewood for a reason... but the smell of cocobolo seems much stronger than say eith er EIR or Braz...sort of like standing in the scented candle isle in Walmart. Is this your experience? if so, does it go away after some time? Or is there a way to quickly reduce the strong cocobolo smell after the guitar is built?

Thanks!

Why oh why would you want the "scent of a guitar" to go away? Of course, there is a thread in here about finishing the inside of a guitar (gasp!) that would do the trick. I have posted many times on this subject and will admit to being a hole sniffer. Right. First thing after the "feel" of the guitar, before plucking a string, I stick my nose in the sound hole. Yeah, perhaps a twisted metaphor, but if it does not scream "Forest" I put it back. Not interested. This is the biggest reason I make sure my box insides are rough (say 220) finished and no more. Of course, 220 is pretty smooth, but it looks good and smells good too! My favorite smell is Spanish Cedar.

BTW, been meaning to ask this. Anybody use Spanish Cedar for bracewood? Pros & Cons plz.

But if you must do this for your sensibilities, spray with shellac.

Mike (any other hole sniffers in here?)

I hear you Mike. Claro Walnut does it for me. Another reason to build with a soundport!

Cheers
Pete

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Cheers
Pete

... The only smelly wood that I have ever experienced was Imbua.... After being given a very nice set as a gift and placing it in my former shop that was in an unused bedroom in my condo every time I walked down the hall it smelled like 100 dogs has peed on the wall right there.... It was so very foul smelling that I thought that I was going to lose my lunch....

So I moved the imbua to my garage and then my car would stink.....

I finally decided that any guitar that I could hold my nose and build with this wood would probably stink too so I did what any other OLFer would do and gave the Imbua to a beginning builder....

Happy New Year Coach Tony!!!

I experienced Ipé (Ipe in english? dunno...). Really, it smells like sh*t... hehe!

Seriously, wood scents is one interesting part of woodworking... I love cocobolo, it smells like cinnamon a bit... And Spanish Cedar smells like "christmas scent", i swear! Bloodwood like coconut, EIRW like indians spices, and what about spruce, cedar and fir, hmmmm!

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

I agree Mike, if it don't smell like a guitar then it ain't a guitar

Spanish ceder linings really make it nice!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I have a guitar I built in 1983 of claro walnut, and it still smells great.

Black-Hearted Sassafras. It don't smell like American Sassafras. More like Sass's Ass.

MIke Franks
www.mjfranksguitar.com

I recommend Spanish Cedar linings and back braces!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

??? You know Hesh I think Imbuia is the nicest smelling wood in my shop...and for the record I don't like the smell of dog pee.

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David White, Toronto

"All my favourite singers can't sing."

One wood I do not like the smell if is oak. Of course, most do not use it for building guitars. But there is something special about opening a guitar case and how the scent of a well made guitar just jumps out at you. So Waddy, you have used it for back braces? I guess that makes sense since the back is so hard.

Mike

My Cocobolo OM has a somewhat unpleasant smell when you take a whiff through the sound hole, but it sounds so good I do not care and will build again with Cocobolo.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

I use spanish cedar for linings, back braces, and the lower harmonic bar on classical my tops. I borrowed the idea of using a relatively massive lower harmonic to isolate the lower bout from Greg Byers' guitars (he uses maple). Since I started doing this I feel like my guitars' sound is a little more focused and they have a little more sustain (though I can't say for certain that either of those are due to the more massive harmonic bar since I also started laminating my sides around the same time).

Hesh, maybe that gift was a gag gift and they had soaked it in dog pee.

I quite like the smell of cocobolo. When I was in my twenty's, I was allergic to it, but age has cured that and it's now my favorite instrument wood. Now, zebrawood smells like, well, zebras! (Go to the zoo and you'll see what I mean!)

Years ago, a cabinetmaker friend called me up and asked my help with some wood. It seemed his grandfather had left him a barn in his will. Not the farm, or the land, just the barn. Turns out it was built of solid planks of black walnut! But, it had been used for housing sheep for two hundred years. When we planed all that lumber, the shop smelled like sheep pee for weeks! That was the worst smelling wood I've ever encountered...

The one wood that shop visitors consistently like is Port Orford Cedar. The spicy smell does not last forever but is very nice while it is there.

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GEO
perpetual beginner

I`m with you Mike.I love to sniff a good smelling sound hole.
James

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

So far my favorite is a black walnut/Red Cedar OOO that I built. The crisp clean smell of the cedar, and the earthy smell of the black walnut makes for a great combination. Of course, I'm one of those odd ones who likes the smell of black walnut.