Official Luthiers Forum!

Well, maybe I have more than one question! Humour me, please.

So, I have a few sets of backs and sides and I want to be sure I'm giving them the due care they deserve. For the purposes of the discussion, assume that the wood is stored in a RH/temperature controlled environment at the ideal levels (or as close to as possible). My questions relate to stickering; the necessity of such; the proper way to store wood; and cataloguing your zoot.

Stickering
From what I've read it would appear that stickering is more of a necessity when the wood is green or still quite moist and needs to be air dried. Since most, if not all the wood I will acquire will be from luthier suppliers I am wondering if stickering is necessary? If a set is relatively dry but has some cupping, should it be stickered or simply stored flat under weight? When stickering is necessary, what is the proper way to do it?

Cataloguing
Is there anything special you folks do in terms of cataloguing or marking your sets when you plan to store them for a while? Anything that I should be noting for future reference or documentation?

As always, thanks so much for your willingness to share and teach.

Best regards,

Rick

I like to keep a sticker stack for sides, and a stack for tops and backs. Anything new or that I'm planning to use soon goes in the stickers for a week or two. All the acclimated sets go un-stickered on top, plus a board and then a brick, to weight down the stickered ones. I pull them out and look through them now and then for fun and to give them a breath of fresh air and reposition the stickers a bit, and randomly swap out who's in the stickers if I haven't bought any new sets recently.

I've had a few sets start to warp almost immediately when I first unwrapped them, but after sitting in the stickers for a while, they stay flat while loose.

Oh, and cataloguing... I could probably rap off all my sets, who I bought them from, and how much I paid from memory. But I don't have that many, and most of them I have specific guitars designed to use them on. If I had a ton, I'd probably label them by species, size, and a serial number, and put a photo on the computer with matching filename.

I'd keep a paper record somewhere with supplier name, grade, (was this 'AAA' or 'factory' grade?- sometimes it's hard to tell by looking ), species, year of purchase and cost as well- you may want to sell a set to a friend sometime down the line and it's nice to know how much it cost you.

BTW, I don't bother stickering guitar wood, but the RH is pretty close to constant in my shop and storage areas.

Cheers
John

I sticker for a few months then just stack. My shop is a pretty constant 45% RH so once they're acclimated I don't worrry much about them.

For cataloging them I've been writing the important stuff directly on the sets in pencil but I'm thinking of using a code and putting the info in a parts spreadsheet. I have a computer in the shop so it would be easy enough to do. Then it would be easier to track all the parts that go into a particular instrument and I would actually know what the cost to build was.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I used to stack, then concluded that stickering everything was preferable - I bought some wet wood and needed to, then got carried away with the bandsaw cutting poplar stickers.

Bottom line - can't hurt (as long as they're stickered correctly), might help. If you're very tight on space I could see the benefit of stacking wood once it's very dry.

I only record data for top wood. I write directly on the top,date,supplier,grade and species. Also mark with the cabinetmakers mark similar to how Shane mark his tops. That's usually enough for me.
Tom

_________________
A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

TX Gents!
I don't want to over think this but I'd hate to set them aside and find out when it's too late that I should have stored them differently. I appreciate you sharing your experience. As far as the cataloguing goes you have pointed out some things I hadn't considered.

Cheers!
Rick

I deal in many different types of woods. I have found some , once cured are fine in a stable RH environment. My high end stuff willbe stored pressed.

_________________
John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Stickering with weight on top has allowed my tone woods to survive the humidity due to shop flooding ( 8" ) water on floor, and the week of high humidity caused by the lack of AC due to furnace damage. I am all to glad to spend the time it takes to sticker wood. By the time I am able to get back to building the wood should be back to normal moisture content.

Fred

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

I sticker for a couple of months after receiving new wood even if it seems to be fully dry. After that I store it on edge rather than stacking. I don't constrain the wood in any way, If it wants to warp and cup, I want to know about it before I make a guitar out of it !!

I mark my woods with the date I received them and the species name if it's not obvious. I will also mark it with any other information that is unique to that set and potentially useful later.

Mark

No science to back this up, but I like to sticker sets in a press so that air in the constantly changing environment of my shed can circulate around it and the wood can expand and contract with relative freedom. A few weeks prior to work commencing, I will move wood ear marked for a project into an RH controlled glue room so it can stabilise. But for general storage I feel there is something to be said for allowing the wood to be exposed to the normal extremes of heat and cold and to gain an loose moisture with swings in RH whilst being restrained flat in a sticker press.



Cheers

Kim

i sticker and stack a set between two pieces of straight birch plywood, then wrap with tie wire until ready to use, cuz for me it won't be for a long time. it's gotta be birch ply though

To all, thanks so much for your insights!

Fred - sorry to hear about the flooding. Did you suffer any damage to your equipment?

Rick

Not much was lost in my shop, only hand made jigs that were on lower shelves a guitar case and a radius dish with sand paper on it that was leaning against my bench. The rest of the basement was a different story, but I am insured for replacement value so inconvenience only.

Fred

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