Official Luthiers Forum!

hey. i'm digging through my wood for the next weiss style,
and a few years ago i bought a yellow siris set. back, sides, top.
i kind of regret buying it, because it ain't that special.
some figure, and looks like a creamy mahogany.
i'm going to use it anyway, but i might use spruce for the top.
anybody ever use this stuff for a top?
i sanded the end to see if it's quartersawn, and the grain is weird.
it looks like bamboo or something, with fiber strands.
taps pretty good though.

Alan, I'm with you. I have two sets that I bought about 5 yrs. ago and it's still sitting on the shelf. I have yet to build with it. I'm not sure that it would make a great top though...... The stuff that I have doesn't seem to have a ring to it. I'll have to check it for stiffness...

_________________
Peter

hey peter.
i was going to build my next with it,
but this morning changed my mind.
i think it would make good enough back and sides,
but it just reminds me of that wood that wooden bowls from india are made out of.
kind of like palm tree wood or something.
oh well.
i've started a weiss today, with the same woods as one i made before,
but with my new bracing, arcing etc,
and hear how they compare.
a better lesson for me on luthierie.

I have built a guitar & a Weiss with yellow siris & am very happy with both.
The Weiss has a siris top as well as back & sides. It is louder than my (later) all Sapelle Weiss & has much better bass response. It even does well tuned down to C.
The guitar I built with it surpassed all expectations. I used a very stiff Engelmann top, thinking to offset the effect of the soft siris & (whatever I did) it worked. The owner is a professional musician & now uses the siris guitar exclusively for recording. She plays fingerstyle as well as very aggressive flat picking. I would have thought this guitar would crap out with her driving flatpick style, but it doesn't.
I don't know why both of these instruments sound so good. From everything one hears & reads, good back & sides wood should have a clear ringing tap tone. Tap a piece of siris & you'll often get a (softly) resounding thud.
Siris bends beautifully, but will develop compression wrinkles on the inside of a tight bend, if you aren't careful.
Unless you get really high flame, it is quite plain looking, but not unattractive.
When I resawed some for a friend of mine, I had a nasty reaction to the dust. My nose & eyes ran like a garden hose for an hour afterwards.
The little sanding I did on the instruments didn't cause any problems, but I was careful, after my first experience.
I would use Siris again. Especially if I could get my hands on some of the blonde, highly figured stuff.

interesting, daniel. so the spruce top one sounds the best to you?
i was thinking about doing that.
i also noticed that when i sanded this stuff, my nose felt like i sniffed some pepper.
plain looking, but not unattractive, exactly!

Alan; The Weiss I mentioned was all siris. The Engelmann top was used on a 15" (at the lower bout) twelve fret, Venetian cutaway guitar of my own design.
I am building a Weiss with a lutz top, but this one has Sapelle B&S. It is on hold 'till I finish up a few other projects. I'm looking forward to hearing how it stacks up against the other two.
I would think a Spruce top would work fine on your siris Weissenborn.
I don't know it it made any difference, but I decided to shellac the inside of the Weiss, before I glued the top on. It was another attempt to counteract the softness of the siris.
It's interesting that, though a year and a half older than my all Sapelle Weiss, the siris top has less distortion (almost none) behind the bridge. Both were braced & thicknessed similarly.
This wood seems to break all the rules.

thanks daniel!
i guess i'll use that on my next one.
i'll use the siris for the top too.
dis fun stuff, building boxes!

Good luck with it Alan. I hope your results are as satisfying as mine.
Michael Dunn built a few instruments with siris a few years ago. A Macaferri style jazz guitar & a couple of Weissenborns. I spent a happy evening playing the Mac. Nice guitar, with a very traditional sound.